Six pieces of legislation were discussed by Senate Finance Committee members Thursday.
Senate Bills 40, 47, 117, 291, 296 and 461 were brought before the committee to be explained and voted upon. Of the six bills, five pieces of the legislation received the decision to be reported to the full Senate with the recommendation that they each pass.
One bill in particular, Senate Bill 40, which would establish the Military Service Members Court program, raised concern among a number of Senators on the committee. Sen. Doug Facemire, D-Braxton, questioned why the program would be created and asked why military members couldn’t use the state’s existing court system.
Lead sponsor of the bill, Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, came before the committee and explained that West Virginia previously had a veteran’s court program which was disbanded in 2017 due to a lack of funding. According to Weld, following investigation, it was found that the program did in fact have more than enough funding to stay in operation. The Senator stated that the main purpose of the bill was to reestablish the court and right the wrongs that occurred in 2017.
Weld explained that if passed, the bill would reestablish the program which provides options for rehabilitation, in addition to incarceration, to military service members. The fiscal note for the bill lists a $323,000 start up budget with $1.6 million being spent annually following full implementation.
Following discussion of SB40, committee chair, Sen. Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, motioned to removed Senate Bill 117, which relates to incentives for consolidating local governments, from the agenda and lay the bill over for one day.
