Richard Lee Kincaid and Aaron Bolen v. R…

Summary

Answering a certified question from the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that the Legislature's use of an omnibus bill to authorize agency legislative rules — including the Minimum Jail Standards rule on which the district court relied in the underlying jail-conditions class action — violates the one-object rule of W. Va. Const. art. VI, § 30 because it can lead to logrolling or other deceiving tactics. The Court announced a test under which grouping survives only if there is a reasonable basis for it and no likelihood of logrolling or deception, held that it may reformulate certified questions, and applied its new constitutional ruling prospectively because it was not foreshadowed and retroactive application would invalidate hundreds of legislative rules and disable government agencies. It declined to address the remaining certified questions concerning the Governor's veto power and the State Administrative Procedures Act.