As Crossover Day in the Legislature progressed, the House passed several more bills during the afternoon and evening hours of the floor session.
Crossover Day is the last day to consider bills on third reading in house of origin. This does not include the budget or supplementary appropriation bills.
A few of the bills which passed include:
House Bill 5241 requires the Insurance Commissioner to audit PEIA claims for the treatment of PTSD of first responders. The bill requires an annual review with a report submitted to the Interim Joint Health Committee, the Interim Committee on PEIA and Insurance, and the Interim Committee on Volunteer Fire Departments and Emergency Medical Services.
House Bill 5297 prohibits delaying or quickening puberty and hormonal therapy for the purpose of assisting a minor with gender transitioning. The bill strikes sections from last year’s bill which allowed for pubertal modulation and hormone therapy for severe gender dysphoria. Two amendments were offered and failed. The amendments sought to keep the language from last year and to allow for hormonal therapy to prevent suicide. Proponents of the bill said these amendments were not necessary as nothing prohibits the prescribing of hormone therapy medication for regulating psychiatric disorders if it’s the lowest dose possible and isn’t used for the purpose of assisting with a gender transition. Opponents stated their concern is the children who will commit suicide because they cannot get the access they need to the hormone therapy medication, as the language has been stricken.
The bill allows for hormone therapy to be used in four instances for a minor: (1) individual born with ambiguous sex development disorder, (2) sex development disorder where individual does not have normal sex chromosome structure, sex steroid hormone production, or sex steroid hormone action, (3) treating infection, injury, disease, or disorder caused or exacerbated by a gender transition procedure, and (4) physical injury, physical disorder or physical illness where individual could die or have impairment of major bodily function.
House Bill 5514 would require newly elected or appointed members of local boards of education to receive training on fiscal management in their orientation training provided by the State Board of Education. The bill also requires the training be provided within 30 days of being sworn into the office. The bill increases the annual training required to 12 hours including new subjects. The bill also increases board members’ pay per meeting to $260 while reducing the maximum number of paid meetings per year to 40.
House Bill 5358 authorizes the creation of the position of the WV Corrections and Rehabilitation Ombudsman within the Office of Inspector General. The Ombudsman would establish a system to receive complaints reporting allegations of abuse, death, critical incidents, or any other condition affecting the health or welfare of inmates or residents in the correctional or juvenile system. The Ombudsman would review and make recommendations for policies and procedures and legislative proposals for reform. Additional responsibilities are listed in the bill. The bill requires annual reporting and includes penalties for noncompliance and retaliation.
House Bill 5668 creates the Responsible Gaming and Research Act. The bill provides for data collection on gaming operations within the state to ensure the integrity of gaming and to understand responsible gambling and problem gambling. The data can be shared for scholarly purposes. The bill requires an annual report on the impact of casinos, iGaming, racing, iLottery, and sports wagering; and on problem gamblers and gambling addiction in WV to the Joint Committee on Government Finance.
The House recessed for thirty minutes, with a Rules Committee meeting happening at 3:15 p.m.
The House returned to session at 3:30 p.m.
House Rules moved House Bill 5331 to the House Calendar and House Bill 4700 to the active Special Calendar. The House continued with the agenda.
More bills passed this afternoon:
House Bill 4700 allows the Lottery Commission to create a list of reasons for which a patron of sports gaming may be banned from engaging in sports betting. The list shall include but is not limited to a prior conviction of assault or battery on athletic officials, prior violation of an order of the commission, and if a person had engaged in a pattern of harassing sports officials, coaches, or participants to the extent of posing a threat to patrons or participants.
House Bill 5685 was amended on third reading. The amended bill requires the Bureau of Medical Services to study all benefits and eligibility provided by the program in WV’s surrounding states and the five lowest per capita cost states for three years. For any benefit or eligibility in WV Medicaid that exceeds any of those states, the BMS must report the differential and offer a recommendation for continuing or discontinuing the benefit or eligibility. A report shall be submitted and include a six-year projection for expenditure for the identified benefit on December 31, 2024. The BMS shall submit reports every three years. The bill also requires BMS to annually submit on December 1 a report that analyzes how to achieve a one percent state match budget reduction from the previous fiscal year. The BMS shall also submit a report annually on December 31 on WV’s improper payment rate.
Additionally, the amended bill requires a study to determine if state agencies impacted by state Medicaid funding can be financially covered by the state Medicaid program or more efficiently covered by the state Medicaid program. The study shall be submitted with recommendations concerning state budgetary savings to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance. Another study shall take place to determine if existing waiver programs have generated financial offsets as originally planned. The initial study shall be submitted by December 31, 2024, to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance. An additional study must take place concerning the strategies that may begin with a benefit cliff in the state.
House Bill 5698 establishes a framework for controlling and processing personal data in the state. The bill gives consumers the right to view, modify, and delete personal data.
The House is adjourned until tomorrow, February 29, 2023 at 11 a.m.
Committee Meetings tomorrow, Feb. 29
The Finance Committee will meet at 9 a.m. in Room 460.
The Judiciary Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. in Room 410.
The Rules Committee will meet at 10:45 a.m. behind the House Chamber.
The Committee on Economic Development and Tourism will meet at 3 p.m. in Room 410.
The Committee on Energy and Manufacturing will meet after the floor session in Room 460.
