West Virginia Becoming A Right-To-Work State Is Pretty Much Assured

Matt Vespa | January 27, 2016 12:30 PM

Over at Hot Air, Jason Hart mentioned that West Virginia was on the verge of becoming the 26^th right-to-work state. And now it’s pretty much guaranteed, with Sue Cline, a Republican, being sworn in as the newest state senator. Since a right-to-work bill isn’t related to a budgetary matter or some other appropriation, it takes only a simple majority in both houses to override a governor’s veto in West Virginia; Republicans control both chambers. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is expected to veto the legislation, which passed the Senate and is now being taken up in the State House (via WTRF.com):

Going forward, we just need to move our state forward. We need to do some things to get jobs for our people, and get everybody up and working, and get everybody going. We're just tired of being last," Sen. Cline said.

Cline replaces Senator Daniel Hall who was first elected as a Democrat, but resigned after switching to the Republican side. Both parties claimed the seat and it took a State Supreme Court decision Friday to give the seat to Republicans.

"Now we can get on with the business at hand. We face so much this year in the state with issues with the budget. It's time we get to work,"State Sen. Bill Cole, (R) Senate President said.

Republicans now have enough votes to overturn a promised veto from the Governor on Right-to-Work legislation. But Democrats insist, it's a bad bill.

The state Supreme Court case stems from State Sen. Daniel Hall’s resignation. Hall took a position with the National Rifle Association, but was elected to the state senate as a Democrat. He switched parties in 2014. The West Virginia Democratic Party insisted that since Hall was elected as a Democrat, a fellow party member should replace him. The West Virginia GOP argued that since he switched parties, it should be their replacement. The Republicans won, and Gov. Tomblin appointed Cline, a real estate agent, to fill the vacancy left by Hall.