The Judiciary Committee looked through assorted bills Friday, one of which related to providing banking services for medical cannabis act.
House Bill 2538 seeks to provide banking services for services provided under the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act. Currently, there are no existing laws regarding banking services for medical cannabis. Many other states use some form of banking services, but all are protected from federal law in regards to this type of legislation. The bill will be reported to the House.
Other bills voted on by the committee include.
· Senate Bill 377 relates to minimum wage and maximum hour standards. Currently, seasonal employees of recreational establishments are not exempt from overtime laws. West Virginia Code does however already contain numerous exceptions to the definition of “employee” for the purposes of minimum wage and maximum hours laws that are “seasonal” in nature including legislative per diem workers and seasonal employees of commercial whitewater outfitters.
This bill excludes any seasonal employee of an amusement park who works for the park for less than seven months in any calendar year from the definition of the term “employee” for the purposes of the Minimum Wage and Maximum Hours Standards Law. The bill also adds a definition for “amusement park.” The bill was reported to the House by the committee.
· House Bill 2709 relates to hunting licenses. This bill exempts the names, addresses and other contact information of hunting license holders from disclosure under FOIA requests. The new subsection to the bill provides, however, that the records shall be available to all law-enforcement agencies and other governmental entities authorized to request or receive such records. This bill was reported to the House by the committee.
· House Bill 2715 relates to Class Q special hinting permits for disabled persons. Under current state law a person who is permanently disabled in the lower extremities may obtain a Class Q permit statewide hinting permit to hunt all legal species of fame during the designated hunting seasons from a motor vehicle. Current law requires a licensed physician to certify the Class Q applicants’ permanent disability. This bill expands the conditions of permanent disability for which an individual can obtain a permit.
There was also an amendment the committee unanimously rejected that was left unchanged in the committee substitute until further research unhinged it. The amendment stated that along with physicians, licensed chiropractors could also sign off on disability forms. However, it was revealed that the state does not allow chiropractors to sign off on disability therefore the committee rejected the amendment. The bill was reported to the House.
· House Bill 2579 relates to the collection of tax and the priority of distribution of an estate or property in receivership. West Virginia currently holds trustees, receivers, administrators, executors or persons charged with the administration of an estate personally liable for taxes accrued and unpaid under Article 10 of Chapter 11. The bill seeks to clarify conflicts within the code and create uniformity relating to the collection of taxes, the priority of distribution of an estate and to limit the liability of a fiduciary charged with distribution of the estate. The bill was passed by the committee and reported to the House.
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