As of 5 p.m., Wednesday, February 26, 2003, the 50th day of the 2003 Regular Legislative Session, 1,196 bills have been introduced in the House of Delegates. Of those, 54 bills were passed by the House this week and now will go to the Senate for its consideration. Among those passed were:
House Bill 2240 would provide an opportunity for persons purchasing or renewing hunting or fishing licenses to donate to the “Hunters Helping the Hungry Program.” It would require every application for hunting and fishing licenses to contain a provision notifying the applicant of the option to donate to the program; authorize the collection of donations by issuing authorities; and require donations to be deposited in a special account to be used exclusively to support the program, including the payment of fees related to the butchering of game carcasses.
House Bill 2359 would allow all of the fees collected for required inspections done by the Office of the State Fire Marshal and for license fees for electricians and electrical inspectors to be kept in the special revenue account, instead of having 10% of the fees transferred to the General Revenue Fund. It also would require that the tax on insurance companies, which provide insurance against the hazard of fire, be deposited in that account.
House Bill 2477 would permit a homestead exemption and Class II property classification to continue on a home or residence, when an otherwise qualified property owner is no longer residing at the property and is either living with other family members, or is living in a nursing home, rehabilitation center, personal care home or similar facility, due to illness, accident or infirmity. Additionally, the filing and review deadlines for a claimed homestead exemption would be revised to give more time to file a request for an exemption and to give the Tax Department an opportunity to respond to the requests.
House Bill 2511 would provide special license plates for members of the Nemesis Shrine, volunteers and employees of the American Red Cross, individuals who have received the Combat Infantry Badge or Combat Medic Badge, members of the Knights of Columbus and former members of the Legislature. The bill also would allow volunteer firefighters to have unlimited plates and their plates would cost an additional $10.
House Bill 2529 would change the term polygraph to psychophysiological detection of deception device and would establish two different classes of licensure for these examiners. A Class I license would authorize an individual to offer these tests for all purposes which are permissible under the provisions of this article and other applicable laws and rules. A Class II license would authorize an individual who is a full time employee of law enforcement agencies to administer tests to its employees or prospective employees only.
House Bill 2749 relates to the reciprocal licensure of physical therapists from other states or countries. Reciprocity would only extend to therapists whose licensing state allows West Virginia therapists the same courtesy.
House Bill 2847 would make the law enforcement agency that arrests an individual responsible for his/her transportation to a regional jail. In so doing, the bill would encourage transportation agreements between a county and the other law enforcement agencies.
House Bill 2868 would authorize the Alcohol Beverage Control Commissioner (ABCC) to enter into contracts for the sale, licensing or promotion of scanner technology that has been developed by the agency. Scanner technology is defined as devices that are designed to capture information on the back of driver’s licenses which verify the age of the person purchasing alcohol. The ABCC has received a trademark on technology that several other states have expressed interest in licensing. This bill would allow these contracts.
House Bill 2882 would remove the ability of the Surface Mining Board to grant a stay or suspension of an order based on the grounds that it will cause “unjust hardship” upon the permittee. The Office of Surface Mining has objected to this provision in the state program and has requested that West Virginia make this change to the statute.
House Bill 2984 would provide a one year window for a teacher who was receiving Workers’ Compensation as a result of a work related injury to purchase up to five years service credit for the time the teacher was recovering. The injury and related time off must have occurred between 1988 and 1998. This would open a one year period of time for this purchase, which is FY2004. Finally, the bill would provide that a teacher who purchases the service time would receive a one year increment credit for each year purchased.
House Bill 3031 would allow a child receiving home instruction to take public school courses for credit, which are available over the Internet. The child would be counted in enrollment for the number of hours required for the course. Any textbooks and other curricular materials provided to public school students would be provided to the student. Also, a child enrolled for at least three credit hours (four if the school isn’t on a block schedule), meets the minimum grade point average and takes all statewide assessment tests required, would be authorized to participate in extracurricular activities that the public school provides.
House Bill 3188 would define the period of driver’s license suspension for a student who withdraws from school. It would prohibit the Division of Motor Vehicles from reinstating the license before the end of the semester following the semester in which the withdrawal occurred. Under current law, withdrawal is defined as more than 10 consecutive or 15 total days unexcused absences during a school year.
