Day 20: WV Lawmakers aren't shying away from controversy
Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days.
Today is Monday, January 30th, the 20th Day of the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session - one-third of the way there.
Can anyone spare a dime for a coffee?
Today’s legislative lookahead is coming to you from Martinsburg, where your friendly guide is craving some authentic Italian food.
Wonder if Governor Justice would mind snagging me a plate of spaghetti on his way here? After all, he’s taking his Tax Cut Road Show to Bridgeport today. How much trouble could it be to stop by Oliverio’s or Minard’s Spaghetti Inn before turning up here in the Eastern Panhandle tomorrow?
The Republican-led state Senate has a packed floor session on its schedule today. A dozen bills are on third reading, the passage stage. And one of them is SB251, which would require the nation’s motto, “In God We Trust,” be displayed in public schools.
The bill’s lead sponsor is Senator Mike Azinger (R-Wood). Azinger has pushed former President Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election, and he attended the rally that ended with the January 6th riot, although he did not enter the U.S. Capitol and was not charged with any wrongdoing.
Azinger sits on the Senate Education Committee, which advanced the bill last week. He told the panel that it would help promote unity in a polarized country.
Our friends at West Virginia Public Broadcasting pulled this quote from Senator Azinger: “‘In God We Trust’ is in the fourth stanza of our national anthem,” he said. “It was added as a national motto by Eisenhower, the same president who put ‘Under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance. So, I just think it’d be a great thing for our state and for our kids.”
Several states have a similar law on the books.
You can find the Senate’s full floor session agenda here. Here’s a list of other bills that will be voted on today:
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 51 - Requiring impact statement in certain instances of school closing or consolidation
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 239 - Requiring Commissioner of Bureau for Behavioral Health to engage certain providers and leaders to study homeless demographic
Eng. S. B. 241 - Relating to Patient Brokering Act
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 243 - Requiring substance use disorder inpatient providers to provide transportation to patients
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 248 - Clarifying when excess funds accumulated by boards are to be transferred to General Revenue Fund
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 258 - Eliminating ceiling on fair market value of consumer goods and permitting dealer to require security deposit
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 270 - Adding exemption to permit requirement for cremation
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 271 - Modifying approval process requirements for First Responders Honor Board (original similar to HB2873)
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 282 - Creating WV Guardian Program
Eng. S. B. 283 - Relating to Military Incentive Program - (Com. title amend. pending)
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 439 - Establishing design-build program for DEP (original similar to HB3129)
The House Education Committee is worth watching today. The panel meets at 2 p.m. in the Education Committee Room.
Pay raise bills for teachers and school service personnel are on the agenda (HB2598 and HB2828).
Delegates on the education panel will also vet SB 130, called the Anti-Racism Act of 2023.
SB 130 was among the slew of bills the Senate passed on the first day of the regular session, when it suspended the chamber’s rules.
The bill addresses what’s called “critical race theory” and it aims to keep its concepts out of public schools.
The bill ALMOST passed last year but didn’t quite make it through the legislative process in the rush of the session’s final night. As Metronews reported earlier this month: “Last year, a majority of senators voted in favor of the “The Anti-Racism Act,” a bill sparked by the national conversation on critical race theory, and it initially appeared to have passed. But a review by the Senate clerk revealed that the bill had not actually gotten through before the midnight deadline.”
The House Judiciary Committee is meeting at 3 p.m. and has HB 2007 on its agenda.
HB 2007 is the bill that would ban physicians from providing gender-affirming surgery to minors.
The bill was sent to the judiciary panel after receiving the go-ahead from the House Health and Human Resources Committee.
There wasn’t much debate on the bill in the health committee. The panel’s majority Republicans were silent, but the Associated Press reports that “Republicans in other states … have often characterized the treatments as medically unproven and potentially dangerous in the long term … They also say teenagers shouldn’t undergo irreversible surgeries.”
The health committee’s two Democrats spoke against the bill with Delegate Mike Pushkin (D-Kanawha) calling it an “insult to a community that’s already so marginalized in the state.”
Also on the House Judiciary Committee’s agenda:
HB2004 - Prevent the use of payment card processing systems for surveillance of Second Amendment activity and discriminatory conduct
HB2008 - Requiring local entities to enforce immigration laws
Finally, the House gavels in at 11 a.m. and does not have nearly as much legislative business on its floor session schedule as the Senate. In fact, there are no bills on third reading.
You can find the House floor agenda here.
If you want to get in touch, you can email us at 60daysgilesdave@gmail.com.
I’m on Twitter at @GilesSnyder and Dave is @davemistich.
See you back here tomorrow morning.