Del. Derrick Evans has announced his resignation from the West Virginia Legislature.

This comes after being arrested and charged for his part in storming the U.S. Capitol Building.

Evans was set to serve his first term as delegate for West Virginia’s 19^th House District after winning the seat in November.

Gov. Jim Justice is expected to appoint a replacement for Evans in the coming weeks.

Gov. Jim Justice defeated Democratic challenger Ben Santiago to win reelection in West Virginia.

Justice, who ran as a Democrat in 2016 narrowly defeating incumbent Bill Cole before switching party affiliations, comfortably secured his second term receiving twice as many votes as his challenger.

On April 1, Gov. Jim Justice issued an executive order postponing the state’s primary election scheduled for May 12.

The election is postponed until June 9 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The order also suspends the rules and regulations regarding municipal elections allowing those elections to be rescheduled as necessary.

The Second Session of the 84th Legislature adjourned sine die on March 7 at noon after 60 days in session.

Legislators passed 74 bills, including the budget bill that was a priority for legislators and Gov. Jim Justice.

Lawmakers also passed House Bill 4092, which provided major changes to the state’s foster care system.

A bill has been introduced in the Senate setting new limits on political contributions.

Senate Bill 566 would reduce current limits on contributions to candidates from $2,800 to $1,000 per election.

Additionally, contributions to a PAC related to a particular election reduce from $5,000 to $1,000.

The bill would also reduce contributions limits to state party executive committees from $10,000 to $1,000 per calendar year.

The House of Delegates adjourned the Second Extraordinary Session of 2019 on December 16 after reconvening the same day.

Before adjourning, the House passed Senate Bill 2001.

Senate Bill 2001 extends tax credits for tourism development projects through December 2025.

While the West Virginia Senate approved three bills during the special legislative session, the House is leaving one measure for the December interim meetings.

The Senate adjourned the special session sine die after quickly passing versions of all three bills without substantial debates.

Lawmakers approved legislation to limit DUI expungement procedures to be in compliance with federal regulations.

Additionally, legislation approved limits spending authority for debt service payments for the second and third rounds of the general obligation bonds.

However, the House placed Senate Bill 2001 on second reading, which extends tax credits for tourism development projects through December 2025.

The House adjourned until asked to come back.

Gov. Jim Justice issued a proclamation calling for the West Virginia Legislature to convene in special session on Monday, November 18.

The session will coincide with regularly scheduled interim committee meetings.

The purpose of the special session is to consider three bills.

The first bill would amend the West Virginia Tourism Act to extend the availability of the Tourism Development Act Tax Credit Program and authorize the tourism office to participate in reviewing, processing, and approving applications.

The second bill would bring certain DUI expungement procedures into compliance with federal law.

The third bill relates to spending authority for debt service payments on roads to prosperity general obligation bonds for rounds two and three.

Also on the call is legislation to pay for the special session.

Interim meetings are already scheduled for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

The Senate adjourned on Monday, bringing an end to the special legislative session.

Gov. Jim Justice called the special session after legislators failed to agree on education proposals following a two-day teacher strike in February.

The Senate adjourned its half of the special session during its scheduled interim meetings.

The House adjourned it’s session about two months ago.

Gov. Jim Justice has appointed Trenton Barnhart to the vacant District 7 seat.

The seat became vacant when Del. Jason Harshbarger resigned to become Dominion Energy’s state policy director.

Gov. Justice made the selection from a list of three people submitted by the West Virginia Republican Party.

Gov. Jim Justice is adding an additional 12 bills for the Legislature to consider during the special session originally focusing on education.

Gov. Justice amended his original proclamation by adding 10 new supplemental appropriation bills.

One bill relates to the procurement of construction work performed as part of disaster mitigation or recovery originating from a declared state of emergency.

Additionally, another bill relates to the Ryan Brown Fund.

Members of the House of Delegates are scheduled to convene today to continue the special session on education.

Gov. Jim Justice amended his proclamation for the First Extraordinary Session of 2019, adding a bill relating to the West Virginia Business Ready Sites Program.

The special session was originally called to address improvements to public education and pay raises for school teachers.

The Senate has introduced the Student Success Act to address these issues.

The House is set to reconvene at 8:30 a.m. on June 17.

The Elections Commission adopted legislative rules to enforce the provisions in Senate Bill 622.

Provisions include increasing campaign contribution limits and disclosure requirements for PACs and independent expenditure groups.

The commission worked on language to better clarify what committees and organizations are required to file contribution and spending disclosures.

It was also determined the law applies to organizations whose major or primary purpose is to influence the outcome of elections by spending money to support or oppose particular candidates or issues.

However, the law does not apply to other ballot issues such as referenda on proposed constitutional amendments.

The legislative rules will need to be approved by the full Legislature as part of its rule-making review process.

The process must happen during the 2020 regular session for the changes to go into effect before the 2020 elections.

Gov. Jim Justice signed Senate Bill 622 on March 27, with an effective date of June 7.

The bill increases campaign contribution limits allowing $2,800 to candidates, $5,000 to political action committees (PACs), and $10,000 to party committees. The current limits for each category are set at $1,000.

PACs will also be required to electronically file all independent expenditure reports and financial statements.

The bill also requires federal PACs who spend money on state elections to file disclosures with the Office of Secretary of the State.