25 pieces of legislation received passage on third reading during Monday’s floor session.
Of the legislation on the agenda, Senate Bills 238, 316, 400, 421, 432, 441, 511, 535, 539, 544, 547, 554, 592, 596, 597, 603, 627, 654, 656, 665, 666, and 667 received passage in addition to House Bills 2036 and 2821.
Senate Bill 603, which would exempt certain activities from licensing requirements for engaging in business of currency exchange, was up for third reading with the ability to amend but received no amendments before being passed unanimously out of the Senate.
- Senate Bill 627, relating generally to Rural Rehabilitation Loan Program
- Senate Bill 666, would create the WV Motorsports Entertainment Complex Investment Act
- Senate Bill 667, would create the WV Motorsport Committee.
House Bill 2740, which would bar a parent from inheriting from a child in certain instances, and House Bill 2746, relating to administration of estates, were laid over.
Additionally, discussion of legislation which would create a road and repair fund led to the adoption of an multilayer amendment.
If passed, Senate Bill 522 would create a special fund intended to address the state’s roads. Following lengthy discussion of the bill in the Senate finance committee, the legislation was brought before the body on second reading where Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, proposed an amendment.
The Senator rose to describe his collaboration with fellow Senator Chandler Swope, R-Mercer and Sen. Dave Sypolt, R-Preston, to potentially amend three sections of the legislation. According to Tarr, under the introduced version of the bill, each county district would be able to contract road repairs to local contractors when not meeting their 70 percent productivity threshold. The Senator explained that if adopted, his amendment would allow funding allocated to smaller counties to be used toward boosting the productivity of a larger counties’ repairs.
The amendment would also reduce the amount of baseline funding allocated to counties from $1.5 million to $1 million, and give more control to local boards when establishing a priority list of road repair.
Following further discussion of the amendment, members voted to adopt the changes and engross the bill to third reading. Of the other 21 bills on second reading, five bills also received and amendment.
The body also passed Senate Resolution 59, which designated Feb 25, 2019 as Civil Air Patrol Day at the Legislature, and Senate Resolution 60, which recognized Leadership Jefferson.
The following committees will be meeting today:
- The Senate Committee for Banking and Insurance will meet at 2 p.m. in 451M.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet at 3 p.m. in 208W.
The following committees will meet tomorrow:
- The Senate Committee for Transportation and Infrastructure will meet at 10 a.m. in 208W.
- The Senate Health and Human Resources Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in 451M.
- The Senate Education Committee will meet at 2 p.m. in 451M.
The Senate is in recess until 4:30 p.m.
UPDATE: The Senate reconvened at 4:30 p.m. to review reports from standing committees and put two bills under immediate consideration and read for a first time.
- Senate Bill 414 would create the Protect Our Right to Unite Act.
- Senate Bill 547 which woulid limit landowner liablity for recreational use of lands.
