As of 3 p.m., Wednesday, April 1, 2009, the 50th day of the 79th Legislature’s 1st Regular Session, 767 bills have been introduced in the Senate. Of those, 183 have passed and have been sent to the House for its consideration. Some of those bills passed were:
Senate Bill 63 would increase the amount deposited each year from the State Excess Lottery Revenue Fund to the Higher Education Improvement Fund, increasing it from $10 million to $15 million.
Senate Bill 78 would authorize the Division of Motor Vehicles to create and issue a number of new special registration plates. These registration plates would include a special registration plate bearing the inscription “In God We Trust,” a special license plate for registered nurses and licensed practical nurses, volunteer firefighters, Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) Women’s and Children’s Hospital and for “Friends of Coal.” The bill would also create and issue a special license plate for the Patriot Guard Riders. Patriot Guard Riders are a group who attend the funerals of law enforcement officers, fire department personnel, and any active duty member or veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces and help shield mourning family and friends from interruptions created by protestors. The bill would authorize the DMV to assess a special initial application fee and a special annual fee for the license plates.
Senate Bill 84 would authorize municipalities to provide free parking for certain veterans. The municipalities would be able to provide, by ordinance, free parking to disabled veterans, prisoners of war, survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor, recipients of the Distinguished Purple Heart Medal, the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Force Cross, the Bronze Star Medal and the Silver Star Medal. To be eligible for free parking, a person would have to display a special registration plate featuring one of the various criteria.
Senate Bill 142 would create a tax incentive, not to exceed $500,000 annually, for the development, construction or improvement of tourism attractions or amenities. The credit would allow the taxpayer to recover up to 25% or, in the case of bed and breakfast facilities, 50% of qualified 80% investment in a tourism attraction or amenity by offsetting up to 80% of consumers sales and service tax collected by the taxpayer from customers over a period of either five or 10 years at the election of the taxpayer.
Senate Bill 297 would create the Alternative and Renewable Energy Portfolio Act. Under this act, by the year 2025 at least 25% of the electric energy sold to retail customers in West Virginia would be required to be generated from alternative and renewable energy resources. The bill would requires the Public Service Commission to establish a credit system to monitor and track the generation of electricity from alternative and renewable energy resources.
Senate Bill 333 would base the ratio of school nurses to students on total enrollment instead of only kindergarten thru seventh grade enrollment. This bill would expand nursing coverage to all school levels, making the ratio one nurse to every 750 students from the previous 1,507 students, and eliminate the county’s ability to contract out nursing services.
Senate Bill 336 would change the offense of a failure to wear a seatbelt from a secondary to a primary offense. This bill would also reduce the fine for offenders from $25 to $15, and no longer take away points from the offender’s license.
Senate Bill 373 would make a number of changes to the PROMISE Scholarship including dissolving the PROMISE Scholarship Board and transferring its powers and duties to the Higher Education Policy Commission and under the oversight of the Vice Chancellor for Administration. The annual award for the Promise would now be equal to but unable to exceed the cost of tuition, or $4,750 and the Higher Education Policy Commission would be authorized to provide greater annual awards under certain circumstances if funds are available.
Senate Bill 419 would create within the Governor’s Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle Planning (GOHELP) a program in restaurants to bring awareness to healthy menu choices. It would require all chain restaurants with more than 15 national locations to post caloric content on the menu board at the point of purchase. Short-term menu items (less than 30 days) are not required to be listed. There is also a provision for posting at drive-through windows.
Senate Bill 483 would establish the Caregivers Consent Act, allowing for a caregiver who is not a parent, legal custodian or guardian of a minor, to consent to health care for a minor through an affidavit.
Senate Bill 485 would require all children entering a public school, whether it be in kindergarten or first grade, to provide adequate proof of having undergone a dental examination by a licensed dentist.
Senate Bill 488 would require parental or legal guardian consent for minors age 14 – 17 to use a tanning device. Minors under the age of 14 would have to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
Senate Bill 575 would update the law to conform the operations of video lottery and authorized games of chance at a historic resort hotel and the operations of video lottery and table games at the pari-mutuel racetracks. It would also change the distribution of net gaming receipts from gaming at a historic resort hotel to be more parallel to the distribution for licensed racetracks. It would establish a Human Resource Benefit Fund to benefit all employees of the historic resort hotel licensee. State revenues from both types of venues would come from the application of identical percentages to the video lottery and table game income.
Senate Bill 648 would require the county commission to select an individual precinct to manually count during the tallying of ballots rather than 5% of the precincts ballots to be manually counted. If a discrepancy between the manual count and the electronic tabulation is greater than 1% or the outcome of a race or ballot issue would be changed, 5% of the precincts would have to be manually counted. If the discrepancy persists, all of the ballots would be manually counted.
Senate Bill 715 would establish the Chesapeake Bay Restoration initiative, which would protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed and aid nutrient reduction projects.
