The West Virginia House of Delegates passed a conference committee report allowing for a 2010 special election, ending days of debate on who would serve the rest of Sen. Robert Byrd‘s remaining two years in the U.S. Senate.

H.B. 201 amends West Virginia Code clarifying the procedures for filling U.S. Senate vacancies and specifying when and how a special election would occur. The measure passed the House 83-7, sending it over to the State Senate for approval.

Judiciary Chair Tim Miley (D-Harrison) explained the key parts of the bill, including the Capito amendment, which allows a candidate already on the November general election ballot to run in the special election. The amendment would allow Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) to run for both her second district House seat and the U.S. Senate vacancy should she decide to run. A sunset clause was also added to the legislation.

“The Secretary of State was given much broader discrestion in the bills that passed the House and the Senate,” said Miley. “This bill tightens that discretion. It identifies certain deadlines and time frames within that bill, but it still leaves the discretion to her to modify certain of those deadlines and time frames if necessary.”

“This election will be considered a separate special election that will be held concurrent with the general election that is already scheduled for November of this year,” explained Miley. “Yes, that does mean a person can run for both an office for which they are already on the ballot as well as for the vacancy in the United State Senate.”

This vote comes after the House voted down H.B. 201 on Saturday, then reconsidered the bill two hours later and voted for it, though voting down making the bill effective from time of passage. That would have meant the bill would not take effect for 90 days, making a special election this year all but impossible. Disagreements between the House and the Senate last night brought the entire process to a halt.

While it was though that Gov. Joe Manchin was going to proclaim a special election call today despite the lack of legislation, that did not occur. Sources told West Virginia Watchdog that had any special election call had gone out, a lawsuit would have been filed. A deal was worked out between the Governor’s office and both chambers to reconsider the conference committee report. After the House voted in favor the Senate follow suit shortly after.

UPDATE (9:18 p.m.): Gov. Joe Manchin, Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, House Speaker Rick Thompson, and Secretary of State Natalie Tennant spoke at a press conference after the votes by the House of Delegates and State Senate approving a 2010 special election and rules governing U.S. Senate succession and vacancies

“We have a piece of legislation that will give people the right to vote; the 17th amendment of the Constitution is alive and well,” said Manchin. “Everything is ready and in order.”

The filing period starts tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. and will end Friday at 5 p.m. Ballot position will take place on Monday with a primary scheduled for Aug. 28, and the special election scheduled along side the general election in November.

Manchin acknowledged that the debate was strained at time between his office and both chambers. But he thanked the House and Senate for acting in a bipartisan manner and passing tonight’s bill.

“Sometimes we have some diffrences and sometimes we have some discussion but the people have always benefited from the actions of the House and Senate,” said Manchin. “We don’t want this toxic atmosphere.”

After the joint announcement Manchin signed the bill into law. Manchin appointed his former legal counsel, Democrat Carte Goodwin, to fill the Senate vacancy until a special election could decide who would fill the remainder of the late Sen. Byrd’s term. Byrd died last month, leaving just over two years left on his six-year term. Byrd was up for reelection in 2012.

“The most important thing we had to do was have a good clean election,” said Manchin. “The bottom line is to have an election the people can be proud of.”

The House has received most of the criticism for the delay in passing the bill, due to complaints from Republicans and some Democrats. Both Thompson and Tomblin dismissed these criticisms.

“The members of the House take their jobs very serious,” said Thompson. “They work hard to get a good product out. We’d do a serious disservice to Sen. Byrd by passing something that was unconstitutional.”

“Any criticism of the House and the Senate is unwarranted,” added Tomblin. “Any time you have an issue this serious the extra time we take is worth it.”

Gov. Manchin will announce his intentions to run for U.S. Senate tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.

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