Day 28: Get ready for Buckwheat Pancakes
Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days, your daily guide to the West Virginia Legislature.
It’s Tuesday, February 6, 2024 — Day 28 of the regular session. It’s Preston County Day at the Capitol, which is arguably one of the best days of the entire session.
You may be wondering why …
Two words: BUCKWHEAT PANCAKES.
The Buckwheat Festival may still be months away (it kicks off September 26. Trust me, I just checked.), but the fine people of Preston County will be at the Capitol handing out their trademark dish today. And maybe they’ll again do it next to the statue of the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd so he can point down at the spot where you missed some syrup.
Know what goes well with Buckwheat Pancakes? You guessed it: coffee. And, just so we’re clear — the 60 Days editorial board accepts coffee as currency.
Today’s Agenda:
Once everyone’s bellies are full on Buckwheat Pancakes, both the House and Senate will gavel in for their floor sessions at 11 a.m. The House Special Calendar can be found here. And the Senate’s daily docket can be found here.
HB 5018 is on the House’s calendar. That’s the measure that deals with community air monitoring programs. It’s back on the calendar after an amendment was tabled last week and then brought back yesterday. The amendment was rejected and now the bill will be up for a full vote this morning.
Another one up for passage in the House worth noting, if for no other reason aside from giving you the willies, is HB 4940. That piece of legislation clarifies that “squatters” are not tenants in West Virginia. Do yourself a favor and Google “homeowner rights squatters” (or something to that effect), click on news and you’ll see an unsettling number of stories from around the U.S. about property owners fighting to get strangers (or unwanted guests, maybe) out of their homes.
The Rules Committees from each chamber will meet at 10:45 a.m. — just ahead of the respective floor sessions. While there’s not much eye-popping on any committee agendas, we’ll note a couple of things. And you can take a peek for yourself:
9:00 a.m. - House Committee on Banking and Insurance
9:15 a.m. - House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Homeland Security
10:00 a.m. - House Committee on Political Subdivisions
10:00 a.m. - Senate Committee on Education
SB 614 - Specifying requirements for appropriate elementary behavior intervention and safety. A similar bill addressing teacher’s ability to address disruptive behavior is moving through the House.
SB 515 - Prohibiting public schools from requiring students to participate in sexual orientation instruction
10:00 a.m. - Senate Committee on Government Organization
1:00 p.m. - House Committee on Energy and Manufacturing
1:00 p.m. - House Committee on Technology and Infrastructure
1:00 p.m. - Senate Committee on Energy, Industry and Mining
1:00 p.m. - Senate Committee on Health and Human Resources
3:00 p.m. - House Committee on Economic Development and Tourism
3:00 p.m. - House Committee on Health and Human Resources
3:00 p.m. - Senate Committee on the Judiciary
3:00 p.m. - Senate Committee on Finance
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.
Henry Culvyhouse of Mountain State Spotlight revisits Governor Justice’s call for lawmakers to reverse last year’s move that led to some eye-popping scores in high school football games. During the State of the State address, the Governor said the bill that made it easier for athletes to transfer between schools was “ruining” high schools sports. A measure addressing the issue has yet to make on a committee agenda.
The House of Delegates passed a bill yesterday that will help give the state primary enforcement authority over wells to inject carbon dioxide into deep rock formations for long-term underground storage. As Mike Tony of The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports, the measure is in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calling on West Virginia to make changes to state code to get that authority.
The Wheeling Intelligencer newspaper published this column over the weekend on bringing the death penalty back to West Virginia. The Most Rev. Mark E. Brennan, the bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston argues against it. A couple of bills aimed at reviving the death penalty have been introduced this session, but they have yet to make it on a committee agenda.
Here’s the latest Reporter’s Notebook column from Steven Allen Adams, the state government reporter for Ogden Newspapers.
Resources:
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.