The Senate Committee on Government Organization met Thursday afternoon to discuss thre bills on the agenda.
Most of the discussion revolved around Senate Bill 326 which would reorganize state agencies involved with emergency and disaster planning. The legislation includes many moving parts,one piece of which would create a state wide effort to demolish old and dilapidated buildings deemed unusable. There is an estimated 50,000 + buildings (commercial and private) that would be demolished if this bill becomes a statute. The Committee approved the bill unanimously, and made a motion to have the double committee reference to Finance waved.
Senate Bill 580 is closely related to the Municipal Home Rule Program and would allow counties to implement a one percent consumer sales tax in certain circumstances. Blair Couch, Commissioner of Wood County, provided testimony about the positive impacts of the 1 percent tax within his three municipalities. In Parkersburg, the annual revue jumped from $26 million to $34 million from the one percent tax. The Committee passed the bill, and referred it to the Committee on Finance.
House Bill 2324 would authorize the West Virginia Acupuncture Board to issue certification for performing auricular acudetox therapy, which would treat substance abuse, alcoholism, chemical dependency, detoxification, behavioral therapy or trauma recovery. The proposed legislation was approved by the Committee and will be reported to the full Senate.
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