The 50th Day of the 79th Regular Session has arrived in the Legislature. Crossover day is the deadline to move bills from their originating house. This does not apply to budget and supplementary appropriation bills. During the morning session, the House voted on 15 of the 39 bills on their calendar.
Of those bills passed, House Bill 2868 would create and maintain the West Virginia Autistic Children’s Trust Fund. It would also create a tax credit (equal to an amount paid into a trust) for contributing to the future support of an autistic minor.
Consumers would be exempt from sales tax and use tax if they purchase donated clothing or accessories sold by churches or religious organizations that are exempt from federal income taxes according to House Bill 3017.
Under current law, voters in municipal election may vote absentee ballots by mail. If House Bill 3134 becomes law, it would require the Secretary of State to establish a voting by mail pilot program. The Secretary of State would select five municipalities to participate and all registered and other qualified voters would be eligible.
House Bill 2686 would allow employees to take intermittent 10 minute rest periods for every four hours of work.
The House will reconvene at 1:30 p.m. to continue voting on proposed legislation.
House Update
The House passed 19 bills to the Senate during its 1:30 p.m. session. The majority of these passed unanimously, some of which include:
House Bill 2832 would require the State Board of Education to adopt proficiency standards in reading, language arts and mathematics for students in the third and eighth grades. Each student in those grades would be evaluated on those standards. Students who meet the standards would be eligible for promotion and those who do not would be required to enroll in an after-school or summer critical skills instructional support program. Counties would be required to establish the programs based on a model and curriculum established by the State Board. Students who do not successfully complete the program may not be promoted.
House Bill 2788 would protect incapacitated adults from abust or neglect by a caregiver by enhancing penalties for crimes committed against those persons.
House Bill 3159 would establish a funding mechanism for state aid for local health departments.
The House will reconvene at 4 p.m. to vote on the remaining bills on third reading.
House Update
After three sessions today, the House passed a grand total of 38 bills to the Senate.
This brings the tally of bills passed from the House up to 175. Four passed during the 4 p.m. session including: House Bill 3079 would exempt consumer sales tax on drugs purchased by veterinarians for the treatment of animals; House Bill 2981 relates to primary elections and nominating procedures of third-party candidates; House Bill 3098 relates to the payment of travel expenses of workers’ compensation claimants; House Bill 2388 would expand the membership of the Racing Commission and reorganizing the administrative functions.
Seven Senate bills were presented on first reading including Senate Bill 307 which would develop a uniform maternal risk screening tool to screen pregnant women for potential at-risk pregnancies. Senate Bill 341 was also on first reading and it would transfer the juvenile justice database administration to the Supreme Court.
The following committees will meet tomorrow:
Veterans Affairs- 9 a.m.- 460M
Natural Resources- 9:15 a.m.- 215E
Banking and Insurance- 10 a.m.- 215E
Energy, Industry, Labor, Economic Development, Small Business- 1 p.m.- 460M
Political Subdivisions- 1 p.m.- 215E
Roads and Transportation- 2 p.m.- 215E
Senior Issues- 3 p.m.- 215E
Committee on Stimulus Utilization- 4 p.m.- 460M
Health and Human Resources- 4 p.m.- 215E
LOCEA- 5 p.m.- 460M
The House will reconvene at 11 a.m. tomorrow.
