Blog – Page 130

Energy Committee Passes Bill Making Changes to Coal Mining Laws

House Committee

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March 1, 2019

The Energy Committee met briefly yesterday to discuss House Bill 635. This bill relates generally to coal mining activities.

This bill is broken down into three essential parts: Economic Development, Environmental, Underground Coal Mining, and Crimes and Their Punishment. There was also a committee amendment made to the bill which makes certain technical changes to the provisions dealing with the Mine Trespass Act.

It specifically notes that these provisions also apply to inactive workings, as well as active or abandoned workings, it clarifies the language relating to subsequent convictions to note these must be for the same offense, and removes ambiguity in the section relating to underground mine trespass to note that only inactive or abandoned workings must be sealed or posted for a trespass conviction to occur.

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Senate Finance Rejects House Legislation

Senate Floor Session

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March 1, 2019

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A bill which passed the House with a 99-0 vote was rejected by the Senate finance committee Friday morning.

House Bill 2703, which relates to refunds of exercise taxes collected from petroleum dealers, came before the committee and received minimal recognition from members. In discussion from counsel, the committee learned the bill would have account for a fiscal loss of less than $50,000 annually following implementation in 2020.

After the bill was rejected, committee Chair, Sen. Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, stated that members would be more than welcome to revive the legislation if members of the House sought reconsideration.

Also reviewed by the committee was legislation intended to create a new category of the Innovation in Education grant program.

Associate Superintendent of Schools, Clayton Burch, came before the committee to answer questions concerning House Bill 2009 which showcases a fiscal impact of $125,000 for implementation. According to the Superintendent, the House Bill help to strengthen the state’s higher education system in conjunction with Senate Bill 1.

“If this (bill) is passed, mastery based education would become a situation where people can move faster in getting an education,” Burch explained. “We think this meshes well with Senate Bill 1 in order to benefit those who want to jump start their college education.”

Following consideration from the committee, members unanimously voted to adopt a strike and insert amendment after being amended by Sen. Corey Palumbo, D-Kanawha. The bill has been reported to the full Senate with the recommendation of passage.

House Bills 3021 and 3095 were also reported to the full body.

Judiciary Committee Passes Medical Cannabis Banking Bill

Senate Committee

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March 1, 2019

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The Senate Committee on the Judiciary met briefly Friday morning to discuss a bill relating to medical cannabis in West Virginia.

House Bill 2538 would add banking services for medical cannabis in the state. The proposed legislation would do the following:

Would provide that the Treasurer shall select by competitive bid one or more financial institutions to provide banking services for the fees, penalties, and taxes collected under the Medical Cannabis Act
Would authorize the Medical Cannabis Program Fund to receive civil penalties
Would permit money in the Medical Cannabis Program Fund to be invested and would provide that earnings shall accrue to the Medical Cannabis Program Fund
Would permit the Treasurer to charge fees for providing banking services

Senator Romano (D – Harrison, 12) said during the meeting said that the proposed legislation was the final piece needed to finish what the Legislature started in 2017; to provide West Virginians with access to medical cannabis if they need it.

The Committee also discussed House Bill 2600 which would provide for an alternative method to publish sample ballots for electronic voting machines. The Committee adopted a strike and insert amendment to the bill to add more clarification.

Both bills were approved by the Committee, and will be reported to the full Senate to be voted upon.

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House Committee on Government Organization Originates Three Study Resolutions

House Committee

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March 1, 2019

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The House Committee on Government Organization convened at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 1 in 215-E to consider several pieces of legislation. Three of the agenda items on this day were study resolutions that originated in the Government Organization Committee, all of which were adopted unanimously.

The first study resolution would require state agencies to issue a comparative study that would analyze interstate and intrastate hauling. The resolution aims to help Public Service Commission haulers, and was adopted and advanced to the House floor with little discussion.

Another resolution involved the study of municipalities and their economies to scale. If adopted, this study resolution would require the legislature to study municipalities to best tailor efficiency incentives in individual municipalities during interim sessions. This resolution was also advanced to the House floor with recommendation that it be adopted.

The final resolution originated and adopted during this meeting was a House Concurrent Resolution that would require the WV Legislature to study BRIM, or the WV Board of Risk and Insurance Management to evaluate their outcomes and efficiency during interims.

In addition to the adoption of the three originating resolutions, the committee also had a consideration of three Senate bills.

Senate Bill 330 was advanced to the House floor with little discussion. The passage of this bill would require state agencies to include their contact information on their directory and website, unless they get expressed consent from the Legislature.

Senate Bill 344 was also advanced to the House floor with the recommendation that it pass. This bill would make clarifications regarding state-owned farms and clarify that they are owned by the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture. It would also make technical updates to the code and provide that state institutions may purchase items from vendors that state owned farms cannot directly produce.

Senate Bill 667 was advanced to the House floor after little debate regarding the effectiveness of the bill’s passage. Senate Bill 667 would establish the WV Motorsport Committee. The committee would consist of five people including the chairperson and have to report updates to the Legislature annually. The committee would be responsible for establishing racing events and promotion in order to spur industrial and economic growth in the state. The committee would be unpaid, but subject to have their transportation reimbursed.

Several delegates held some reservations about how much of a return on investment a motorsports industry would have in the state.

“We had one of these in the state before, and it honestly didn’t do too much,” Delegate Tony Paynter, R-Wyoming said. “I don’t think the involvement of the state government would help this industry much.”

Chairman Gary Howell, R-Mineral, spoke in favor of Senate Bill 667’s passage.

“When this committee existed in the state before, it began to attract investors before it was cut due to budget cuts,” Howell said. “This is an opportunity to bring investment to the state.”

Senate Bill 615 generated a lot of discussion. The passage of this bill would allow county commissioners an ongoing mechanism to consider compensation increases for elected county official every two years in an amount up to the increase in the annual Consumer Price Index published by the United States Department of Commerce over the prior two years, or three percent, whichever is greater.

Concern over Senate Bill 615 was brought up by several Delegates, who raised concern over the power that the bill would give County commissioners to give themselves pay raises. Delegates were also concerned over the fluctuating nature of the state economy, and how the implications of the bill could change given the year.

Because of these fiscal and accountability concerns, consideration on Senate Bill 615 was postponed until Monday.

Senate Budget Bill Reduces Governor’s Budget By $100 Million

Senate Committee

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February 28, 2019

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The 2020 fiscal year budget bill received passage from the Senate Finance committee, Thursday.

In a presentation provided by counsel, members of the committee learned specific details of the legislation, which reduces the Governor’s introduced budget by a total of $100 million. Most notably of the reduced allocation is the withdrawal of the Governor’s proposed teacher raise totaling $80,000,000.

Counsel additionally listed and explained the proposed bill’s improvements to the Governor’s budget, totaling $137,048,000. Potential improvements to the budget would go towards numerous bills that have been proposed during the session. Of these bills were:

Senate Bill 238, intended to increase certain penalties for passing stopped school bus, received a proposed improvement of $833,301 to add forward and backward facing cameras on all state school buses.
Senate Bill 522, which would create a special road repair fund through a $110,000,000 improvement that would be operated by the Division of Highways.
Senate Bill 544, which would increase salaries for members of WV State Police over three-year period. An improvement of $834,000 was added to this bill.

According the bill, $15,890,000 would be collected through a reduction of general revenue following the passage of Senate Bills 30, 36, 106, 117, 333 and 502.

Numerous changes to the state’s general revenue were also described during counsel’s presentation. To get more information and specific numbers concerning these changes click here.

In conclusion, Senate Bill 150 lists a total appropriation of $13,729,074,601.

Senate Health Amends Foster Care Bill

Senate Committee

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February 28, 2019

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Legislation concerning the state’s foster care system sparked lengthy discussion in Thursday’s Senate Health and Human Resources, resulting in a number of amendments.

Review of House Bill 2010 follows extensive debate from members in it’s house of origin. If passed, the bill would seek to strengthen the state’s foster care system through a nine step, multipurpose plan established in the language of the bill.

Committee chair, Sen. Michael Maroney, R-Marshall, addressed the committee prior to discussion and stated that the bill is the “most important piece of legislation to arise out of this session.”

Multiple representatives from the state’s child care systems, such as the Division of Health and Human Resources and the West Virginia Foster, Adoption and Kinship Parents Network, came before the committee to address concerns surrounding the proposed legislation.

Marissa Sanders of the West Virginia Foster, Adoption and Kinship Parents Network, addressed the committee to state that although she supported some areas of the legislation, she believes that in order to truly strengthen the state’s foster care system, more money should be allocated towards services which could strengthen the state’s existing system.

“Bottom line is we need more services,” Sanders said. “This bill simply doesn’t do that.”

Following discussion of the proposed legislation, debate over amendments lead to the passage of two amended amendments offered by Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, and Sen. Robert Plymale, D-Wayne.

Sen. Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, also motioned to provide an amendment concerning the bill’s use of Managed Care Organizations, but later decided to withdraw his motion due to fellow members citing potential issues surrounding the amendment.

Prior to amendments offered by members, the committee voted to adopt a strike and insert amendment to the bill in order to clarify and strengthen it’s language.

Following adoption of amendments, the committee voted to report the bill to the full Senate with the recommendation of passage following a double reference to the committee on finance.

House Bill 2878, relating to updating the controlled substances listed on schedule one, was also reported to the Senate.

Judiciary Committee Reports Tax Collection Bill to Senate

Senate Committee

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February 28, 2019

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The Senate Committee on the Judiciary met Thursday afternoon to discuss three House bills, including one about the collection of tax and distribution of estates.

House Bill 2579 would clarify conflicts within the code and create uniformity relating to the collection of taxes, the priority of distribution of an estate and to limit the liability of a fiduciary charged with distribution of the estate. Speakers from the West Virginia Bankers Association were in support of the proposed legislation, while the State Tax Department opposes it.

The Committee unanimously approved the bill, and referred it to the Committee on Finance.

House Bill 2509 would make theft of a controlled substance a felony, regardless of the value of the controlled substance. Currently, theft of drugs is a larceny, and a value of less than $1,000 is a misdemeanor. The proposed legislation would penalize a violation by a fine of not more than $30,000 and/or 1-4 years in prison.

House Bill 2872 would authorize any West Virginia State Police officer, Natural Resources Police officer, or any county or municipal law-enforcement officer to assist the State Fire Marshal or any of his or her employees in any duties for which the State Fire Marshal has jurisdiction.

Both bills were approved by the Committee, and will be reported to the full Senate.

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House Health and Human Resources Committee Advances Fraud Unit Bill

House Committee

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February 28, 2019

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The House Committee on Health and Human Resources convened at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28 to consider several Senate bills. Most notably, the committee had a consideration of a piece of legislation that would move West Virginia’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit from the Office of the Inspector General to the Attorney General’s Office.

Senate Bill 318 has stark similarities to House Bill 2867, which aimed to do the same thing. This bill was defeated in the House Judiciary Committee several weeks ago.

Jolynn Marra, the Director of the Office of Health Facility and Licensure Certification (OHFLAC) and Interim Inspector General, attested to the success that the Medicare Fraud Control Unit has recently had in the state.

“We return $4.98 for every dollar spent in this program,” Marra said. “This unit does a fantastic job, especially with our new director. The numbers speak for themselves.”

WV Attorney General Patrick Morrissey was present to testify as to why House Bill 2867 should be passed, and why the Medicare Fraud Control Unit should be transferred to his office.

“The Attorney General’s Office is experienced,” Morrisey said. “We are a very visible fraud-fighting entity, and we’ve had a lot of success pursuing consumer fraud in the state.”

Morrisey elaborated that 43 other states have their Medicaid Fraud Control Units underneath the jurisdiction of Attorney General Offices, and that the addition of West Virginia’s program to the WV Attorney General Office would increase transparency, and strengthen national relations.

Several delegates spoke in favor Senate Bill 318.

Delegate Amy Summers, R-Taylor, spoke in favor of the bill, arguing that it reduces transparency for the Medicaid Control Fraud Unit to be under jurisdiction of the Inspector General’s office, and office that reports to the Department of Health and Human Resources.

“I just feel it’s inappropriate that this office investigates a program administered by the agency they report to,” Summers said. “It feels a bit like a fox is in the hen house.”

Several other delegates had some concern regarding political motives, and the need for the transfer to occur in the first place.

Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, was skeptical of the bill’s passage.

“I’ll be voting no because as the Director of OHFLAC stated, we are currently getting an excellent return on investment,” Fleischauer said. “The office is very successful right now. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Despite the lengthy debate that Senate Bill 318 generated, the bill was advanced to the House Finance Committee in a 13-11 vote.

Two other Senate bills were advanced to the House floor on this day.

Senate Bill 520 would require the timely reportage of drug overdoses in the state within 72 hours of the overdose happening. This bill would require first responders and emergency medical service personnel to report drug overdoses after responding to them, so that the DHHR may gather accurate data and help citizens receive help. The current rule mandates quarterly reportage, this would update that to 72 hours.

Delegate Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, spoke in favor of the bill, citing the alarming rate of overdoses in Cabell County as a reason why.

“We have to have accurate data to know these overdose rates,” Rohrbach said. “This is a good bill for EMS workers, and those who suffer from addiction.”

Senate Bill 520 underwent a technical amendment, and was advanced to the floor as amended.

Senate Bill 668 was also advanced to the House floor on this day. This bill would to provide requirements for physician assistants who are collaborating with physicians in hospitals. The bill requires written notice to the appropriate licensing board, requires rulemaking, and specifies practice requirements.

This bill was also amended in a minor way that added to the effectiveness of the legislation. This amendment was adopted unanimously by the committee, and as amended, Senate Bill 668 was also advanced to the House floor with the recommendation that it pass.

Senate Passes Four House Bill, two to be Sent to the Governor

Senate Floor Session

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February 28, 2019

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The Senate convened Thursday morning for a quick floor session, and discussed four House bills that were on third reading and up for passage.

House Bill 2746 would provide for a procedure to allow the county commission to administratively close dormant estates. If the county commission administratively closes an estate, the personal representative is still liable in a civil action to heirs, beneficiaries, or interested parties for property.

House Bill 2827 would remove a residency requirement for county deputy assessors to reside in the county in which they are appointed to.

Both bills were passed by the House and Senate, and will be reported to Governor Justice to either be signed into law or vetoed.

The Senate also passed two other House bills including House Bill 2740 which would bar a parent from inheriting from or through a child in certain instances. Those instances include:

The parent’s parental rights were terminated by court order, and the parent-child relationship has not been judicially reestablished
The child died before reaching the age of 18 and there is clear and convincing evidence that immediately before the child’s death the parental rights of the parent could have been terminated under the law on the basis of nonsupport, abandonment, abuse, neglect, or other actions or inactions of the parent toward the child.

A strike and insert amendment by Senator Trump (R – Morgan, 15) added clarification of the bill.

House Bill 2690 relates to policyholder notices under the WV Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association Act. The bill would remove the requirement that the commissioner propose rules for legislative approval establishing the form and content of the disclaimer that advises a policy owner. The Senate Committee substitute removed duplicative language.

Both bills were passed by the Senate, and will be reported back to the House of Delegates.

Senate Resolution 64, designating Feb. 28, 2019 as Rare Disease Day at the Capitol was unanimously adopted by the Senate.

The Senate is adjourned until tomorrow, March 1 at 11 a.m.

The following committees will meet today:

Health at 1 p.m. in 451M

Energy at 1 p.m. in 208W

Gov. Org. at 2 p.m. in 208W

Finance at 3 p.m. in 451M

Judiciary at 3p.m. in 208W

The following committees will meet tomorrow:

Finance at 9:30 a.m. in 451M

Judiciary at 9:30 a.m. in 208W

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Page Break Extensive Debate Leads to Passage of Video Lottery Bill

Senate Committee

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February 28, 2019

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A House Bill relating to racetrack video lottery terminals spurred extensive review during Thursday’s Senate finance meeting.

If passed, House Bill 2901 would allow for the establishment of secondary locations for racetrack video lottery terminals throughout the state.

According to an explanation provided by counsel, the proposed legislation intends to promote expansion of the state’s lottery establishments following approval of the Lottery Commission. If made into law, the bill could potentially result in a fiscal increase of $2,340,000.

Director of the West Virginia Lottery, John Myers, came before the committee to address concerns surrounding the house bill. While standing before the committee, the director explained the various workings of the state’s lottery system concerning video lottery machines. According to Myers, the lottery commission has no problems with the proposed bill and believes it could greatly impact the state.

Following questions from members, Sen. Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, urged adoption of the bill by stating the legislation is a “great investment for the state.”

After discussion of the bill, members agreed to adopt a technical amendment prior to reporting the legislation to the full Senate.

Also reported by the committee were House Bills 2311, 2405, 2734 and 3405.