The House Judiciary Committee and its subcommittees discuss several bills on markup and passage. House Bills 4036, 4138, 4366, and 4477 were advanced to the floor.
Judiciary
House Bill 4036 would increase criminal penalties for the unlawful use of handicapped parking spaces by people with mobility impairments.
House Bill 4138 would update current crimes of “sexual extortion” and “aggravated sexual extortion” to require registration as a sex offender by a person convicted of one of these offenses and clarifies that a prior conviction for the crime of sexual assault of a spouse shall remain an offense that requires registration as a sex offender.
In addition, this bill includes language to apply retroactively as well as moving forward. People who were previously convicted of these crimes would be required to be put on the sex offender registry.
House Bill 4366 would make military protection orders considered as evidence of need for an emergency protective order or personal safety order.
House Bill 4477 would provide the Attorney General with prosecutorial power over counties if there is corruption among officials, election fraud, or other instances, as determined by the Attorney General’s office.
House Bill 4080 would require mayoral and city council elections to be partisan. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.
House Bill 4137 would update existing code about the West Virginia Law Institute. The institute was established to provide support services to the legislature, as well as the West Virginia University College of Law. These updates address issues with membership based on congressional districts, how vacancies are filled, and would exempt the Institute from open meeting laws. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.
House Bill 4382 would require collection agencies to notify about wage garnishments 30 days prior to their action by mail. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.
House Bill 4412 would create liability for publishers and distributors of sexual material harmful to minors and penalties for violation of the article. This would require publishers and distributors to implement an age verification system. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.
Legal Services
House Bill 4478 would allow racing facilities, such as motorsports or competitive vehicle racing, from certain liability. This bill was moved to markup and passage.
Homeland Security
House Bill 4456 would grant additional local and state law enforcement privileges to law enforcement officers of the National Park Service. This bill was advanced to the Judiciary.
House Bill 4522 would ban foreign spending on state ballot issues. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.
Courts
House Bill 4606 would allow judicial officers, when determining for good cause of release, to use residency status. In the bill, this is described as including, but not limited to, if they are a resident of the state, they have ties to the community, or if they are a flight risk. This bill was advanced to markup and passage.
