By PHIL KABLER
Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A bill to make retroactive changes to West Virginia’s right-to-work law — currently being challenged in Kanawha Circuit Court — advanced from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, over objections from senators who said it could violate separation of powers provisions of the U.S. and state constitutions.
“Just because we disagree is no reason to challenge the very foundation of our Constitution,” said Sen. Mike Romano, D-Harrison. “We have plenty of time to fix any statute after the court rules.”
A number of labor unions are challenging the 2016 legislation, which prohibits requiring workers in union shops to pay union dues, and Kanawha Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey granted a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the law in August. She has not yet issued a final decision in the case.
The legislation advanced Thursday (SB 330) would remove those two provisions from the law, retroactive to the law’s original effective date of July 1, 2016.
While committee counsel described the changes as technical, removing “extraneous language,” several senators were unconvinced.
Romano, an attorney, argued that removing the exemption for building and construction trades amounts to a substantive change to the law.
“Do we want to affect something that could affect a court case?” he asked.
“Why do we need to change this retroactively?” Sen. Ron Miller, D-Greenbrier, asked. “I feel it’s bad for us as a body that we’re trying to influence court decisions.”
Sen. Robert Karnes, R-Upshur, argued that, since there is no final decision on labor’s challenge of the law, any labor contracts negotiated on the assumption that the law is invalid would be moot.
“You’re not taking anything because that’s a contract that’s not worth the paper it’s written on,” he said.
Sen. Bob Beach, D-Monongalia, argued that the Legislature is “sliding on thin ice” by taking up the bill.
“These are separate branches of government and, honestly, we ought to keep it that way,” he said.
The bill advanced on a party line 10-6 vote and now goes to the full Senate.
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