House members meeting Tuesday afternoon advanced House Bill 106, which seeks to reapportion the House of Delegates districts, to 2nd reading for Thursday. A motion to substitute a Minority Report in lieu of the bill was voted down.
On the House Calendar and advanced to 2nd Reading were two supplemental bills, House Bill 104 and House Bill 105.
Also, House Bill 102 was reported from the House Finance Committee, taken up for immediate consideration and read a first time. This bills would clarify the authorization of the Higher Education Policy Commission to sell, lease or convey property and to designate where proceeds are to be deposited.
Finally, a proclamation was received from the Governor amending the special session call to include to include a bill House Bill 107, which makes a supplementary appropriation of unappropriated moneys to the Secretary of State. The bill was sent to the House Finance Committee for consideration.
The House will reconvene tomorrow, Thursday, August 4th, 2011 at 12:00 p.m.
The House will reconvene tomorrow, Thursday, August 4th, 2011 at 12:00 p.m.
The Joint Marcellus Shale Committee will meet tomorrow in Room 451M at 9:00 a.m.


The Senate amended and passed
House of Delegates members met at 3:00 p.m. today to receive committee reports for three bills on the special session agenda. 
The House of Delegates held a public hearing on redistricting in the House Chamber this evening at 5 p.m. Many citizens gave opinions as to how they believe the House should proceed with regard to the redistricting process. The majority of the citizens that spoke advocated for 100 single-member districts.
Prior to the Special Session to address Redistricting, the Senate opened it’s doors to an open, transparent system. Announcing receipt of iPads for each Senator, the Senate president unveiled the implementation of the newest mode of communication to it’s 34 member body.
The Senate met shortly after Noon today to convene the First Extraordinary Session of 2011. They received the
The House of Delegates Select Committee on Redistricting met today in an informational hearing to hear an overview by Morgan Cullen from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) regarding redistricting laws from a federal standpoint. The redistricting process is constitutionally mandated and strictly governed by state and federal laws. Public involvement and comment has the potential to be higher than ever this time around due to an ease of communication with advents in technology.
During the July Interim meetings, the Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale conducted two extensive hearings regarding the implications, the economies and the effects of horizontal drilling of natural gas within the Mountain State.
The Joint Committee on Marcellus Shale is expecting to conduct three, 2 hour meetings during the August Interims (Aug. 1-3) to tackle a legislative draft proposal regarding the overall production process utilized via natural gas horizontal wells.