WEST VIRGINIA CODE RECODIFICATION STUDIED
The West Virginia Legislature, under the direction of Senate Judiciary Chairman, Bill
Wooton and House of Delegates Judiciary Chairman, Rick Staton is considering the possible
reorganization and recodification of the West Virginia Code. A reorganization would
involve relocation of various laws to more logically present them in the code and to
insure that all related laws are located together. It could also include using a different
numbering system than the current chapter-article-section method. One possible method
would be the decimal system used in some other states. Proposals have been received from
West and Michies/Lexis on how this may be best accomplished. Also being considered are
having the code vendor print an index of all state agency rules or preparing a version of
the complete text of all state rules available in print or on compact disk.
A recodification would involve reenacting all the current laws in one bill to accomplish
reorganization and to eliminate archaic or obsolete references and language and possibly
codify well established case law. Examples of such changes would be making references to
"he" and "him" sex neutral, changing "county court" to
"county commission", changing "justice of the peace" to
"magistrate". Verb tense usage could be corrected such as using
"means" rather than "shall mean" in definitions and using "is
guilty" rather than "shall be guilty" in criminal penalties. The correct
rule authorization language would replace any nonconforming language and all performance
review (sunset) language would be corrected as needed.
Changes could be made to conform statutory language to other bill manual requirements such
as conforming the language for special revenue accounts to that set forth in the manual.
Correcting the improper use of "shall" and "may" could be included
taking care not to abolish well established case law interpretations. Statutes which have
been declared unconstitutional by our Supreme Court of Appeals could be deleted. Incorrect
Department, Division and Agency names could be corrected and made uniform ie. the same
name always being used to refer the same governmental unit. You should be aware that the
changes that I have discussed above are routinely made every session. When particular code
sections are amended for substantive reasons, the sections are "cleaned up"
during the drafting process. A complete code "clean up" would actually help us
draft bills faster since we would not have to worry about making corrections to existing
code language.
Cochairmen Wooton and Staton are interested in whether you would support this project.
They would also like your input about what revisions need to be made in the code. This
does not include substantive changes which would not be addressed in this project. Also
would publication of the state rules be helpful to you. It is possible that committees
could be formed to work on particular areas of the code to take advantage of the expertise
of practitioners in these areas. A survey access has been placed on the Bar Blast to
elicit your views on this project. A copy is found after this article. Please respond to
this survey by the mailing in your answers or, if possible, responding to the computerized
form. If you missed it in the Bar Blast, you can find it on the legislative web page which
is www.legis.state.wv.us/. If you mail in your answers, please send it to:
Joint Judiciary Bar Survey
c/o Joe Altizer
Building 1, Room M-418
1900 Kanawha Blvd East
Charleston, West Virginia 25303-0470
CODE REORGANIZATION SURVEY
1. What recommendations do you have regarding non-substantive revisions that need to be made, especially in your area of practice?
2. It is currently under consideration to change vendors from Michie/Lexus to West
publishing.
a. What do you like about the current Michies/Lexis Code version?
b. What do you dislike about the current Michies/Lexis Code version
3. Do you have a preference as to which vendor, Michies/Lexis or West, you prefer to
publish the Code?
a. Are you currently satisfied with the Code index?
b. What recommendations do you have to improve the index?
4. There are currently no references in the Code to agency rules that are promulgated
by legislative directive. Would you find an index of all the rules in effect useful if
contained in the Code?
If so, would you prefer to have the rules index in one location or would you rather have
each rule listed in the article from which its authority is derived?
5. The Secretary of State currently publishes the Code of State Rules. Would you be interested in purchasing a version of the Code of State Rules if it were published by the code vendor?
6. Do you have any other recommendations regarding how the code can be improved?
7. Would you be interested in participating in any committee that is formed to review
certain specialized areas of the Code?
If so, please provide us with your area of interest/expertise.
Name_______________________________
Area of practice___________________
Date_______________________________