The House Committee on Government Organization convened for the first part of their meeting at 9 a.m. on Friday, February 15, in 215-E. The committee had a consideration of multiple bills during this meeting, and advanced four bills to the House floor for consideration.
The Government Organization Committee will continue to meet at 2 p.m. for consideration of House Bill 2886, House Bill 3093, and House Bill 2654.
Bills that were advanced during this committee include House Bill 2924, House Bill 2929, House Bill 2982, House Bill 3007, and House Bill 3016.
House Bill 2924 is a bill that would to permit the West Virginia Tourism Office to contract with the Division of Highways to sell advertising space on the WV511 website to promote in state tourism and raise capital for technological improvements to the website. 50 percent of the advertising dollars generated under this bill would be deposited in the Tourism Promotion Fund and 50 percent would be remitted to the Division of Highways.
This bill was passed unanimously by the committee and advanced to the House floor with the recommendation that it should pass.
House Bill 2929 was also advanced to the House floor. This bill would also pertain to a collaboration between the WV Tourism Office and the Division of Highways. House Bill 2929 would authorize an agreement between the two organizations in which staff would be provided at the WV Welcome Centers and rest areas, and displays promoting tourism would be created at these welcome centers and rest areas.
House Bill 2982 is a bill concerning auctioneers in the state of West Virginia. It provides updates for the licensure requirements, provides for exemptions to licensure, requires auctioneers to submit to background checks, and provides penalties for unlicensed auctioneers. This bill was also passed and advanced to the House floor.
House Bill 3007 was also advanced, a bill to authorize the Commissioner of Agriculture to require background checks within their hiring process.
House Bill 3016 would outline the code that pertains to the State Aeronautics Commission. This bill was advanced to the House Finance Committee for second reference.
The House Committee on Government Organization will reconvened at 2 p.m. to continue to have a consideration of House Bill 2886 and House Bill 3093, and House Bill 2654.
House Bill 3093 is a bill that would require the same building code standards to be applied to manufactured housing as are applied to other housing. This bill was unanimously advanced to the House floor with the recommendation that it pass.
House Bill 2654 was taken off the agenda on this day.
House Bill 2886, a bill to require counties with a population of 25,000 or more to have a DMV Office and counties with a population of less that 25,000 to have DMV kiosks. The bill was amended by Delegate John Hott, R-Grant, Delegate Tony Paynter, R-Wyoming, and Delegate Terri Sypolt, R-Preston, to remove language in the bill that would close three DMV offices throughout the state.
With amendment, House Bill 2886 was advanced to the House floor with the recommendation that it pass.
