The House Judiciary Committee met this morning.

Senate Bill 84 would prohibit law enforcement from installing a surveillance camera on private land without obtaining the property owner’s consent or a search warrant. This bill does not prohibit law enforcement from placing surveillance cameras where they are lawful right to be and facing a location on any land that is open to public view. This bill was reported to the floor.

House Bill 4604 would increase the compensation of all panel attorneys and guardians ad litem. Panel attorneys would be compensated at a rate of at least $100 per hour of work. Guardians ad litem would receive compensation of at least $40 per hour of work. The bill also creates an assistant guardian ad litem position. This bill was reported to the floor

House Bill 4962 would create legal procedures and penalties for drug-related nuisances. Some of these nuisances include, but are not limited to, increased fear of residents to walk through or in public areas, housing code violations for their property, and health code violations at their property. This bill was reported to the floor.

House Bill 5067 would clarify that law-enforcement agencies can enter into agreements with the Department of Homeland Security to seek certain grant funds. This bill was reported to the floor.

House Bill 5471 would provide pay increases to members of the judiciary, including, but not limited to, the West Virginia Supreme Court, circuit court judges, and family court judges, and would clarify retirement contributions. This bill was advanced to markup and passage, and then advanced to Finance.

House Bill 5086 would establish a peer support team program that supports certain licensed professions, such as first responders, medical providers, and social workers. If these professionals talk to their peer support team, the communications between them are protected and cannot be revealed in testimony.

House Bill 5162 would give the sheriff authority to suspend sales on certain properties that meet specific criteria. This bill also clarifies that when a government entity acquires property through a tax deed, any state-imposed taxes and fees are extinguished. This bill was advanced to markup and discussion.

House Bill 5227 would allow the Secretary of State to charge a fee of $5 plus any amount charged by a financial institution for any returned or dishonored check, money order, or draft.

House Bill 5554 would allow higher donations to be made to a political party’s headquarters. This bill would raise the amount of contributions to be received from $10,000 to $50,000

House Bill 5652 would allow a county commission to vote to designate specific campgrounds or sites that are being used as a hotel for the purpose of collecting the Hotel Occupancy Tax.

The House Education Committee met this afternoon.

Markup & Passage

House Bill 4588 requires the State Treasurer to participate in the federal tax credit scholarship program. The Treasurer must identify qualified scholarship organizations and schools and submit a list of qualifying scholarship-granting organizations. The Treasury shall establish rules governing the administration of the process and documentation required for an entity to be listed.

House Bill 4995 addresses video cameras within special education classrooms.

House Bill 5012 provides for in-year school personnel movement to meet school needs.

House Bill 5478 creates the Kindergarten Readiness Touchpad Pilot Program by providing preloaded early-learning touchpads to eligible preschool-aged children. The bill sets eligibility for children who can receive these early-learning touchpads. Children must be three or four at the time of enrollment, reside in West Virginia, and meet one of the following criteria: 1. Family income at or below the federal poverty level, enrollment in or eligible for Head Start, WV pre-K, WIC, CNAP, Medicaid, or foster/kinship care. These touchpads can work without an internet connection.

All bills advanced out of committee.

Committee Hearing

House Bill 4395 would continue investigations into allegations by school personnel who have jeopardized the health, safety, or welfare of a student, even if the school personnel obtain another job or transfer to another school. The bill was advanced to markup and passage.

House Finance met this morning and considered four bills on markup and passage.

House Bill 4006 is an economic development bill that targets the aerospace industry to build a stronger aerospace workforce in West Virginia.

House Bill 4126 requires royalties from state-owned oil, gas, and other mineral rights to be deposited into the State Parks and Recreation Endowment Fund.

House Bill 4390 temporarily increases the subsidy payment to kinship parents to an amount equal to foster parent subsidies.

House Bill 4981 establishes that a psychiatric hospital with an average annual inpatient census patient mix of greater than 95 percent of court-ordered forensic and civil involuntary commitments from state custody or from a state-owned hospital qualifies as a “state-designated facility” for purposes of the statute.

The House Energy and Public Works Committee met this afternoon.

Markup & Passage

House Bill 4481 enhances the accuracy and transparency of the WV Load Forecasting by the Public Service Commission with oversight for submissions to PJM.

House Bill 4971 requires that certain high-voltage transmission lines be located near industrial parks.

House Bill 5492 establishes guidelines for advanced purchase agreements for electric substation transformers to accelerate economic development projects. The bill was amended and advanced to the Finance Committee.

Committee Hearing

House Bill 5626 establishes rates for and the recovery of costs by public utilities. The bill also allows the elective submission of future test-year data in certain utility reports. The bill requires the commission to rely on certain submitted data in rate cases.

House Bill 5651 creates a statewide microbusiness support and simplification program. It creates non-lapsing funding, provides grants, and establishes revolving microloan support options.

The House Committee on Health and Human Resources met this evening.

House Bill 5582 would extend the program for drug screening of applicants for TANF to December 2030. This bill was reported to the floor.

House Bill 4359 would exempt existing West Virginia hospitals from needing a new certificate of need to move their facility up to 10 miles to a new location. After concerns in the hearing phase about possible statewide complications, this bill was tabled.

House Bill 5625 would change the requirements for the license of radon mitigators, testers, contractors, and laboratories. Under this bill, no building contractor may build an radon resistant new construction home without using a licensed radon mitigation specialist or radon mitigation contractor. This bill was advanced to markup and discussion.

House Bill 5476 would require a health care provider that maintains electronic health care records to preserve and maintain each entry in its original form and record an audit trail of any additions, deletions, or revisions to the health care record. This bill would also allow patients to, if they find any information in their chart, request that corrections be made. This bill was advanced to markup and discussion.

House Bill 5569 would reinstate the discount on Public Employees Insurance for retired firefighters hired after 2010. This bill was moved to markup and discussion.

Senate Bill 231 would require the Bureau for Medical Services to establish standard billing codes for all substance-abuse disorders. This would analyze these billing codes to determine trends, costs, and outcomes for substance-abuse disorders.

This bill would also establish value-based treatment programs for substance-abuse disorders. These programs would reward providers for quality and cost-effective care that leads to sobriety for substance-abuse and reduce payments to providers who fail to meet the expectations in the bill. The intent of this is to pay for patient health outcomes rather than the service fees. This bill was advanced to markup and discussion.

House Bill 5260 would allow regulated medical cannabis processors to manufacture medical cannabis as edibles for patients, and requires dispensaries, after dispensing medical cannabis, to report the information into the controlled substance monitoring database. This bill was advanced to markup and discussion.