Today, Stephen “David” Green took the oath of office for the House of Delegates. Green was appointed to fill the vacated seat of Anita Hall. Speaker Roger Hanshaw administered the oath of office.
Green, an insurance agency owner, said he accepted the appointment because he wants to help his county.
Delegate Green represents the 36th District, which includes the majority of McDowell County.
Others in attendance for the ceremony include Delegates Tully, Cannon, Rohrbach, Anderson, and Vance.
The Judiciary Committee met this afternoon to consider the legislation, including:
House Bill 4292 provides for enhanced damages of three times the amount owed for nonpayment of royalties due from oil, natural gas, or natural gas liquids production under the terms of the lease. This only applies to vertical wells.
House Bill 4867 requires pornography websites to use age verification to prevent minors from accessing websites. The bill proves definitions. Age verification methods include digitized information card, third-party verification, or data transaction.
House Bill 4940 prohibits squatting and states squatters are not considered tenants.
House Bill 4965 mandates restitution to children of victims of negligent homicide or driving under the influence causing the death of a parent or guardian to be paid monthly until the child reaches 18.
The Senate passed a bill Monday morning that would expand state authority to acquire railroad rights-of-way and land for trail programs.
Senate Bill 196 would accomplish this by broadening the definition of railroad rights-of-way state transportation officials could acquire to develop and maintain rail trails to include rights-of-way, easements or other interests in land on which rail service has been abandoned, discontinued, temporarily suspended or railbanked under federal law. The legislation defines railbanking as holding an inactive railroad right-of-way intact for future railroad service.
In the bill, “abandoned” refers to a track being removed and “inactive” refers to a railway that is not being used but with a track still intact.
The legislation includes railroad companies among those parties not liable for any injury to people or property caused by an act of a person who goes on land the parties provide the public for non motorized recreational trail use unless any charge is made for that use.
The Senate is adjourned until tomorrow, Jan. 30, at 11 a.m.
Afternoon Meetings:
Transportation and Infrastructure at 1 p.m. in 451M
Banking and Insurance at 2 p.m. in 451M
Ag and Natural Resources at 2 p.m. in 208W
Finance at 3 p.m. in 451M
Judiciary at 3 p.m. in 208W
Morning meetings for Jan. 30:
Education at 10 a.m. in 451M
Gov. Org at 10 a.m. in 208W
Today, the House of Delegates passed five bills, completed action on two, amended four bills, and postponed action on three.
The two bills completing legislative action were Senate Bill 462 and Senate Bill 483. These bills are routine tax modification bills, which are made each year.
House Bill 4697 adds protections for WV residents who temporarily reside out-of-state from non-renewal of licenses and registration.
House Bill 4764 requires the Commissioner of the DMV to allow the purchase of one-trip special permits to be made and paid online.
House Bill 4766 requires the Department of Highways to post signage for planned road closures 30 days before the closure if the closure will be longer than 30 days and the detour is longer than one mile.
House Bill 4783 allows optometrists to perform procedures taught or trained to them through an accredited school or college of optometry. Without this bill, licensed optometrists can only perform procedures authorized by the board before 2010. The bill also extends glasses prescriptions from one year to two years.
House Bill 4908 allows the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Health Facilities to enter into contracts with WVU, Marshall University, the School of Osteopathic Medicine, or the WV’s public health institute.
House Bills 4017, 4434, 4860, and 4976 were amended. House Bills 4855, 4957, and 4777 were postponed one day.
Bills introduced today can be found here.
Resolutions introduced today can be found here.
The House is adjourned until tomorrow, January 30, 2023, at 11 a.m.
Committee Meetings, today Jan. 29
The Committee on Government Organization will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 215E
The Finance Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 460 with Budget Hearings to follow the meeting. Jan. | Feb.
The Education Committee will meet at 2 p.m. in Room 434.
The Judiciary Committee will meet at 2:30 p.m. in Room 410.
Committee Meetings, tomorrow Jan. 30
The Committee on Banking and Insurance will meet at 9 a.m. in Room 410.
The Committee on Pensions and Retirement will meet at 9 a.m. in Room 460.
The Committee on Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security will meet at 9:15 a.m. in Room
215E.
The Committee on Political Subdivisions will meet at 10 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 Committee on Economic Development and Tourism will meet at 3 p.m. in Room 410.
Today, the House passed four bills, amended two bills, and postponed action on two bills.
Senate Bill 269 removes all test strips from deadly drugs from the definition of drug paraphernalia.
House Bill 4205 gives the Legislature legal standing against election officials. It allows the Legislature to intervene in any lawsuit against state agencies, departments, and officials. The bill is effective January 1, 2025.
House Bill 4759 requires any employer with 15 employees or more to confirm employee can be legally employed in the U.S. status using e-verify. The process of e-verifying is entering information from the employee’s I-9 into the verification system. Required information is name, email, phone, and social security number. The employee must hire a third party to e-verify or train a designated employee. The designated employee must study the manual and take a mastery test to become certified to do the e-verifying. A third-party verifier costs about $100 annually plus $11.50 per employee verified. Results of employment status are instant once information is entered. The bill does preclude existing employees from being e-verified. All new hires must be e-verified. One can do a self-check on e-verify, but one cannot e-verify oneself unless certified to summit verifications.
Two competing amendments were offered to House Bill 4759. The first amendment would have removed the e-verify process completely. The intent of the amendment was to go after the businesses not abiding by immigration law. The amendment offered two penalties. Businesses that do not keep records and provide I-9 forms would suffer a 10-day business license unless it is rectified in those 10 days. This allows errors to be corrected and penalties to be lifted. The second penalty goes after those who are knowingly and willfully hiring illegal immigrants or fraudulently filling out documents to hire and employ illegal immigrants. The penalty for a first offense would have been a 180 suspension of business licenses. On the second offense, the penalty would be a permanent loss of licenses. This amendment failed.
The second amendment adds back a section that had been removed by the bill. The removed section requires all regardless of employment size to keep a record of I-9 forms. This amendment was adopted.
House Bill 4814 extends the reporting and sunset date for the State Advisory Council on Postsecondary Attainment Goals to December 31, 2027.
The amended House Bill 4783 updates the practice of optometry by allowing all licensees, who are trained and taught at an accredited school of optometry to perform any procedure taught to them. The bill also extends the prescription of glasses from 18 months to 24 months.
House Bill 4776 and House Bill 4777 had action postponed one day.
House Bill 4313 was recommitted to the Committee on Seniors, Children, and Family Issues.
Bills introduced today can be found here.
Resolutions introduced today can be found here.
The House is adjourned until Monday, January 29, 2023 at 11 a.m.
Committee Meetings, Monday, Jan. 29
The Rules Committee will meet at 10:45 p.m. behind the House Chamber.
The Committee on Government Organization will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 215E.
The Committee on Finance will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 460. Budget hearings to follow the meeting. Jan. | Feb.
The Education Committee will meet at 2 p.m. in Room 434.
The Judiciary Committee will meet at 2:30 p.m. in Room 410.
The Senate passed a bill on Friday morning that would tweak how parental rights in West Virginia are terminated in cases of parental neglect.
Currently in West Virginia, abuse and neglect cases end with a circuit court’s termination of the biological parent’s parental rights. Often, the children of those parents are adopted by a foster family or a relative.
As discussed in the Judiciary Committee earlier this week, the adoption process begins with a petition filed, in many cases, by the adoption attorney representing the individuals seeking to adopt the children. Recently, there have been situations in the state where adoption petitions are being filed prematurely, with hearings held and adoptions finalized prior to the resolution of a biological parent’s appeal of the circuit court’s ruling.
Senate Bill 318 would require that adoption petitions be filed only after a biological parent’s appeal has been denied, or their allotted time to file such an appeal has elapsed.
Members learned in committee that if termination of parental rights were reversed on appeal after an adoption was finalized, the result would be a legal mess with no simple resolution, likely resulting in trauma to the child and the family as well as the adoptive parents.
The legislation now moves to the House of Delegates for consideration.
The Senate is adjourned until Monday, Jan. 29, at 11 a.m.
The House Health and Human Resources Committee met this afternoon. The committee first heard presentations on rate increases for home and community based services.
House Bill 4376 ensures that a smoke evacuation system is in place to protect medical personnel nursing any medical treatment where there could be surgical smoke. Any health facility will be subject to a $100 to $500 fine for each violation.
House Bill 4817 permits the Board of Nursing to provide advice and assistance to nursing programs. It removes the requirement of a notary for applications.
House Bill 4134 creates a new section of code to authorize the Board of Medicine to create rules relating to licensure, practice, requirements, disciplinary and complaint procedures, continuing education, and physician assistants.
House Bill 4135 and House Bill 4136 are rules bills authorizing the Board of Medicine to create legislative rules.
House Bill 4138, House Bill 4139, House Bill 4140, and House Bill 4141 are rules bills authorizing the WV Board of Optometry to create various legislative rules.
House Bill 4142 and House Bill 4143 are rules bills authorizing the WV Board of Osteopathic Medicine to create legislative rules.
House Bill 4157, House Bill 4158, House Bill 4159, and House Bill 4160 authorize the WV Board of Registered Nurses to create legislative rules.
House Bill 4161 authorizes the WV Board of Respiratory Care to create legislative rules relating to temporary student permits.
Today, the House of Delegates rejected one bill, passed two, amended one, and advanced one with amendments pending.
The House rejected House Bill 4627 on a 66 opposed and 30 in favor. The bill would have required the collection of DNA at the point of arrest for qualified arrestees. Proponents felt it was “another tool in the toolbox” for law enforcement to help find criminals who had gotten away with one crime but committed another. Opponents felt the bill was a violation of rights. People get arrested without being found guilty. Some opponents liked the concept of the bill but felt there was too much confusion to pass it.
House Bill 4595 updates LOCHHRA’s authority to enter executive session for special circumstances to hear investigation details relating to child abuse, nursing home abuse, CPS cases, APS cases, etc.
House Bill 4756 creates the Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementia Advisory Council. The bill requires the council to submit a report within 24 months. The bill terminates the council on July 31, 2026.
House Bill 4205 was amended. The amended bill recognizes the Legislature as having legal standing to intervene in any lawsuit seeking declaratory or injunctive relief regarding the legality or constitutionality of any law, regulation, or involving any illegal or unauthorized changes/attempted changes to any state election law or regulation, by or against any state agency department or state government official.
House Bill 4759 was advanced to third with the right to amend. The bill requires companies to use E-Verify to confirm the legal employment status of all persons who come into their employ and report their employment to the appropriate governmental agencies.
House Bills 4776, 4777, and 4860 were postponed one day.
Bills introduced today can be found here.
Resolutions introduced today can be found here.
A motion was made to reconsider House Bill 4793, which passed the House yesterday. Another motion was made to table the reconsideration. The tabling motion was adopted; therefore, the bill will not be reconsidered by the House.
The House is adjourned until tomorrow, January 26, 2023, at 11 a.m.
Committee Meetings, today Jan. 25
The Committee on Economic Development and Tourism will meet at 1:35 p.m. in Room 410.
The Committee on Health and Human Resources will meet at 3 p.m. in Room 215E.
The Committee on Technology and Infrastructure will meet at 3:30 p.m. in Room 434.
Committee Meetings, tomorrow Jan. 25
The Finance Committee will meet at 9 a.m. in Room 460 for Budget Hearings. Jan. | Feb.
The Judiciary Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. in Room 410.
The Education Committee will meet at 10 a.m. in Room 434.
The Rules Committee will meet at 10:45 a.m. behind the House Chamber.
The Senate passed five bills during a brief Thursday floor session on Veterans Appreciation Day at the Legislature.
The bills passed today are as follows:
Senate Bill 262: Clarifying procedure for administrative dissolution of corporations by Secretary of State
Senate Bill 354: Relating to the WV Advanced Energy and Economic Corridor Authority
Senate Bill 357: Permitting dental hygienist to perform tobacco cessation education
Senate Bill 428: Establishing appeals from administrative rulings are to be filed with Intermediate Court of Appeals
Senate Bill 430: WV Rent-to-Own Act
The Senate also adopted Senate Resolution 11, designating January 25, 2024, as Veterans Appreciation Day.
The Senate is adjourned until tomorrow, Jan. 26, at 9 a.m.
Afternoon Meetings:
Energy at 1 p.m. in 208W
Health at 1 p.m. in 451M
Finance at 3 p.m. in 451M
Judiciary at 3:15 p.m. in 208W
The House Education Committee met this afternoon to consider the following:
House Bill 4263 increases the pay grade of a cafeteria manager to classification from pay grade D to pay grade E beginning on July 1, 2024.
House Bill 4331 provides an optional lump sum payment of accrued personal leave to full-time employees of a county school board upon termination of full-time employment. The bill advances to Finance.
House Bill 4832 clarifies any school district that fails to report its finances to the state superintendent may be subject to a reduction of its state funding.
House Bill 4838 requires county boards of education to provide long-term substitute teachers with information about an IEP plan and 504 plan.
House Bill 4806 requires the use of bathrooms and multi-person common changing rooms by gender assigned at birth. It prohibits the usage of a designated room by a person of the opposite sex, with exceptions for family members, rendering medical or other assistance. The bill establishes penalties for violations. The committee substitute also allows for the opposite sex’s locker room to be used during sporting events.
An amendment to the committee substitute was offered to change “original” birth certificate to “current” birth certificate because there could be cases where an individual could be 18, have had a sex change, and still be in high school. The amendment was rejected.
The committee substitute advances to the Judiciary Committee.
House Bill 4299 allows K-12 teachers, administrators, and support personnel to carry concealed firearms and be designated as school protection officers (SPO). Training through the Department of Homeland Security must be completed. The individual must have a valid concealed carry permit. The bill does provide funding for the SPO program. The program is not mandatory, but if the county should decide to do it, they will have the support to do so.
Proponents of the bill feel this would provide extra protection to schools. Opponents feel it could cause dangerous situations.
The bill advances to the Judiciary Committee.
