House Finance met this morning and considered four bills on markup and passage.

House Bill 4006 is an economic development bill that targets the aerospace industry to build a stronger aerospace workforce in West Virginia.

House Bill 4126 requires royalties from state-owned oil, gas, and other mineral rights to be deposited into the State Parks and Recreation Endowment Fund.

House Bill 4390 temporarily increases the subsidy payment to kinship parents to an amount equal to foster parent subsidies.

House Bill 4981 establishes that a psychiatric hospital with an average annual inpatient census patient mix of greater than 95 percent of court-ordered forensic and civil involuntary commitments from state custody or from a state-owned hospital qualifies as a “state-designated facility” for purposes of the statute.

The House Energy and Public Works Committee met this afternoon.

Markup & Passage

House Bill 4481 enhances the accuracy and transparency of the WV Load Forecasting by the Public Service Commission with oversight for submissions to PJM.

House Bill 4971 requires that certain high-voltage transmission lines be located near industrial parks.

House Bill 5492 establishes guidelines for advanced purchase agreements for electric substation transformers to accelerate economic development projects. The bill was amended and advanced to the Finance Committee.

Committee Hearing

House Bill 5626 establishes rates for and the recovery of costs by public utilities. The bill also allows the elective submission of future test-year data in certain utility reports. The bill requires the commission to rely on certain submitted data in rate cases.

House Bill 5651 creates a statewide microbusiness support and simplification program. It creates non-lapsing funding, provides grants, and establishes revolving microloan support options.

The House Committee on Health and Human Resources met this evening.

House Bill 5582 would extend the program for drug screening of applicants for TANF to December 2030. This bill was reported to the floor.

House Bill 4359 would exempt existing West Virginia hospitals from needing a new certificate of need to move their facility up to 10 miles to a new location. After concerns in the hearing phase about possible statewide complications, this bill was tabled.

House Bill 5625 would change the requirements for the license of radon mitigators, testers, contractors, and laboratories. Under this bill, no building contractor may build an radon resistant new construction home without using a licensed radon mitigation specialist or radon mitigation contractor. This bill was advanced to markup and discussion.

House Bill 5476 would require a health care provider that maintains electronic health care records to preserve and maintain each entry in its original form and record an audit trail of any additions, deletions, or revisions to the health care record. This bill would also allow patients to, if they find any information in their chart, request that corrections be made. This bill was advanced to markup and discussion.

House Bill 5569 would reinstate the discount on Public Employees Insurance for retired firefighters hired after 2010. This bill was moved to markup and discussion.

Senate Bill 231 would require the Bureau for Medical Services to establish standard billing codes for all substance-abuse disorders. This would analyze these billing codes to determine trends, costs, and outcomes for substance-abuse disorders.

This bill would also establish value-based treatment programs for substance-abuse disorders. These programs would reward providers for quality and cost-effective care that leads to sobriety for substance-abuse and reduce payments to providers who fail to meet the expectations in the bill. The intent of this is to pay for patient health outcomes rather than the service fees. This bill was advanced to markup and discussion.

House Bill 5260 would allow regulated medical cannabis processors to manufacture medical cannabis as edibles for patients, and requires dispensaries, after dispensing medical cannabis, to report the information into the controlled substance monitoring database. This bill was advanced to markup and discussion.

The House Committee on Banking and Insurance met this afternoon.

House Bill 4869 establishes a clearly defined guaranteed issue right for Medicare Supplement (Medigap) policies regardless of health status.

House Bill 5462 clarifies that if a policyholder has other insurance, the mine subsidence insurance program is only liable for up to the statutory limit of reinsurance for the portion not covered by other sources.

House Bill 5463 reduces mandatory liability minimums from $1.25 million to $1 million and eliminates the $5 million excess coverage requirement for county boards of education.

House Bill 5515 revises outdated code relating to the administration of workers’ compensation claims. It was last updated prior to 2005. The bill also repeals obsolete code.

House Bill 5521 creates application, licensure, and examination requirements for public adjusters. The bill also establishes standards of conduct that govern public adjusters.

The House Education Committee met this afternoon.

House Bill 4485 would allow education employees to donate sick leave to co-workers for maternity leave. This bill was advanced to the committee on Finance.

House Bill 4798 would allow teachers to choose to wear a “mobile alert button” for emergency situations. This bill would be called “Alyssa’s Law.” This bill was reported to the floor.

House Bill 5110 would adjust tuition and fee waivers to include senior citizens and senior metro area students by changing the eligibility age from 65 years to 60 years of age or older. This bill was reported to the committee on Finance.

House Bill 5412 would establish the Future-Ready Education Act. This would allow boards of education to enter into long-term contracts for textbooks to save money. This bill would also expand the Mountain State Digital Literacy Program. In addition, this bill would require educators to be trained in the science of reading program and expand the program to fourth and fifth-grade classrooms. This bill was reported to the committee on Finance.

House Bill 5438 would allow the Department of Education to retain up to $15 million to implement a uniform budgeting and accounting system to improve instructional programs. This bill was reported to the committee on Finance.

House Bill 4588 would require the State Treasurer to participate in the federal tax credit scholarship program.

House Bill 5478 would establish a pilot program to distribute preloaded early-learning touchpads to eligible preschool children to evaluate impacts on kindergarten readiness.