Day 24: The House is poised to pass the proposed ban on gender affirming care for minors
Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days.
Today is Friday, February 3rd, the 24th day of the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session.
Let’s get the coffee on.
By the way, have you joined the 60 Days coffee club yet?
A day after the House Judiciary Committee hosted a public hearing on the proposed ban on gender affirming care for minors, the bill will be up for passage on the House floor today.
HB 2007 is on third reading, so delegates will be voting on the controversial measure, which was amended by the Judiciary panel to include a ban on sex reassignment medications.
The Republican-led House is expected to send it on to the Senate and if Thursday’s public hearing in the House chamber is any guide, senators are going to be getting an earful from the LGBTQ+ community.
Republicans argue that children under age 18 are not ready to make the decision to receive sex reassignment surgery. But for more than an hour-and-a-half, speaker after speaker at the hearing pushed back. And it’s worth noting that several medical professionals were among some 50 people who spoke against the bill.
Here are a few quotes:
“It’s an intrusion on the physician/patient relationship and the ability of physicians to provide care that is evidence based for our patients”. ~ Dr. Allison Holstein of the West Virginia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
"Love does no harm to a neighbor...this bill would be harmful to those who are transgender." ~ Steve Peck a priest from Wood County
“There are too many people with hate in their hearts who don’t understand the subject, don’t care about our kids. And what’s more important to them is to bully kids than actually take care of real issues.” ~ Army veteran and trans woman Danielle Stewart
While the overwhelming majority of speakers opposed HB 2007, there were a couple who spoke in favor it. Del. Jim Butler (R-Mason) read a letter he said was from the mother of a trans-identifying teenager who blames the medical community for wrecking her family by encouraging trans care for her child.
The Senate Finance Committee is looking into the transfer of some $28.3 million in federal CARES Act money into a fund controlled by the Governor’s Office.
CARES refers to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which was approved by Congress in 2020. West Virginia received some 1.25 billion dollars under it.
The transfer of what remained unspent occurred at the federal spending deadline for the money and $10 million was subsequently given to Marshall University for the construction of a new baseball stadium.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric Tarr announced the hearing on the floor Wednesday saying, “So there’s been a lot of questions around how all that happened, and we’re going to try to sort through all that.”
Here’s a nice write-up from the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
The issue will be first on the Finance Committee’s agenda today. The panel is scheduled to meet at 11:30am in the Senate Finance Committe Room.
Speaking of Senator Tarr, if you’ve been curious to know just how deep the animus runs between Senate leaders and Governor Justice, look no further than this interview. Tarr sat down with Hoppy Kercheval on Thursday amid the debate over Justice’s proposal to cut income taxes by 50% over three years. Tarr doesn’t mince words.
It’s Friday so lawmakers are likely eager to dispense with legislative business and get out of Charleston. With that in mind, the House is getting an early start. The floor session is scheduled for 9 a.m. and as already noted watch for the bill that would ban gender affirming care for minors to come up. The House appears likely to send it to the Senate.
There’s only one committee meeting on the schedule. House Finance will be holding its final budget hearing in Room 460-M.
The Senate floor session is also scheduled for 9 a.m. There are 11 bills up for potential passage. You can them on the Senate Calendar here.
There are three committee meetings on the schedule, and as noted above, Senate Finance seems to be the one to watch.
10 a.m.: Workforce (208W)
11:30 a.m.: Judiciary (208W)
11:30 a.m.: Finance (451M)
As we head into the weekend, here are couple of stories we didn’t have time to get to this week.
Last abortion clinic in West Virginia files federal suit over state's new law - WV MetroNews
20 GOP attorneys general warn CVS, Walgreens against selling abortion pills -Axios (WV Attorney General Patrick Morrisey signed on to this effort)
Thanks for having your morning coffee with us.
Dave and I appreciate it.
As always, you can reach us with any questions or concerns at 60daysgilesdave@gmail.com. Dave will be happy to take the blame for any error in judgement. He’s the junior partner, after all. That sort of thing rolls downhill.
I’m on Twitter @GilesSnyder and Dave can be found @davemistich.
See you back here on Monday.
Good morning to you Giles & Dave. Thank you for doing this! Today's was an especially helpful summary. Dave, we never did get together for those beers when you warned me you'd be leaving -one of the many things I'm sad about for our state. But spring is coming! Please get in touch when you come by this way. I know you will, because your heart has a magnet permanently imbedded inside it, shaped like the state of WV. And Giles, every time I hear your voice I think of your dad. My husband and I both admired him. Keep up the good work!