Day 49: RFRA passes the House, 'Crossover Day' is Wednesday
Day 49: RFRA passes the House, 'Crossover Day' is Wednesday
Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days.
Today is Tuesday, February 28th, 2023 — the 49th Day of the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session.
This morning’s briefing comes to you from the “News Cave,” my home office and growing audio production lab in Morgantown. It’s where I spend a good part of my day (and sometimes all night) — sipping coffee, working my real job, keeping an eye on legislative goings-on and dreaming up ideas for more projects, including another Substack I started earlier this month but have yet to dig into. I’m getting anxious to revisit that space, but I know my focus needs to stay with 60 Days as we head into the homestretch of the session.
I guess now is also a good time to tell you that Giles and I are planning to do something on West Virginia politics and news once the session wraps up. This little project has felt like a success and — equally as important — we’ve had a lot of fun.
But we’re definitely going to take a break once the session wraps up and also scale things back a bit — meaning, whatever we come up with probably won’t be a daily newsletter to start. So, if you have any ideas about what you’re interested in reading about, please do let us know.
So, buy me and Giles a coffee to help keep us going during what’s sure to be a busy next couple weeks — and for whatever comes next.
With the “Crossover Day” deadline arriving tomorrow, lawmakers have some pretty lengthy floor calendars ahead for the day. In the interest of not just copying and pasting (and making your eyes roll to the back of your head), I’ll simply point you to the Senate Calendar and the House Special Calendar and let you skim through them for yourself.
However, there’s one bill at the passage stage in the Senate that caught my eye.
SB 739 - Relating to moratorium on carbon capture agreements
The Charleston Gazette-Mail has a piece on that measure if you’d like to delve into it a bit more. It had not existed at all before the weekend and is already headed for a vote
One notable bill that is up for passage in the House is:
HB 3270 - To amend the deliberate intent statute to limit noneconomic damages to $250,000
We’ve touched on that measure a bit in this newsletter — most notably as it came out of the House Judiciary Committee and had a public hearing.
For tomorrow’s briefing, I’ll do my best to highlight some of the highest priority bills that are facing the “Crossover Day” deadline.
Speaking of public hearings, HB 3157 - Relating to clarifying the duties, functions, prohibitions, and restrictions applicable to the West Virginia Fusion Center, will get a hearing this morning at 9 a.m.
And here’s the rest of the committee schedule for the House:
10:45 a.m. — Committee on Rules (Behind the House Chamber)
2:00 p.m. — Technology and Infrastructure (Room 432M)
2:00 p.m. — Economic Development and Tourism (Room 460M)
3:00 p.m. — Committee on Health and Human Resources (Room 215E)
3:30 p.m. — Committee on Finance (Room 460M)
Now, on to a look at Senate Committees meeting today:
9 a.m. — Education (Room 451M)
9 a.m. — Government Organization (Room 208W)
10:30 a.m. — Rules (Room 219M)
Looking back to Monday, the House of Delegates passed HB 3042 on a strictly party line vote. The measure — known colloquially as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — would create a legal test for people or corporations claiming that a state or local law interferes with a “sincerely held” religious belief.
Supporters of the bill said it would give courts a roadmap on dealing with the issue. They also argued that some who are religious are discriminated against for holding those beliefs.
Opponents of the measure are concerned the legislation would threaten ordinances that protect people from discrimination in employment and housing decisions based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Seventeen municipalities — covering nearly 12% of the population in the state — have adopted some version of these protections, according to Movement Advancement Project.
Del. Mike Puskin (D-Kanawha) proposed an amendment that would have offered protections for such ordinances. He also offered a separate amendment that would have required businesses to post a sign if they might refuse service to someone based on exercising their religious beliefs.
Both of Pushkin’s amendments failed, and the bill — now over the “Crossover Day” hump coming Wednesday — heads to the Senate.
I hope you all don’t think we’ve have shilled too awfully much over the course of the session, but I’ve got another in me this morning.
Our buddy Brian Pickens (who cartoon-ified me and Giles for the 60 Days logo) and his fiancé, Jillian — whom I also consider a friend — are hoping to have horror movie hero and cult favorite Bruce Campbell officiate their wedding. I know you’re wondering: How would that even be possible?
Well, thanks to the world being weird and awesome, Brian and Jillian are finalists in an online voting competition for Bruce Campbell to use the power vested in him to join Brian and Jillian in holy matrimony.
I promised Brian I would share the link to the voting site to help give their effort a boost — because Bruce Campbell marrying my friends was not exactly on my lifetime Bingo card until it became a real possibility. Plus, who wouldn’t want to take a chainsaw to a wedding and it be totally acceptable?
Thanks for reading 60 Days.
We’ll see you back tomorrow to celebrate the “Crossover Day” deadline and being 5/6ths of the way through the session.
If you want to get in touch, you can simply reply to this email. Better yet, hit the comment button
Also, I’m on Twitter at @davemistich and Giles is @GilesSnyder.