The House Energy and Public Works Committee discussed three bills and a resolution this evening.

House Bill 4012 would reduce the burden on utility companies when constructing and maintaining power generation and transmission lines. This bill was moved to markup and passage

In discussion of the bill, Charlotte R. Lane, chairman of the Public Service Commission, said she was in favor of this bill except for a concern regarding section I in the amended bill. In the amended section for 24-2-11a, Lane said she was concerned about it possibly eliminating the responsibility of the PSC to look at costs when transmission lines are replaced.

House Bill 4489 would provide the authority to the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles to issue vital records, such as birth certificates, death certificates, marriage and divorce records, in the custody of the State Registrar. This bill would also require the DMV and the Department of Health to implement a program so the DMV can access the previously mentioned vital records. This bill was moved to markup and passage.

House Bill 4696 would update the language in the Abandoned Mines Lands and Reclamation Act to allow for the Department of Environmental Protection office to receive federal funding. This bill was moved to markup and passage.

Travis Parsons, deputy director for the Office of Abandoned Mine Lands and Reclamation, said there are roughly 4000 or more mines that need to be reclaimed to create suitable land for West Virginians.

In addition to the discussion of bills, the committee discussed House Concurrent Resolution 4. This resolution would establish a Genesis Working Group to create statewide planning for “artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, digital infrastructure, and energy-based economic development.” This would include integrating data centers, bitcoin mining, and AI clusters. This resolution was moved to markup and passage.

The Committee on Health and Human Resources met this afternoon.

Markup & Passage

House Bill 4622 removes the Office of the Inspector General from the Department of Health, where is it for administrative purposes and clarifies that the Office of the Inspector General has the ability to conduct performance audits, financial audits, evaluations, and attestations engagements of the Department of Human Services, the Department of Health, and the Department of Health Facilities and their independent contractors.

House Bill 4640 adds crystalline polymorph psilocybin to the permitted list of distributed and prescribed drugs if approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration and scheduled by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. Two amendments were adopted. The first adds synthetic kratom alkaloid to the Drug Schedule I, having no medicinal value. The second amendment adds organic psilocybin to the permitted list, provided it is approved by the USFDA. Another amendment was made to remove THC from the Drug Schedule I, but was rejected.

Committee Hearing

House Bill 4740 makes changes to code relating to West Virginia’s Rural Health Transformation Program and the State of West Virginia’s commitments to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This includes exempting program implementation from purchasing restrictions, adopting the Presidential Fitness Test, and requiring the Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine to require continuing education in nutrition.

House Bill 4629 allows individuals performing cessation research conducted by an institute of higher education to provide tobacco products to 18 to 21-year-olds as part of a sanctioned medically supervised program.

House Bill 4715 allows qualified physician assistants and certified nurse practitioners to practice without physician supervision. The sponsor of the bill stated that the bill was brought to her by individuals in the profession wanting to provide better access to care in rural areas. A representative for the Board of Medicine and several other boards stated that collaboration between physicians and other healthcare practitioners lead to better care for patients.

The Subcommittee on Agriculture, Commerce, and Tourism met this afternoon.

Markup & Passage

House Bill 4121 requires county commissions to provide ambulance services to all residents and to submit a yearly report by September 1 to the Office of Emergency Medical Services on the funds expended the prior year for emergency ambulance services. The bill was reported to the Committee on Government Organization.

House Bill 4355 creates the “upland game bird” stamp to be administered by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. Upland game birds include ruffed grouse, bobwhite quail, ring-necked pheasant, woodcock, and snipe. The stamp cost would be $10. The bill advanced to the Committee on Government Organization.

Committee Hearing

House Bill 4386 removes age limitations for people employed for firefighting services.

House Bill 4424 permits landowners or lessees of land whose land is damaged by deer or other wildlife to hire a third party to kill the deer or other wildlife by bow and arrow.

House Bill 4493 creates the West Virginia Abolishment of Wholesaling Act. Wholesaling is the purchasing of real property with the intent to transfer or sell the contractual rights to a third party for a fee, without the wholesaler taking legal title to the property.

The House Committee on Education discussed House Bill 4014 and House Bill 4656 this afternoon; These two bills were advanced to their next committee.

House Bill 4014 would establish multiple parts of the Workforce Readiness and Opportunity Initiatives Act. This act includes programs to expand the apprenticeship training tax credit, allow independent contractors to have portable benefits, provide tax treatment of those benefits, and eliminate barriers for military-trained applicants for licensure.

House Bill 4656 would remove students who are consistently absent as a status offense and make absences work towards prevention rather than being a punishment.

In addition to these bills, Delegate Joe Ellington (R – Mercer, 38) announced that Delegate Joe Statler (R – Monongalia, 77) will become the new chairman of the committee.

The House Judiciary Committee and its subcommittees discuss several bills on markup and passage. House Bills 4036, 4138, 4366, and 4477 were advanced to the floor.

Judiciary

House Bill 4036 would increase criminal penalties for the unlawful use of handicapped parking spaces by people with mobility impairments.

House Bill 4138 would update current crimes of “sexual extortion” and “aggravated sexual extortion” to require registration as a sex offender by a person convicted of one of these offenses and clarifies that a prior conviction for the crime of sexual assault of a spouse shall remain an offense that requires registration as a sex offender.

In addition, this bill includes language to apply retroactively as well as moving forward. People who were previously convicted of these crimes would be required to be put on the sex offender registry.

House Bill 4366 would make military protection orders considered as evidence of need for an emergency protective order or personal safety order.

House Bill 4477 would provide the Attorney General with prosecutorial power over counties if there is corruption among officials, election fraud, or other instances, as determined by the Attorney General’s office.

House Bill 4080 would require mayoral and city council elections to be partisan. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.

House Bill 4137 would update existing code about the West Virginia Law Institute. The institute was established to provide support services to the legislature, as well as the West Virginia University College of Law. These updates address issues with membership based on congressional districts, how vacancies are filled, and would exempt the Institute from open meeting laws. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.

House Bill 4382 would require collection agencies to notify about wage garnishments 30 days prior to their action by mail. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.

House Bill 4412 would create liability for publishers and distributors of sexual material harmful to minors and penalties for violation of the article. This would require publishers and distributors to implement an age verification system. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.

Legal Services

House Bill 4478 would allow racing facilities, such as motorsports or competitive vehicle racing, from certain liability. This bill was moved to markup and passage.

Homeland Security

House Bill 4456 would grant additional local and state law enforcement privileges to law enforcement officers of the National Park Service. This bill was advanced to the Judiciary.

House Bill 4522 would ban foreign spending on state ballot issues. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.

Courts

House Bill 4606 would allow judicial officers, when determining for good cause of release, to use residency status. In the bill, this is described as including, but not limited to, if they are a resident of the state, they have ties to the community, or if they are a flight risk. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.