Day 27: Senate poised to vote on elementary school discipline bill; statewide camping ban at the amendment stage in the House
The West Virginia Weakly Legislative Daybook for March 10, 2025
Today is Monday, March 10, 2025 — the 27th day of the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session.
Today is Black Policy Day at the Capitol. Members of the historically Black sororities Delta Sigma Theta and Zeta Phi Beta will be on hand.
Before we get to the day’s highlights, a CORRECTION. As I said in our chat for paid subscribers yesterday, I don’t know why I associate state Sen. Mike Woelfel with Greenbrier County, but I do. One subscriber replied it’s because that’s “where all the cool cats live.”
Greenbrier County IS a pretty cool place, but Woelfel represents Cabell County in the state Senate. And Cabell County is pretty great, too.
Apologies for the error.
Yesterday’s Sunday column has been corrected.
Highlights (all times and agendas subject to change)
9:00 a.m. — House Finance budget hearing.
9:30 a.m. — Senate Government Organization has a bill on its agenda that strikes me as a response to the controversy over TikTok and its Chinese owner. S.B. 694 would prohibit the use of state-owned devices with internet capability from accessing any software, application or AI tool that is owned by any entity located in a designated foreign adversary nation.
`11:00 a.m. — We’re watching the state Senate’s floor session today to see if Sen. Woelfel will make good on his threat to have bills read in their entirety. Woelfel delivered a floor speech last week, in which he warned that he would reduce business to a crawl today if Gov. Morrisey’s office didn’t back off, accusing the administration of interfering in the legislative process.
In any case, the Senate’s version of the elementary school discipline bill, S. B. 199, is expected to be up for a passage vote. Other bills that are on the floor today include:
S. B. 627 — also up for a vote on passage. It would allow the state Division of Natural Resources to lease state-owned pore spaces underlying lands designated as state parks for underground carbon sequestration.
S. B. 521 — is at the amendment stage. It would require party affiliations be listed in primary and general elections for state Supreme Court justices, circuit court judges, family court judges, and magistrates. In Saturday’s Statehouse Beat column (paywall), Phil Kabler, noted that when Republicans first gained the Legislative majority, they made judicial elections nonpartisan.
S. B. 280 — The “In God We Trust” bill is getting its first reading on the Senate floor. It would require the official US motto be displayed in public schools.
11:00 a.m. — The House gavels in at the usual time with a couple of notable bills on the agenda:
H. B. 2382 is at the amendment stage. It would make camping, sleeping or storing property on public land a misdemeanor. Following last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing bans on outdoor camping, dozens of cities around the country have implemented them, including Wheeling and Clarksburg. Morgantown voters are to decide the issue next month. Critics say such bans criminalize homelessness.
H. B. 2233 was advanced last week by the House Energy and Public Works Committee. The measure will be at the first stage of the floor process today. It’s an environmental rules package backed by the West Virginia Manufacturer’s Association. Environmentalists say it would allow industry to discharge more pollutants into West Virginia rivers and streams by removing "Category A” drinking water protections.
By the way, I’ve been meaning to mention this and now seems like as good a time as any. The links to the bills we provide will take you to the bill page, where there is now a public comment button. This only holds true for bills the House is considering. The House added the button as part of the rules changes made at the beginning of the session that included ending public hearings.
12:30 p.m. — Gov. Morrisey will visit the Mid-Ohio Valley Fellowship Home in Parkersburg and hold a press conference. You can stream it on the Governor’s Facebook, X, and YouTube pages.
1:00 p.m. — The Senate Transporation and Infrastructure Committee is taking up what I’m calling the “Fast and Furious” bill. S.B. 67 would transfer responsibility from county commissions to the state Department of Transportation when a road closure is requested to hold organized motorsports events on public roads. As Dom says, "It don’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning is Winning.”
1:00 p.m. — House Education will hold committee hearings on three bills:
HB 2355 - Permitting middle or high school students to participate in travel sports teams without repercussion.
HB 2548 - To bring the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) under rule making review of the Legislature
HB 2755 - To provide that the West Virginia Board of Education may promulgate rules or policies to be submitted to the Legislature for review
2:00 p.m. — House Democrats are to hold a press conference at the state Capitol to discuss priorities. The event will be live-streamed on the WV House Democrats Facebook page.
3:00 p.m. — Senate Judiciary is taking up S. B. 727 - which calls for an independent third party study of the state’s child welfare system.
3:00 p.m. — Senate Finance will hear a budget presentation from the state Supreme Court.
3:30 p.m. — House Public Health Subcommittee has HB 2378 on its agenda. The bill would prohibit needle exchanges from providing services in West Virginia
Did we miss something? Spot an error? Got a question? Send us a message in our chat for paid subscribers. If we don’t have answers, maybe another Weakly reader will.
Weakly Links: News and opinion from around West Virginia
Women’s rally draws hundreds to Capitol in support of reproductive rights, DEI, more ~ Staff, Charleston Gazette-Mail (Paywall)
Photos: International Women’s Day rally at West Virginia Capitol ~ Christopher Millette, Charleston Gazette-Mail (Paywall)
Full House to consider measure allowing more water pollution ~ Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail (Paywall)
Making judicial elections partisan again accomplishes nothing (Commentary) ~ T.J. Meadows, WVMetroNews
West Virginia lawmakers tilt at windmills in the face of a clean energy future (Commentary) ~ Quenton King, West Virginia Watch
Homeless camp needs buy-in from all parties (Editorial) — The (Wheeling) Intelligencer
Two of the bills in House Education today are constitutionally impermissible. First, the WVBE rule making requires a constitutional amendment, which was attempted unsuccessfully in 2022, and the WVDE doesn’t make rules. It doesn’t seem to matter and no one is stopping them from running these. I suspect they want to pass them to line up a challenge to the requirement of a constitutional amendment before what is viewed as a more favorable Supreme Court.