It’s Crossover Day for the WV Legislature! Day 50 of a legislative session is the last day for a bill to be read a third time for consideration in its house of origin, with a few exceptions.
In the House, 27 bills on third reading were passed to the Senate and one bill was rejected.
House Bill 2862 ensures that all shareholder votes by or on behalf of the West Virginia Investment Management Board and the Board of Treasury Investments are cast according to the pecuniary interests of investment beneficiaries.
The bill drummed up a lot of debate this morning. Opponents of the bill stated that the Investment Management Board does not support this legislation. They believed passage could tie the IMB’s hands and create red tape for them to invest employees’ money. They stated that the bill brought politics into the management of money.
The supporters stated that politics are pushed upon them regardless. They believed not passing would allow the politics of Environmental, Social, and Governance to take place instead of the pecuniary interest of investment.
The bill advanced to the Senate.
House Bill 3018 sets the age to consent to marriage as 18. Currently, West Virginia does not have a minimum age for marriage. The bill does not nullify any current marriage nor does it affect marriages from other states.
The opponent of the bill stated that there are circumstances, such as pregnancy, that two individuals under the age of 18 would want to marry and a circuit judge should be able to make the decision to allow the two to marry. It was stated that people will go out of state to marry if they are under 18.
Proponents stated, during committees, that the bill is to protect children from being forced into marriages with an adult. It also prevents children from marrying other children when they are not ready for those decisions.
The bill advanced to the Senate.
House Bill 3135 increases the Governor and State Constitutional Officers’ salaries starting in 2025. The bill increases the salaries by 20 percent: the Governor’s salary would be set at $180,000 and constitutional officer salaries would be set to $115,000.
The bill advanced to the Senate.
House Bill 3332 creates the judicial circuits and allocates the number of circuit court judges in each circuit to be elected in the 2024 election. The bill divides the districts and number of circuit judges as follows:
- Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio (1st Circuit) with 4 judges
- Marshall, Tyler, and Wetzel (2nd Circuit) with 2 judges
- Doddridge, Pleasants, Ritchie, and Wirt (3rd Circuit) with 2 judges
- Wood (4th Circuit) with 3 judges
- Calhoun, Jackson, Mason, and Roane (5th Circuit) with 3 judges
- Cabell (6th Circuit) with 4 judges
- Putnam (7th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Kanawha (8th Circuit) with 8 judges
- Boone and Lincoln (9th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Wayne (10th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Logan and Mingo (11th Circuit) with 3 judges
- McDowell and Wyoming (12th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Mercer (13th Circuit) with 3 judges
- Raleigh (14th Circuit) with 4 judges
- Fayette (15th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Nicholas (16th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Braxton, Clay, Gilmer, and Webster (17th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Lewis and Upshur (18th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Harrison (19th Circuit) with 3 judges
- Marion (20th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Monongalia (21st Circuit) with 3 judges
- Preston and Tucker (22nd Circuit) with 2 judges
- Barbour and Taylor (23rd Circuit) with 2 judges
- Randolph (24th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Grant and Mineral (25th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Hampshire, Hardy, and Pendleton (26th Circuit) with 2 judges
- Berkeley, Morgan, and Jefferson (27th Circuit) with 6 judges
- Greenbrier, Monroe, Pocahontas, and Summer (28th Circuit) with 3 judges
The bill advanced to the Senate.
House Bill 3561 was rejected by the House. The bill would have created the Institute for Civic Life.
The House is adjourned until tomorrow, March 2 at 11 a.m.
Committee Meetings, Today
• The Committee on Government Organization will meet at 4:20 p.m. in Room 215E.
• The Finance Committee will meet at 4:30 p.m. in Room 460.
• The Judiciary Committee will meet at 5:15 p.m. in Room 410.
Committee Meetings, tomorrow, March 2
• The Judiciary Committee will meet at 9 a.m. in Room 410.
• The Rules Committee will meet at 10:45 a.m. behind the House Chamber.
• The Committee on Technology and Infrastructure will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 432.
• The Committee on Energy and Manufacturing will meet at 1 p.m. in Room 410.
• The Committee on Economic Development and Tourism will meet at 2 p.m. in Room 460.
