As of 4 p.m., Wednesday, February 20, 2008, the 43rd day of the 2008 Regular Session, 777 bills have been introduced in the Senate. Of those, 20 have passed the Senate and have gone to the House for consideration. These include:
Senate Bill 9 would create a hunter safety program in schools. The program would be available to students in grades 8-12 over a two-week period during the school year as part of physical education classes. The hunter safety orientation program would be voluntary to students, but if a student chooses not to participate in the program, he or she would participate in another physical education activity. The program would provide information for handling and shooting firearms in hunting, sports competition and in the home.
Senate Bill 13 would modify the West Virginia Dental Practice Act by allowing dental hygienists to treat patients without direct supervision of a dentist and creating a special volunteer license for retired dentists who want to volunteer at free clinics.
Senate Bill 145 would allow a person to use force, including deadly force, against a criminal or intruder in a situation where the person has the legal right to defend themselves in their own residence. Complete civil defense would not be available to persons who commit or escape from the commission of a felony or to resist a police officer acting in the course of duty.
Senate Bill 156 would provide tuition waivers to state colleges and universities for children and spouses of National Guard and active military duty personnel killed in the line of duty.
Senate Bill 193 would allow consumer lenders to sell home and automobile membership plans to their customers. Lenders would be required to provide these plans under a voluntary basis to the customer, offer security for the property interests, provide copies and allow the customer to cancel the plan within 30 days with a full refund.
Senate Bill 201 would prohibit a former participant to join a retirement plan as a new member with the same or different public employer from receiving any benefits because of their former participation in a retirement plan. A person would be ineligible if they have been convicted of a crime or served less than honorable duty.
Senate Bill 207 would allow the Consolidated Public Retirement Board to correct any change or employer error in the records of the Department of the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System or any participating employer if the error affects payments. In addition, disability benefit payments would begin the first day of the month following termination of employment and receipt of the disability retirement application by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board.
Senate Bill 208 would clarify that all retirement systems administered by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board are included for employer pick-up provisions for federal tax purposes.
Senate Bill 290 would reduce the fine for health care professionals whose licenses may be expired, lapsed or terminated who practice for less than three months. The bill establishes an additional felony offense for a health care professional that practice without a valid, active license and causing serious bodily injury.
Senate Bill 301 would eliminate the minimum requirement of $500 for an eligible rollover distribution paid directly to an eligible retirement plan for the State Police Retirement Fund. The surviving spouse would be included in the annual annuity adjustment and when a deceased member has no surviving spouse, dependant child or dependant parent, the contributions are to be paid to a named beneficiary or beneficiaries.
Senate Bill 317 would update physician and podiatrist licensing requirements. This bill would allow applicants 10 years to pass all components of the medical examination instead of seven and require applicants who fail components of the exam after three tries to come before the Board of Medicine. The Board of Medicine would also be allowed to grant medical licenses under extraordinary circumstances.
Senate Bill 325 would clarify the matching program for the deferred compensation plan for state employees is available only to employees who receive compensation for 12 monthly pay periods or 24 semi-monthly pay periods during a fiscal year.
Senate Bill 519 would extend the sunset provision for the Hazardous Waste Management Fee Fund from June 30, 2008, to June 30, 2010.
Senate Bill 545 would require electronic filing of tax returns for taxpayers that had a total annual remittance of $100,000 or more, authorizes the tax commissioner to combine all tax assessments resulting from one audit into a combined single assessment and eliminates the biennial renewal requirement for business registration certificates granted before July 1, 2010.
Senate Bill 596 would update definitions to conform to changes made by the Governing Board of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.
Senate Bill 673 would make a supplemental appropriation to the Department of Health and Human Resources for social services.
Senate Bill 674 would make supplemental appropriations for the Department of Administration and Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.
Senate Bill 570 would allow county commissions to be involved in joint economic development efforts.
Senate Bill 579 would allow a border city whose sanitary sewer system is located in another state to appoint two additional non-resident members to its sanitary board.
Senate Bill 606 would give teachers who are regularly employed on a full-time basis hiring preference for summer school programs over substitute and part-time teachers.
