House Judiciary met this morning to consider the following:

House Bill 4985 creates the Securities Restitution Assistance Fund. It provides the application process. The bill moves to the Finance Committee to determine how it will be funded.

House Bill 4320 creates a new section of code, which clarifies that neither a parent nor legal guardian of a minor child shall be denied access to the minor child’s medical records. The committee substitute of the bill removes the exceptions for birth control, prenatal, drug abuse, and venereal disease. The bill advances to the House floor.

House Bill 4845 creates the West Virginia Anti-Swatting Act, which makes swatting a felony offense. The penalty would be one to five years in a state correctional facility and/or a fine of $5,000 to $10,000 is making a false or misleading notice via telecommunication devices to law enforcement with reckless disregard for whether a report may cause bodily harm to an individual. An amendment was offered to make it a misdemeanor, but it was rejected. The bill was laid over to another meeting.

House Bill 4885 prohibits persons from sitting, standing, kneeling, or laying down in the roadway for the purpose of blocking traffic. The bill advances to the House Floor.

House Bill 5057 defines a nominal fee for providing a referral to an insurance company or producer as a one-time fee of $100 or less.

House Bill 5298 prohibits unsuccessful candidates in a primary election from being nominated by a different political party for placement on the subsequent general election ballot. An amendment was offered to prevent a person serving in one office as one political party from running in the next election as a different party during the next election effective. The amendment was rejected. The bill advances to the House Floor.

The Committee on Technology and Infrastructure met this afternoon.

House Bill 5271 creates a Privacy of Social Care Information Act. The bill was amended and advanced to the Judiciary Committee.

House Bill 4707 establishes Infrastructure Ready Jurisdictions. The Department of Economic Development will designate Infrastructure Ready Jurisdictions and create rules. The Department can award an additional five percent preferential scoring for entities on projects within these jurisdictions on all permissible grants. Just because a county is a certified Infrastructure Ready Jurisdiction, it does not mean the city is automatically an IRJ. The city must also apply if they are seeking preferential scoring.

House Bill 5064 removes the loan value of a motor vehicle be less than $9,500 to allow auto dealers, licensed automobile auctioneers, motor vehicle repair facilities, or towing companies upon whose property or place of business an abandoned or junked motor vehicle has been abandoned to obtain a certificate of title and registration for the abandoned motor vehicle or junked vehicle.

House Bill 5083 provides tow companies access to driver registration information on demand.

The Judiciary Committee met this afternoon to consider the following:

House Bill 4320 states no parent or guardian may be denied access to a minor’s health records unless ordered otherwise by the court. After some discussion, the bill was laid over for another meeting.

House Bill 4851 authorizes local school boards, public charter schools, and private/religious schools to employ school security officers. SSOs must be retired law-enforcement officers in good standing. The individuals must complete training and certification courses. The bill does not suggest replacing student resource officers. SSOs would be in addition to SROs if the county wants them. An amendment was offered and was rejected. Two other amendments were adopted. The bill advances to the floor.

House Bill 5065 increases compensation rates for guardian ad litem to $105 for out-of-court work and to $125 for in-court work. Guardians ad litem must complete continuing education requirements. The committee substitute advances to the Finance Committee.

House Bill 5084 requires a valid identification card to be presented to verify the age for the purchase or acceptance of vapes and vape products. The bill advances to the floor.

House Bill 5091 increases the fine for individuals who damage critical infrastructure over $2,500 to $25,000 to $100,000. For each offense after this, the fine would be $100,000 to $500,000 and the individual could be imprisoned for five to ten years. The bill was amended and advanced to the House floor.

House Bill 5122 removes the upper age limit for the original appointment of a deputy sheriff. House Bill 5133 removes the upper age limit for the original appointment of municipal police officers. The committee wrapped the two bills into a committee substitute for House Bill 5122.

House Bill 5332 exempts persons who have previously been commissioned as a notary public from the requirement of having a high school diploma or its equivalent.

House Joint Resolution 21 is a proposed amendment to section 1 of Article IV of the WV Constitution to clarify individuals who are not U.S. citizens cannot vote in any election of the state. The bill advances to the House.

Today, the House of Delegates passed six bills, recommitted two bills to the Judiciary, and postponed action on House Bill 4940 for one day.

House Bill 4376 requires a surgical smoke evacuation system in healthcare facilities. Surgical smoke is the by-product of using heat-generated surgical instruments. It can contain various health-damaging particles which can be inhaled. Any facility without an evacuation system for surgical smoke shall be penalized with a fine between $1,000 to $5,000.

House Bill 4776 provides circumstances a teacher may remove a Pre-K to Fifth-Grade student from the classroom. The bill also requires that within three days the teacher, principal, and child’s parent shall have a conference. The student may not be returned to the class pending the conference.

House Bill 4817 was requested by the Board of Nursing. The bill allows the Board to provide advice and assistance in nursing education. The bill also removes the requirement of completing 45 contact hours of clinical management of drug therapy under a board-approved program.

House Bill 4830 modifies the frequency of training for school personnel. The bill states that personnel shall be trained upon hire and every three years after for suicide prevention awareness, child sexual abuse prevention, the county policy on harassment, bullying, and intimidation, and multicultural education. The bill also requires first aid training to include blood-borne pathogen information. The bill makes changes to the Special Protections for Disabled Children Act of 2022, by clarifying anyone who cares for, educates, or houses disabled children shall be trained on mandatory reporting obligations.  

House Bill 4832 amends reporting requirements of the state superintendent by state reports shall be submitted to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability. The bill also states any school district failing to report to the state superintendent can lose state funding.

House Bill 4838 requires that the county boards of education provide long-term substitute teachers with information about IEP plans and 504 plans.

House Bill 4315 and House Bill 4621 were recommitted to the Judiciary Committee.

Bills introduced today can be found here.
Resolutions introduced today can be found here.

The House is adjourned until tomorrow, February 1, 2023, at 11 a.m.

Committee Meetings, today Jan. 31
 The Judiciary Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 410.
 The Finance Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 460 for Budget. Jan. | Feb.
 The Education Committee will meet at 2 p.m. in Room 434.
The Committee on Government Organization will meet at 3 p.m. in Room 215E.

Committee Meetings, tomorrow Feb. 1
The Committee on Jails and Prisons will meet at 9 a.m. in Room 410.
The Committee on Seniors, Children, and Families will meet at 9:15 a.m. in Room 215E.
The Committee on Fire Departments and EMS will meet at 9:30 a.m. in Room 434.
The Rules Committee will meet at 10:45 a.m. behind the House Chamber.
The Committee on Energy and Manufacturing will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 410.
 The Committee on Technology and Infrastructure will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 434.
 The Committee on Health and Human Resources will meet at 3 p.m. in Room 215E.

The Energy and Manufacturing Committee will host a Public Hearing on Friday, February 2, 2023, at 9 a.m. on H.B. 5018 – To provide for oversight and authority governing community air monitoring programs.

The Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources met this morning to consider the following:

House Bill 4974 creates the Save Our Farmland and Protect Our National Security Act. The Secretary of State will compile a registry based on information available of those individuals, countries, and groups that constitute a threat to the agricultural production of this state and publish it on the website. The bill advanced to the Judiciary.

House Bill 4754 exempts the processing of livestock and wild game by a slaughterhouse for an individual owner of the product processed from the Consumer Sales and Service Tax. The amended bill advances to Finance.

House Bill 4745 exempts quail and partridges possessed for agricultural purposes from the game preserve licensure requirement. The bill advances to Government Organization.

House Bill 4280 creates a tax credit of 50 percent of the cost of lifetime hunting, trapping, and fishing licenses for veterans who are honorably discharged and verified as 50 percent or more disabled.

House Joint Resolution 8 guarantees the right of the citizens of West Virginia to hunt and fish. The bill puts a Constitutional amendment to the ballot for the 2024 election. The Bill advances to the Judiciary.