WEST VIRGINIA LAW INSTITUTE

GOVERNING COUNCIL

MINUTES

Meeting of March 15, 2016

1. The Governing Council of the West Virginia Law Institute met on March 15, 2016, in the Conference Room of the West Virginia State Bar in Charleston. The meeting was called to order and chaired by President Scott Curnutte. Also in attendance or participating by phone were Council members Law School Dean Greg Bowman, Judge Gary Johnson, Brendan Leary, Peter Markham, Larry Morhouse, Will Rhee, Delegate John Shott, John Wallace, William Wooton, Director/Secretary Robert Bastress, and Council Assistant Anna Dewitt.

2. William Wooton moved, and Judge Johnson seconded, the approval of the minutes of the Council's September 25, 2015, meeting. The motion carried.

3. Director Bastress reported that the Institute has about $22,800 remaining in its account.

4. Director Bastress reported on the status of the following research projects:

A. The survey of state Administrative Procedure Acts has been completed and will be submitted to the Legislature.

B. The research on redistricting has been completed, including a survey of the fifty states' methods and a canvassing of the secondary literature and the case law. Director Bastress will use the research to prepare a report next summer to be delivered to the Legislature and for publication.

C. The research on surrogate decision-makers has been completed, and it will be used to prepare a report to legislators. A survey of state judges and government workers was done last spring, but the response rate was so low that it yielded no useful information. It has been abandoned.

D. The landlord-tenant project has continued with preparation of a memorandum on the Uniform Laws Commission's Revised Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which the Commission adopted last year. That proposed law and the one the Institute had drafted about ten years ago will be pitched to legislators as soon as summaries of the major proposed changes are prepared. The most significant would be to provide greater definition to the warranty of habitability, to limit landlord self-help measures, to require notice by landlords prior to entry (except in cases of emergency), and to create protections for both landlords and tenants for when criminal acts occur on the rented property.

E. Work on the revision of the Legislature's Bill Drafting Manual has progressed. The student is working through the editing process and plans to continue through the fall. Two articles by W.V.U. Professors David Hardesty and Chris Plein that will be included in the Manual have been completed and are currently available on the online version of the West Virginia Law Review. A link to the articles has been distributed to Council members.

F. The Council has nearly completed its survey of partition suit statutes in energy states. When it is completed, a report will be prepared to set forth the options available for possible legislative

G. The Council completed its research into possible implications under the federal Constitution's Commerce Clause of several proposals for how to address continuing turnpike tolls after 2019, when the turnpike bonds will be paid off. The council prepared and distributed to legislators a memorandum on the issues.

5. A discussion was had regarding the Institute making presentations to interim legislative committees, most notably to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance and/or the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. There was consensus that the Director should follow up on the suggestion.

6. The Council discussed the proposal from John Allevato for the Institute to work with the State Bar's Probate Committee to reform and standardize West Virgina's probate laws. Peter Markham moved, and William Wooton seconded, that to coordinate and work with Bar's Probated Committee, to the extent permitted by law and within the discretion of the Director, to achieve probate reform in the State. The motion passed unanimously.

7. There was no other new business.

8. The Council set the date for its next meeting, which will be Friday September 9, 2016, at either 3:00 or 4:00 at the W.V.U. College of Law in Morgantown. The precise hour will be left to the discretion of the Director.

9. The meeting was adjourned.