The Senate adopted two resolutions during a very brief floor session Friday morning.
Senate Resolution 4 honors the WV Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Senate Resolution 5 honors the public service of Dr. Richard Lechliter for Mineral County Day.
Senate Bills 163-222 were introduced today.
The Senate is adjourned until Monday, Jan. 16, at 11 a.m.
The House briefly convened to receive committee messages and Senate messages. Committee meetings were announced for Monday.
Committee Meetings, Monday Jan. 16
The House is adjourned until 11 a.m. Monday, January 16, 2023.
To follow along daily, view the House Calendar, House Bills introduced, and House Resolutions.
The Senate suspended the constitutional rules to pass two DNR bills during a brief floor session Thursday morning.
Senate Bill 161 would authorize the DNR to manage and dispose of property.
Senate Bill 162 would allow the director of DNR to lease state-owned pore spaces in certain areas for carbon sequestration.
These bills now head to the House of Delegates for consideration.
The Senate is adjourned until tomorrow, Jan. 13, at 9 a.m.
Thursday afternoon Committee Meetings:
Health at 1 p.m. in 451M
Finance at 3 p.m. in 451M
Judiciary at 3 p.m. in 208W
The House briefly convened this morning to introduce bills and resolutions. Committee meetings begin today.
Committee Meetings, Today
Committee Meetings, Tomorrow Jan. 13
The House is adjourned until tomorrow, Jan. 13, 2023 at 11 a.m.
The West Virginia Senate convened the 1st Session of the 86th Legislature today at Noon.
Sen. Donna Boley (R – Pleasants, 03) presided over the beginning of the floor session as the Senate’s longest continually serving member.
Following the presentation of certified election results by Secretary of State Mac Warner, and the swearing in of newly elected senators by West Virginia Supreme Court Justice C. Haley Bunn, members of the Senate nominated and reelected Sen. Craig Blair (R – Berkeley, 15) by acclamation to serve as President of the Senate.
Following the reelection of the President, Lee Cassis was reelected Senate Clerk, David Lavender was elected Senate Sergeant-at-Arms and Jeffrey Branham was reelected Doorkeeper. All were unanimously approved.
The Senate also adopted several resolutions relating to the Senate Rules and other organizational matters.
The Senate hit the ground running this afternoon, suspending constitutional rules and passing 23 bills on to the House of Delegates. The vast majority of today’s passed legislation was approved overwhelmingly by the Senate last year, but failed to complete legislative action in the House.
The first bill passed today, Senate Bill 126, would divide the Department of Health and Human Resources into three agencies: the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Health facilities, with each agency having its own cabinet secretary.
Last year, the bill received wide, bipartisan support in both chambers as the Legislature concluded that the state’s largest agency was simply too unwieldy to carry out its mission and have a firm handle on its finances. The total annual budget for the Department of Health and Human Resources is $7.5 billion. The agency is tasked with dealing with a wide range of health and societal issues.
The Governor vetoed the bill last year, preferring to study the agency prior to making a determination.
The Senate also passed a bill to clarify that declared emergencies end after six months unless the Governor sends written notice to the Legislature extend the declaration. A related bill approved today limits gubernatorial authority to spend “certain federal funds” without appropriation of the Legislature. These bills were in direct response to the Governor’s actions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The body also unanimously approved legislation this afternoon that addresses financial issues in the Public Employees Insurance Agency.
This became necessary last week when Wheeling Hospital publicly announced it would no longer be accepting PEIA payments as of July 1, 2023. Hospital officials have long said that financial challenges are compounded by PEIA’s 59 percent reimbursement rate, which is set by the state.
The Senate unanimously passed a bill in the 2022 session that would have reimbursed state medical providers for PEIA at a rate of 110 percent the Medicare reimbursement rate. That bill would have cost the state roughly $40 million. The bill failed to complete action in the House last year. The bill passed today in the Senate has the same provisions.
The Senate is in recess until 6:45 p.m., 15 minutes prior to the Governor’s State of the State Address.
The House of Delegates convened today for the first session of the 86th Legislature.
Delegate Bill Anderson, the longest-serving member, presided over the beginning portion of the session. The House elected Delegate Roger Hanshaw of Clay County as the Speaker of the House for a third term. Speaker Hanshaw thanked the delegation for the honor but stated that the greatest honor is to be one of the 100 serving in the people’s House.
“The work we’ve done here has made it easier for people to choose West Virginia. We will have more opportunities to continue to do this,” Speaker Hanshaw said.
Once re-elected, Speaker Hanshaw took the podium and procedures continued. Stephen Harrison was elected to a fifth term as Clerk of the House of Delegates. Marshall Clay was elected to another term as Sergeant-at-Arms and Robert Stewart was elected as Doorkeeper.
House Concurrent Resolution 1 was adopted; it calls for a joint assembly to hear remarks from the Governor. The State of the State Address will take place at 7 p.m. tonight, January 11, 2023.
House Resolutions 1, 2, and 3 were adopted. Amendments were offered and rejected on House Resolution 1; therefore, all three resolutions were adopted in the introduced form.
After receiving messages from the Senate, the House adopted Senate Concurrent Resolutions 1 and 2.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 1 is the Joint Rules for the House and the Senate.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 authorizes the payment of expenses for the 86th Legislature.
The House is in recess until 6:45 p.m.
Committee Meetings, Today
Committee Meetings, Tomorrow Jan. 12
The Finance Committee will hold a budget hearing at 9 a.m. in Room 460. The House Finance Budget Hearing schedule can be found here.
The House reconvened for the Joint Assembly to hear the Governor’s Address.
The House is adjourned until 11 a.m. tomorrow, Jan. 12, 2023.
Officials from the West Virginia Department of Revenue briefed lawmakers Monday morning during a meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance.
Dave Hardy, cabinet secretary for the Department of Revenue, informed members that tax collections for the general revenue fund came in at $552.5 million, far higher than the $407 million estimate from the Department of Revenue, resulting in over $145 million in surplus tax revenue for the month.
That figure brings year-to-date tax collections for the first six months of fiscal year 2023 to $3.1 billion, nearly 38 percent percent higher than the $2.2 billion revenue estimate, giving the state more than $833 million in surplus tax revenue with six months remaining in the fiscal year.
State tax officials have calculated West Virginia could end the current fiscal year in June with approximately $1.8 billion in surplus revenue.
According to Hardy, state revenue growth for December 2022 was up 9 percent compared to December 2021. Year-to-date revenue growth is up over 20 percent compared to this point last year, with roughly 92 percent of that coming from the state’s personal income tax, the consumer sales and use tax, the corporate net income tax, and the severance tax on natural gas, coal and oil.
Much of that growth is attributed to higher natural gas prices in the last year, leading to higher severance tax collections.
The Joint Committee on the Judiciary met this morning to hear presentations on proposed legislation.
First, the committee heard from staff counsel Will Valentino about a bill to reform the staffing of jails and prisons, as the low staffing is becoming a public safety concern. Currently, correctional officers are working 70-hour weeks which is not sustainable. The National Guard and DNR officers are working in noncontact roles in prisons to assist with staffing.
The proposed bill would clarify that the “operations of jail functions” would not include the salaries and benefits of employees in a regional jail facility, therefore per diem costs shall not include salaries and benefits. The bill would also require municipalities to pay for the first five days of incarceration for persons arrested by municipality police. The bill sets the salary for correctional officers in code instead of it being a range with special hiring rates. It creates a pay schedule with base pay and allows for increases based on length of service and rank.
Another proposed bill would amend the code relating to the identification cards provided to released inmates. ID cards would be issued to released inmates at no cost and be valid for 180 days.
Another proposed piece of legislation relates to mental health treatment for inmates. The bill clarifies that applications for involuntary hospitalization may not be denied solely because an inmate is incarcerated.
Staff Counsel Brian Casto presented the proposed juror incentivization bill. The proposed bill would provide a tax credit to employers who pay employees during the first five days of jury service without requiring leave to be taken. The proposed bill also clarifies that jurors may be excused from jury service upon a showing of undue physical or financial hardship. The proposed bill establishes a juror compensation of $80 per day. Finally, the proposed bill authorizes courts to offer post-trial psychological counseling to jurors and alternates in trials for certain criminal offenses. This proposed bill will be reported to both houses with the recommendation that it be introduced in the 2023 regular session, which begins Wednesday, January 11.
Lawmakers heard from Cammie Chapman, deputy secretary for child and adult services in the DHHR, regarding the low numbers of child protective services workers in West Virginia during Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of the Joint Committee on Government and Finance.
Retention of CPS workers has been a major problem for the Department of Health and Human Resources for years.
Senator Charles Trump (R-Morgan) said he has been receiving calls from judges who are concerned about the low numbers of CPS workers. Trump asked how many CPS employees are working in Eastern Panhandle counties.
Chapman said she didn’t have that number off the top of her head but that she is aware of the problem and has made regular trips to the Eastern Panhandle to attempt to rectify the situation.
Chapman described efforts to shift supervisors from other counties to also focus on Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties. However she acknowledge that when you pull workers out of one area to support another, it weakens the level of services in the area the CPS workers were assigned previously. Chapman said the agency has been careful to not shift resources from areas that are also running short.
Trump said they need to come up with solutions and he’s committed to using his role in leadership to do just that.
“I’m hoping to have some specific recommendations from the department during this session, for things the Legislature can do or might do that are designed to be more long-term,” he said.
Senator Stephen Baldwin (D-Greenbrier) echoed Trump’s sentiments, saying he majority of the counties he’s represented have vacancies of about 50 percent. One county, Summers has no office and no workers, so the other understaffed counties provide service.
Baldwin agreed that the Legislature must act on this issue quickly.
The Joint Committee on Natural Gas Development met this afternoon.
Andrew Robinson, the Director of Economic Development for Senator Joe Manchin opened the presentation by stating West Virginia has always been an energy community, and now we are becoming an innovative energy community. With the introduction of hydrogen fuels, the state can still produce energy, but so it in a cleaner and more economical fashion. The push for hydrogen fuel come with the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure law, which Manchin is confident WV can become a hydrogen hub.
Arria Hines, CEO of Allegheny Science & Technology stated the funding for clean hydrogen hubs is $8 billion and it could be an 8 to 12-year process. The produced Hydrogen Hub would be a regional approach to cleaner energy and provide hydrogen across the country. West Virginia has always played a major role in the energy sector. It is centered on the nation’s second-largest natural gas source and has diverse energy options. The state has proactive engagement and support from the labor division and educational institutions. It is a connected energy delivery system with world-class research institutions. This is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.” As a hub, multiple locations for hydrogen production would be in the state and a possible training facility in the state. There is no concrete plans at the moment, as it is still in the conceptional phase. This is a new industry.
The Justice 40 program is a part of the law. It requires that 40 percent of impact benefits help disadvantaged communities. It requires a decreased energy burden and a decreased environmental burden.
Challenges to hydrogen fuels include policy framework, class 6 privacy in the state, land acquisition and mineral rights, and market expectations.
The Committee also heard from Pietro Di Zanno on the “Science of Hydrogen as a Fuel Source.”
