As of 4 p.m.,Wednesday February 22, 2012, the 43rd day of the 80th Legislatures 2nd Regular Session, 1344 bills have been introduced in the House. Of those, 61 have passed the House and have moved on to the Senate for further consideration. Bills passed by the House this week include:
House Bill 3174 would allow freestanding liquor stores to conduct responsible liquor sampling events on days of the week, other than Sunday.
House Bill 4007 would provide that an individual who has voluntarily quit employment to accompany a spouse serving in active military service who has been reassigned within the military be qualified for unemployment benefits.
House Bill 4018 would permit licensed real estate appraisers to have access to commercial or residential review documents. The bill also disallows county assessors from charging more than $3 per form.
House Bill 4053 relates to abduction, kidnapping and human trafficking and would require the Department of Health and Human Resources to develop a plan for the delivery of services to victims of human trafficking, authorize the establishment of standards the training of law-enforcement to effectively investigate human trafficking offenses and update the state’s criminal laws to address human trafficking, especially the trafficking of children.
House Bill 4070 would change the basis for paying the county salary supplement equivalent pay rate for division of rehabilitation teachers from the county where the facility is located to the county where the administrative headquarters of the division are located.
House Bill 4087 would extend the moratorium on the regular severance tax on the privilege of severing timber to coincide with the expiration of the “Workers’ Compensation Debt Reduction Act” tax on the privilege of severing timber.
House Bill 4088 would repeal the West Virginia telecommunications tax and would preserve provisions governing the confidentiality and exemptions from disclosure of certain information received by the tax commissioner during the study of the business of telecommunications service and related businesses.
House Bill 4126 would authorize a legislative rule for the Higher Education Policy Commission regarding authorization of degree-granting institutions and rules of the Council for Community and Technical College Education regarding the Workforce Development Initiative Program and tuition and fees.
House Bill 4245 would permit certain auxiliary lighting on motorcycles.
House Bill 4299 would permit a county board of education to use bus operators regularly employed by the county board of a different county to operate buses leased by the county if bus operators from the owning county are unavailable.
House Bill 4403 would ensure that the filing deadline for certified write-in candidates is sufficiently early to allow for the inclusion of absentee ballots of voters covered by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (UOCAVA).
House Bill 4330 would provide that driver’s licenses might contain information designating the licensee as an honorably discharged veteran of any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, upon request of the veteran. The bill would also redefine ‘previously licensed’ as an applicant who has held at least a level two or comparable driver’s license.
House Bill 4338 would raise the maximum value amount of an abandoned motor vehicle from $2,500 to $7,500 prior to its sale by an enforcement agency at a private sale or auction. The bill also requires that an additional $10 fee be paid to the Division of Motor Vehicles for titling an abandoned vehicle.
House Bill 4398 would declare certain claims against the state and its agencies to be moral obligations of the state to be paid with public moneys. A separate bill would appropriate the moneys.
House Bill 4433 would award high school diplomas to veterans of World War I, World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The diplomas would be provided regardless of whether the veterans were attending high school before serving in the military.
House Bill 4493 would provide that March 30 be recognized as Vietnam Veteran Recognition Day, July 27 be recognized as the Korean War Veteran Recognition Day and August 7 be recognized as Purple Heart Recognition Day.
