Day 10: More snow is on it's way and the Legislature is not taking chances
It's also Friday, so it likely would have been a short day, anyway.
Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days, your daily guide to the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session.
The state Capitol got its fair share of snow earlier this week and more is in the forecast today. Governor Justice preemptively declared a state of emergency for all 55 of West Virginia’s counties. So, if you’re heading into work or have other travel planned for today, be careful. Don’t say your legislative guides aren’t looking out for you, because we are.
Today is Friday, January 19th, 2024 — Day 10 of the West Virginia Legislature’s Regular Session. With it being Friday — and with a fair amount of snow predicted across the state — lawmakers will likely make it a short work day in Charleston. After all, some of them might have to drive upwards of six hours to get back to their home districts.
Even so, there’s some business on the calendar for the day, even if it’s rather limited with the impending snow.
Which reminds me, a cup of coffee pairs quite well with snow on the ground.
Today’s Agenda (such as it is):
The House of Delegates gavels in at 11 a.m. with three bills up for passage. The Senate also gets to work at 11 a.m. with one measure going up for a vote.
With the forecast calling for anywhere between 2 inches to an entire foot of snow, Senate Committees aren’t planning anything. And only two House committees are scheduled to meet today.
At 9 a.m., House Finance will hear budget presentations from the Secretary of State’s office, the Attorney General’s office and the West Virginia National Guard.
House Judiciary was supposed to get together, but that meeting has been canceled.
60 Days links: Reading that’s good for you and good for West Virginia. Click on the links to help support the reporters who work at the state Capitol and elsewhere day in, day out.
The city of Wheeling has started enforcing its new ban on camping on public property. The Wheeling Intelligencer reports city clean up crews turned up at a homeless encampment Thursday morning despite a lawsuit filed this week by the ACLU of West Virginia.
Governor Justice says, “There’s plenty of wiggle room in mine.” Brad McElhinny of WVMetroNews reports on Justice’s remarks on the pay raise bills for teachers and school service personnel. They were advanced this week by the House Education Committee and go further than Justice initially called for.
There’s continued discussion of the West Virginia GOP’s plan to keep independent voters out of their primary elections, despite the fact that state law allows for each party to decide whether to let independents vote in their primary. Rodger Adkins of The Charleston Gazette-Mail has more on the proposal, that’s set to go up for a vote in front of the state GOP’s executive committee tomorrow.
Lori Kersey of West Virginia Watch has a story on the Senate Judiciary Committee advancing a bill that would require ID photos on EBT cards. As Kersey reports, “Senate Bill 450 is meant to be a way of combating fraud, but state EBT director Jacquelyn Hoppe testified that making sure that EBT cards are protected would make more of a difference in stopping fraud.”
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Know of any bills we should be keeping tabs on? Any events, press conferences, etc., we should know about? Tell us about them in the comments.