Seven bills were presented on third reading today and all passed on to the Senate for its consideration. This makes the total number of bills passed in the House to date at 109. Some of the bills passed today include: House Bill 2753 would continue the Design-Build Pilot Program of the Division of Highways until June, 2011. The bill would amend the pilot program to allow ten additional special projects. It specifies that an aggregate total of $150 million would be expended by the Division of Highways for the projects.
House Bill 2957 would develop a program to collect the name, longitudinal and latitudinal data of all cemeteries within West Virginia through the WVU county cooperative extension services. Once implemented, extension workers, along with members of local 4-H organizations, would collect the data with GPS devices. They would provide the data to the Historic Preservation Section of the Division of Culture and History, which would serve as a repository for the information.
House Bill 2967 would encourage teachers who have achieved a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certificate to renew their certifications when they expire after 10 years. The bill clarifies that the $3,500 bonus would be paid to teachers with a renewed certificate in each year it is valid. It also authorizes a reimbursement of the renewal certification fee (currently $1,150) for teachers who complete renewal.
Twenty-six bills were on second reading today, and 41 were on first reading. House action is picking up as legislative deadlines have passed and are approaching. The 47th Day deadline passed yesterday and bills were due out of committees in their house of origin. This ensures three full days of reading before the April 1 cross-over deadline.
The following committees will meet today:
Judiciary- 1:15 p.m.- 410M
Health and Human Resources- 4 p.m.- 215E
The House will reconvene at 11 a.m. tomorrow.
