Senate Passes Eight Bills, Recognizes Substance Abuse Awareness

The Senate convened today to pass nine bills, advance five bills to third reading, advance 16 bills to second reading, and adopt one Senate Resolution.

Bills passed today include Senate Bill 10, which would permit the Board of Medicine, Board of Dental Examiners and the Board of Osteopathy to independently initiate disciplinary proceedings in certain circumstances based on information received from the Board of Pharmacy concerning data from the controlled substance monitoring program.

Senate Bill 384 was read a first time today and advanced to second reading. The bill would establish that dependent children of State Troopers who die in the performance of duty could receive up to $7,500 in scholarship money per year.

The Senate also recognized the West Virginia Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors along with the West Virginia Certification Board of Addiction and Prevention with a resolution for their efforts in bringing awareness and solutions to substance abuse.

The following committees will meet today:

The Committee on Finance will meet tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. in 451M.
The Committee on Judiciary will meet tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. in 208W.
The Committee on Health and Human Resources will meet tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. in 451M.

UPDATE:

The Senate reconvened at 4:30 p.m. to receive committee reports. There were 21 bills taken up for immediate consideration and read a first time prior to the second committee reference.

Bills read a first time and advanced to second reading include Senate Bill 167, which would create the West Virginia Future Fund. The Future Fund will be created from a portion of natural resources severance taxes and will turn a one-time source of revenue into a permanent source of wealth for our state. The fund itself will be self-sustaining, even once the natural resources have been exhausted.

The Senate will reconvene tomorrow at 11:00 a.m.