The House of Delegates met at 11 a.m. today for the second day of Regular Session.

Today was acknowledged as Monongolia County Day with a citation given to celebrate the county’s accomplishments.

A citation was also presented to the family of the late Congressman Harley Orrin Staggers.

Two house resolutions relating to procedures were adopted. 

House Resolution 2 establishes the Calendars of the House. As it was adopted, there are two separate calendars, the Daily Calendar and the House Calendar. Nothing on the House Calendar shall take precedence over items on the Daily Calendar without a two-thirds vote. Nothing can be removed from the Daily Calendar without a majority vote by the Committee on Rules, and a majority vote by the Committee on Rules can add a removed item to the schedule once again. A roll call of all votes pertaining to the preparation of the House Calendar will be kept on record.

 House Resolution 4 re-establishes and realigns Standing Committees.

Among the changes made by the adoption of this resolution, House Resolution 4 merged two committees to form the Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources. The Committee on Industry and Labor, Economic Development and Small Business was divided, becoming respectively, the Comittee on Industry and Labor, the Committee on Energy, and the Committee on Small Business, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.

Unresolved bills from the previous session were carried over, along with several new bills introduced, bringing the count to 743 bills.

The House is adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow.

The following committees will meet today:

House Finance today at 1 p.m. in 460M.

House Judiciary today at 1 p.m. in 410M.

House Education today at 2 p.m. in 434M.

Government Organization today at 3 p.m. in 215E.

The following committees will meet tomorrow:

House Health tomorrow at 9:15 a.m. in the House Chamber.

The House and Senate reconvened at 7:00 p.m. this evening for a joint session in the House Chamber for the Governor’s presentation of the State of the State address.

Both the House and the Senate met briefly following the address to introduce the proposed Budget Bill.

Budget Bills:

House Bill 4015

Senate Bill 306

The following committees will meet tomorrow:

Senate Finance will meet at 9:30 a.m. in room 451M.

House Finance will meet at 9 a.m. in room 460M.

House Judiciary will meet at 9:15 a.m. in room 410M.

The Senate and House are in recess until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.

This afternoon, the House of Delegates convened for the 2nd Regular Session of the 81st Legislature.

After adopting procedural resolutions, the House adopted  House Concurrent Resolution 1, which extends an invitation to the Governor to deliver the State of the State address tonight at 7 p.m.

Additionally, the House introduced 15 bills for consideration.

Bills introduced include  House Bill 4004, relating to criminal offenses for child abuse, and  House Bill 4014, which would increase criminal penalties for littering.

The House is in recess until 6:50 p.m.

Joint Finance Committee will hold a block grant hearing at 2 p.m. in 460M.

Meetings tomorrow include:

House Finance at 9 a.m. in 460M.

House Judiciary at 9:15 a.m. in 410M.

The Second Regular Session of the 81st Legislature is set to convene today at Noon. Follow this blog for updates on all action from the House and Senate floor.

You can also listen to all of the floor action and committee meetings live by visiting:  http://www.legis.state.wv.us/live.cfm

Follow the 2014 Legislative Calendar to keep up with all landmark days of the Regular Session: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bulletin_Board/calendar_2014.cfm

House Speaker Tim Miley and his leadership team are forming a Small Business, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development work group with the intent of it becoming a standing committee focusing on those issues when the regular legislative session begins Jan. 8. The work group will travel the state beginning in December through the end of the year to hold panel discussions in different regions regarding how to stimulate small business growth and encourage entrepreneurship.

“We will work collaboratively with people at the local level to hear from as many small business owners and entrepreneurs as possible,” Miley said. “We want to know what hurdles they may have faced on their way to success and what hurdles they might still face today. As as legislative body, we want to remove as many hurdles as we can to allow small business to flourish. This tour will also be a great opportunity to showcase these successful individuals as inspirations to others in their communities with similar ambitions.”

The biparisan work group will be made up of members that currently run a successful small business or have run one successfully in the past. Kanawha Delegate Doug Skaff, owner and managing partner of Building & Remodeling Warehouse in Nitro, will chair the committee. Delegate Bill Hartman, a retired insurance company owner from Randolph County and Delegate Jason Barrett, the 31-year-old owner of a restaurant in Berkeley County, will be Co-Vice Chairmen of the committee. House Majority Leader Harry Keith White, Bank of Mingo board chairman, will also serve on the committee.

Speaker Miley, who will be an ex officio, non-voting member of the committee, said he has talked to dozens of House members who are also small business owners about this undertaking and there is a great deal of bipartisan interest in serving on the committee. He intends to announce the full membership in the next two weeks, so the committee can begin meeting and touring the state in December.