News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV) and Mountain State Justice, Inc. today sent a letter to Gov. Jim Justice to put his administration on notice that specific provisions in Senate Bill 334 — the legislation that seeks to all but eradicate syringe service distribution programs in West Virginia — are unconstitutional. If Governor Justice signs this legislation into law, he will be opening up the state, county commissions and city councils to liability.

Appalachian Queer Youth Summit (AQYS) members shared a letter with Governor Justice asking for a veto on HB 3293, the transgender athlete ban. 

This morning, ACLU-WV sent to Gov. Jim Justice a letter on behalf of almost 300 West Virginians that work, advocate, or volunteer with individuals who are directly impacted by injection drug use. 

The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia have urged Gov. Jim Justice to veto HB 3293, the transgender student athlete ban.

ACLU-WV would like to thank the West Virginia House of Delegates Judiciary Committee Chairman Capito and the House Judiciary Committee for making the decision to take additional time post-session to study the election process and merits of the content of Senate Bill 565, the election law amnibus bill.The bill not move forward this session after hundreds of our supporters flooded the committee with calls and emails. The bill would have eliminated the most popular day of early voting, marked voters as "inactive" for missing just one off-year election, and ended the process of Automatic Voter Registration at the DMV before it even began to be implemented. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV) today provided notice to West Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw and House Clerk Steve Harrison that it intends to pursue litigation against the House for yet another violation of the Open Governmental Proceedings Act.

ACLU-WV, along with Mountain State Justice, Inc., today sent a letter to Governor Justice’s administration demanding that the Governor publicly release and implement immediately a plan to ensure that those who are incarcerated have the opportunity to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. If the Governor’s office does not provide a response in writing providing a timeline by which it will provide access to vaccines for those incarcerated by March 31, MSJ and ACLU-WV are prepared to move forward with litigation on behalf of incarcerated individuals who are in desperate need of access to these vaccines. The letter follows a months-long effort by a coalition of organizations urging the Governor and the state to take action and make vaccines available to incarcerated people.    

Today on the House floor, Majority Leader Amy Summers stated that the House Technology and Infrastructure Committee would reconvene this afternoon to reconsider bills that were discussed and voted on during the committee’s March 24, 2021, meeting. An audio malfunction during that meeting cut off public access to committee deliberations, and by choosing to move forward with the meeting in spite of the technology failure, the House violated the state open meetings act.

The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV) today provided notice to West Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw and House Clerk Steve Harrison that it intends to pursue litigation against the House for violations of the Open Governmental Proceedings Act.