The Senate passed a bill Wednesday evening that would absorb Pierpont Community and Technical College into Fairmont State University.

Senate Bill 653 would reunify Pierpont and Fairmont State, making Pierpont into a “division of Fairmont State.” If the bill completes in the House, Pierpont will become the Fairmont State University Pierpont College of Community and Technical Education.

The bill, and subsequent merger, would add three new members to Fairmont State’s Board of Governors, including two faculty members – at least one of whom would be elected to the position by Pierpont’s faculty – and one new member, appointed by Governor Jim Justice, “who has knowledge and practical experience in community and technical education.”

Also under the bill, the Dean of the Pierpont College of Community and Technical College will be appointed by Fairmont State’s president, and an advisory board on matters related to community and technical college would be appointed by the chairman of the Fairmont State Board of Governors. The chair of the advisory board would also be a voting member of Fairmont State’s Board of Governors.

If the bill completes action, at the time of the unification, all Pierpont employees would become employees of Fairmont State University.

The legislation now moves to the House of Delegates for consideration.

This concludes Crossover Day. The Senate will only consider House bills from this point forward.

The Senate is adjourned until tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Judiciary will continue its meeting from earlier today at 6:30 p.m. in 208W

Education will meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. in 451M.

The Senate passed the “Anti-Racism Act” during the first of two floor sessions on Crossover Day.

Today is the last day each body can consider bills in their house of origin. A similar bill in the House of Delegates ran out of time on a deadline to advance from committee last Friday.

The bill is in response to the national discussion on the roles of race, gender and ethnicity in America, and specifically, with regard to education.

The Senate version, SB498, would include public, charter and private schools in K-12 education as well as higher education. The legislation does not include curriculum transparency requirements. The Senate bill would allow for the presentation of critical race theory concepts in a university setting, as long as alternative theories can also be presented.

The legislation would forbid instruction that one gender, race or ethnicity is superior to another. It also would prohibit teaching that some groups are inherently racist, sexist or oppressive based on their race, ethnicity or sex. The bill also forbids instruction that morality or character are tied to any of those factors.

Finally, the legislation prohibits instructing students that they should feel discomfort, guilt or anguish because of their race, ethnicity or sex.

The legislation contains a complaint procedure in grades K-12 for noncompliance. There is a reporting procedure at the university level.

The legislation passed on a 21-12 vote and now heads to the House of Delegates for consideration.

The Senate is in recess until 4 p.m.

Afternoon Meetings:

Economic Development at 1 p.m. in 451M.

Pensions at 2 p.m. in 451M.

Judiciary at 3 p.m. in 208W.

The Senate passed a bill Tuesday evening that would offer tax credits to private businesses that provide child care facilities for their employees.

Senate Bill 656 would provide qualifying small businesses, corporations and nonprofits that offer child care services certain tax breaks. A for-profit business would be eligible for relief on its state corporate net income tax and nonprofits could receive payroll tax credits under the bill.

These tax credits would be offered to businesses and nonprofits that already have these facilities, as well as ones that want to create a childcare facility for their employees.

In most cases the childcare facility would have to be on the business’ premises but there are exceptions in the bill where it can be “a reasonable distance” from the business if the state Tax Commissioner deems the on-site location unsuitable for the care of children.

There are provisions in the bill where the state can recapture some of the money if the employer ends its child care services after receiving the credit. The state would get 100 percent of the money back if the childcare facility closes within 5 years. The percentage that goes back to the state lowers by 10 percent with each year, until year 14, where the recapture amount would be zero.

The Senate is adjourned until tomorrow, March 2, at 9 a.m.

The Senate passed a bill on Tuesday afternoon that would give tenant rights to those in recovery that are residing in sober living homes.

Senate Bill 590 would add a clarification to current tenant laws specifically stating that people residing in sober living homes are tenants who will be afforded the same tenancy protections as other citizens. It also stipulates reasonable attorney’s fees in disputes against willful or bad faith landlord noncompliance.

As defined in the legislation, a sober living home is an alcohol and controlled substance-free environment for people attempting to maintain abstinence from from alcohol and controlled substances.

Under current law, these citizens can be evicted from sober living homes with no notice, no reason given and often, without a deposit refund. This abuse has led to an increase in homelessness and crime, issues that the bill seeks to address.

If the bill becomes law, these rights work for landlords too. Under the legislation, if an individual is breaking house rules, house leaders could file paperwork at the local courthouse and the court could evict someone in five days if evidence supports the landlord.

The bill now heads to the House of Delegates for consideration.

The Senate is in recess until 4 p.m.

Afternoon Meetings:

Health at 1 p.m. in 451M.

Education at 2 p.m. in 451M.

Government Organization at 2 p.m. in 208W.

Judiciary at 3 p.m. in 208W.

Finance at 3 p.m. in 451M.

Following the recess, senators continued work on the Senate Calendar, passing the remaining bills on third reading and advancing the second and first reading bills to the next reading.

House Joint Resolution 102 was also adopted following an amendment by Senator Ryan Weld (R-Brooke) and now must go back to the House of Delegates for their concurrence.

The resolution seeks to ask the voters of West Virginia to to “clarify that the rules and policies promulgated by the State Board of Education, are subject to legislative review, approval, amendment, or rejection.” If it completes legislative action, the proposed constitutional amendment will appear on the general election ballots in the Fall.

The Senate is adjourned until tomorrow, March 1, at 11 a.m.

Senate Military will meet tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in 208 W

Senate Transportation and Infrastructure will meet tomorrow at 10 a.m. in 451M