Day 50: An important legislative deadline arrives today
Finally, we'll have few reasons to beat you over the head with mentions of Crossover Day.
Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days, your daily guide to the West Virginia Legislature.
Today is Wednesday, February, 28, 2024 — Day 50 of the regular session. It’s also “Crossover Day,” the deadline for bills to pass their house of origin. Expect long floor sessions and maybe a few motions in hopes of extending the life of some floundering proposals.
Luckily, for journalists around the Capitol (and anyone else following along, I suppose) the chaos and ambiguity surrounding the fate of a number of bills will begin to fade somewhat after today.
After things become a bit more clear, we’re left with only ten more days of legislating until it’s time to say “Sine Die.” At which point, we’ll all collectively sing “Hallelujah!”
Are you tired yet? The 60 Days editorial board is starting to feel the wear and tear of working our normal jobs (and bonkers hours, at that) all while trying to keep up with everything in Charleston for two months.
We do this newsletter because we love this state and we get a kick out of the response from so many of you. And, well, we’re kind of nerdy about this stuff if you couldn’t already tell.
Today’s Floor Agenda:
We hope everyone got some rest last night, as it’s bound to be a long day on the House and Senate floors.
Even House deputy chief of staff and communications director Ann Ali told journalists and other legislative watchers last night in her note looking ahead to today (which we received via email at 7:20 p.m.) we should “probably just go to sleep now."
Take it from Ann — and us — today is going to be a LONG, LONG, LONG one.
The House of Delegates has 59 bills scheduled for an up-or-down vote today. It should be no surprise that an overwhelming majority of them (56, to be exact) originated in the House. Delegates will gavel in at 8:00 a.m., with leadership fully aware of the deadline they’re up against.
Here’s a few of the major bills in front of the House on this Crossover Day:
Com. Sub. for HB 5297 - Relating to prohibiting pubertal modulation and hormonal therapy when provided to assist in a gender transition [Right to Amend]
Com. Sub. for HB 5358 - Creating an ombudsman program within the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation to review complaints against a state agency or correctional facility.
Com. Sub. for H. B. 4734 - To provide a pay increase to state correctional workers in West Virginia
Com. Sub. for H. B. 4883 - Relating to increasing annual salaries of certain employees of the state
Com. Sub. for HB 5373 - Relating to changing political parties less than one year prior to being appointed to political office.
Com. Sub. for H. B. 5623 - Relating to absentee voting
For a complete look at the House docket, you can find it here.
The overall state of play over in the Senate mostly mirrors the situation in the House, though less lengthy. Members of the upper chamber will tackle 24 bills up for passage — with 20 of them originating on that side of the building. Senators will get going at their standard 11:00 a.m. start time.
Few things stick out on today’s Senate Calendar, but a handful of bills we covered at some point earlier in the session are up for passage with today’s deadline looming.
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 601 - Creating WV Women's Bill of Rights - (With right to amend)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 4233 - Non-binary not permitted on birth certificates
Eng. S. B. 840 - Modifying unemployment benefits - (With right to amend)
Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 841 - Setting amount of unemployment taxes and benefits - (With right to amend)
Want to take a look at the rest of the Senate Calendar? You can scroll through it yourself here.
Committee schedule:
With it being Crossover Day, committee activity gets downgraded significantly in terms of priority. After all, today is all about getting bills passed and over to the other side of the rotunda.
As of now, only two House committees are scheduled to meet. The House Rules Committee will get together at 7:45 a.m. to decide the final rundown of the active calendar. (Again, the potential for some last-minute additions to the floor schedule is very real — so be on the lookout for that maneuver.)
And then the House Government Organization Committee will gather at 3:00 p.m. — though no agenda has yet been posted.
As the morning kicks off, the Senate also has few committee meetings scheduled. But here’s what we know as of now:
10:00 a.m. — Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
The bill known to 60 Days loyalists as Giles Snyder’s Source of Endless Amusement Act (Eng. Com. Sub. for HB 4911: Relating to the sale of RAW MILK) is the only bill on the panel’s agenda. (The jury is still out whether Giles is willing to celebrate with a pint of raw milk should this thing pass, but I’m guessing it’s a negative.)
3:00 p.m. — Senate Finance Committee
SB 200: Budget Bill.
You’re probably wondering what a Senate bill is doing in a Senate committee on Crossover Day. Well, that’s because budget bills and supplemental appropriations ARE NOT SUBJECT to today’s deadline. And don’t worry, we’ll be covering this sucker more closely as we come down the home stretch.
TBA — Senate Judiciary Committee
Strike and Insert for HB 5294: Revising state law regulating farm wineries
Strike and Insert for HB 4845: To prohibit swatting
HB 5298: Relating to prohibiting a candidate who failed to secure the nomination of a political party in a primary election from seeking the same elected office as an affiliate with a different political party in the subsequent general election
HB 5091: West Virginia Critical Infrastructure Protection Act
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 day in, day out.
Student athletes could soon be able to play for their school’s team as well as a travel team — and at the same time. Taylor Kennedy of The Charleston Gazette-Mail has more.
State Treasurer and congressional candidate Riley Moore has put a target on banks that aren’t friendly to fossil fuels and trying to do business with the state. But as Curtis Tate of West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports, one of the banks that’s been blacklisted by Moore also has ties to the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline.
And, lastly, a bit of a correction: Yesterday, we told you that a bill sponsored by an anti-abortion rights group had a key provision removed in the course of the lawmaking process. As it turns out, that very part of the bill made it back in — following a floor amendment Monday from Sen. Amy Grady (R-Mason). The Senate wound up passing SB 486 yesterday, but not before adding back a requirement that 10th grade students watch a video depicting fetal development. Amelia Ferrell Knisely of West Virginia Watch has the story on the “Baby Olivia Video” bill and her reporting gets right what we screwed up in yesterday morning’s edition.
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.