Posted on 03/05/2023 6:49:22 PM PST by marshmallow
Washington D.C., Mar 1, 2023 / 16:05 pm The West Virginia Legislature gave final approval Tuesday to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which will now advance to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
The West Virginia Senate, in which Republicans hold a majority, passed the religious liberty bill in a strict party-line vote, 30 in favor and 3 opposed.
Having already passed the state’s House of Delegates on Monday, the bill has only to be signed by Republican Gov. Jim Justice to become law.
The bill guarantees West Virginians’ freedom from any state interference that may “substantially burden a person’s right to exercise of religion.”
West Virginia’s bill is one of now 24 similar laws passed by states across the nation. The act is modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) that was passed in 1993 but then deemed unconstitutional in application to states by a federal court in 1997.
According to Becket, a religious liberty law firm, state RFRAs “level the playing field in court for people of deeply held religious convictions.”
RFRAs are designed to protect all religious groups, Becket states on its website. The act itself was created, Becket points out, after Oregon denied unemployment benefits to Native American counselors who were fired for using peyote in their religious ceremonies.
One high-profile case involving an RFRA is the Oct. 15, 2019, case in which a federal district court in Texas ruled that the “transgender mandate” in the Affordable Care Act violated the federal RFRA. In his decision, Judge Reed O’Connor said that providers’ and insurers’ refusal to perform or pay for transgender procedures was an exercise of their religious freedom.
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Kudos to West Virginia for such a lopsided margin!
It could have been bigger. One Republican did not vote.
Still not as lopsided as Hawaii.
Interestingly enough, in 1991-1992 there was only one Republican in the WV Senate—and she is still serving. The only other pre-2000 person is one of the three remaining Dems.
WV folks have common sense.
>> WV folks have common sense.
I’d like to agree, but please explain why y’all keep electing Joe Manchin to the US Senate?
I know the answer to that one as a next door neighbor: Pork.
Exactly.
That’s really all most voters care about.
A majority of the state voted against him last time.
>> A majority of the state voted against him last time.
How can that be, in a statewide race? Are you saying he didn’t get a majority of the vote?
Munchkin received ~49% of the vote.
Morrissey received ~48% of the vote.
The Libertarian candidate received the balance of the votes.
Thanks.
So a candidate can win with a plurality of the vote in WV?
Yep. No runoffs.
To my knowledge, the only state that requires a candidate receive 50%+1 in a general election is Georgia (not counting those states that have ranked choice or an all-party runoff with just 2 candidates).
Thx
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