The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved two bills and two resolutions to be reported to the floor with the recommendation that they pass.
SB 562 would reform the liability of municipalities and county commissions for civil actions brought by reason of a slip and fall injury due to defect or disrepair of municipal or county owned property.
Senator Mike Romano, D-Harrison, proposed an amendment to include an “open and obvious” policy to protect businesses and cities from civil actions where an open or obvious obstacle was involved in the injury. Those who opposed the amendment said it did not serve the bill’s original intent.
Senator Charles Trump, R-Morgan, made a strike-and-insert amendment on behalf of the committee to make technical corrections to the bill.
The committee first reported the bill without a recommendation and has again viewed the bill on its second reading to speed up the bill’s processing for passage.
SJR 4 would authorize the Legislature to, by general law, allocate a portion of ad valorem property taxes paid by owners of certain new manufacturing facilities and large capital additions to existing manufacturing facilities located in counties in which county commissions elect to fund infrastructure capital improvements using property taxes.
Marshall County Commissioner Bob Miller Jr. voiced his support for the bill and detailed how the additional funding would support the county’s infrastructure projects for I-68.
Senator Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, said the resolution would be a “game changer” for growing the economy in struggling counties.
This is a companion piece of legislation to SB 210, which passed the Senate yesterday.
An identical resolution passed the Senate during the last session, but was not taken up for consideration in House Judiciary in time for passage.
The resolution was previously reported out of Senate Finance with the recommendation that it do pass.
The committee also laid over SJR 8, which would enact a Fair and Simple Tax Reform (or FASTR) amendment to the state Constitution.
Among other specific provisions, the bill would repeal the personal property tax, authorize new classes of real property for the purpose of taxation, create a State infrastructure and equalization fund, provide for block grants to local schools and governments for education and infrastructure and establish exemptions to the real property tax.
Mark Muchow, deputy secretary of the WV Department of Revenue, was available to answer questions from the committee about the bill’s provisions.
Committee counsel said similar resolutions had been proposed in prior years.
The resolution originated from The Senate Select Committee on Tax Reform.
The committee is expected to meet 3 p.m. this evening in 208W.
