Day 50: Welcome to 'Crossover Day.' Here's what to expect

As far as we can discern, at least.

Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days.

Today is Wednesday, March 1st — the 50th day of the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session. It’s also “Crossover Day” — meaning, bills must pass their house of origin by the end of today to survive.

Expect today to be busy.

It’s that point in the session — 5/6ths of the way through, or about 21.83 miles into the metaphorical marathon — where lawmakers kick into a higher gear.

And here at 60 Days, we’re kicking into another gear as well — which is why we expect to need a lot of coffee over the next week and a half.

If you’re one of the nearly 700 60 Days subscribers and haven’t yet fueled us up with a coffee donation, here’s how to take care of that. You’ll feel good supporting local, independent journalism and we’ll make it the rest of the way through the session. In short, everyone wins.

So let’s dive into this morning’s briefing!

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Voting a bill down is quite rare, especially in the lead-up to Crossover Day, but lawmakers in the House did just that yesterday on a measure that would have provided pay increases to state employees in high-cost areas of the state.

House Bill 2953 would have created a commission on cost of living adjustments to advise the Legislature on boosting pay in areas of the state where living expenses are higher. But delegates said ‘no’ to that proposal on a 42-56 vote.

While that specific bill is dead, a similar piece of legislation, SB 593, is at the passage stage in the Senate this morning. That measure would direct all executive branch state agencies to “develop an area market rate salary adjustment policy no later than July 1, 2025.”

So, locality pay isn’t dead yet and won’t be if SB 593 makes it over the hump by the end of today.

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Sorry for bludgeoning you over the head these past few days with the fact that today is “Crossover Day,” but it’s a pretty important deadline. As a final reminder: bills must pass their house of origin by the end of the day to remain in play.

The floor calendars for each chamber are lengthy, although the number of bills on third reading makes up a relatively small part of the agenda. Also, much of what is listed on first and second reading isn’t up against the “Crossover Day” deadline (this includes many Senate bills on the House docket and House bills on the Senate calendar).

The House gavels in at 9:30 a.m. — and you can scan the entire House Special Calendar here, but there are a few bills to note:

• Com. Sub. for H. B. 3018 - Establishing that 18 is the age of consent and removing the ability of an underage person to obtaining a consent to marry through their parents, legal guardians, or by petition to the circuit court (Third Reading)

• Com. Sub. for H. B. 3135 - To modify the salaries of the Governor and Constitutional officers beginning January 1, 2025 (Third Reading)

• Com. Sub. for H. B. 3482 - To create the Coal Fired Grid Stabilization and Security Act of 2023 (Third Reading)

The Senate gathers at 11 a.m. Its daily docket, the Senate Calendar, can be found in full here, but there are several bill worth highlighting:

• Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 220 - Industrial Hemp Development Act (Third Reading)

• Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 552 - Relating to abortion - (Third Reading with a right to amend)

• Eng. Com. Sub. for S. B. 593 - Mandating cost of living salary adjustment policy for state employees (Third Reading)

• Eng. S. B. 739 - Relating to moratorium on carbon capture agreements - (Third Reading with right to amend)

The three-days-three-floor-readings rule may be suspended a few times here and there in a last-minute effort to keep at least a few bills alive. But — based simply on how each of the calendars look — I wouldn’t expect it to be used ad nauseam today.

Keep in mind, the Day 50 joint rule for bills to be out of their house of origin does not apply to the budget, supplementary appropriations bills, or salary measures — so there’s no big rush to get those to pass their first chamber.

That said, it’s possible there will be motions to discharge bills from committees and bring them to the floor. So keep an eye out for that — and if that happens, that’s when I’d be looking for efforts to suspend the three-days-three-readings rule.

The long and short of it is this: if a bill isn’t listed on third reading in its house of origin, a rule suspension would be necessary to get it passed and keep it alive beyond today.

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Here’s a look at committee meetings scheduled in the House of Delegates.

9:15 a.m. – the Committee on Rules will meet

1 p.m. – the Judiciary Committee will meet in the committee meeting room, 410M

2 p.m. – the Committee on Finance will meet in the committee meeting room, 460M

• H. B. 2024, Budget Bill, making appropriations of public money out of the treasury in accordance with section fifty-one, article six of the Constitution.

3 p.m. – the Committee on Government Organization will meet in the East Wing Committee meeting room, 215E

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And here’s a look at committees meeting today in the Senate:

10 a.m. — Agriculture and Natural Resources (208W)

• Agenda TBA

1 p.m. — Outdoor Recreation (208W)

• Eng. Com. Sub. For HB 3147: To create the Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network

• Presentation: Xavier Wirbel – Equestrian in West Virginia and neighboring states

1 p.m. — Pensions (451M)

• Eng. HB 2900: Relating to Deputy Sheriff Retirement System

• Eng. HB 3148: Relating to Financing municipal policemen’s and firemen’s pension and relief funds

• Eng. HB 3244: Relating to Municipal Pensions Oversight Board proposing legislative rules

• Eng. HB 3364: Requiring closure of certain municipal policemen’s and firemen’s pension and relief funds as condition of issuance of pension funding revenue bonds

2 p.m. — Economic Development (451M)

• HB 3012: To encourage economic development regarding rare earth elements and critical minerals, as defined, by providing temporary severance tax relief

• HB 3036: Increasing the number of districts and the limit on approved costs under the BUILD WV Act

• HB 3168: Ensuring investment in WV Tourism is competitive with other states and accessible long term

• HB 3387: Extending the moratorium on the authorization of new convention and visitors bureaus for an additional two years

3 p.m. — Judiciary (208W)

• Com. Sub. for HB 3302: To recognize unborn child as distinct victim in a DUI causing death

• HB 2548: Relating to temporary identification cards for released inmates

• Com. Sub. for HB 2221: Relating to bankruptcy

• HB 3556: Uniform Recognition and Enforcement of Canadian Domestic Violence Protective Orders Act

3 p.m. — Finance (451M)

• HB 3519: Making a supplementary appropriation to the Department of Transportation, Division of Motor Vehicles

• HB 3520: Making a supplementary appropriation to the Department of Education, State Board of Education - Vocational Division

• HB 3521: Making a supplementary appropriation to the Division of Health - Maternal and Child Health

• HB 3522: Making a supplementary appropriation to the Department of Commerce, Division of Natural Resources - License Fund - Wildlife Resources

• HB 3523: Making a supplementary appropriation to Miscellaneous Boards and Commissions, Economic Development Authority

• HB 3528: Making a supplementary appropriation to the Department of Health and Human Resources, Division of Health - Hospital Services Revenue Account Special Fund Capital Improvement, Renovation and Operations

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Despite having until the end of the session to mull bills originating on the other side of the Capitol, the Senate took very little time Tuesday to complete work on HB 3042, the latest iteration of a “Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”

HB 3042 had just passed the House the day before, on Monday. Upon receiving that message in the Senate, lawmakers suspended rules and immediately put the bill up for a vote. The tally was 30-3, along party lines.

The measure now heads to Gov. Jim Justice’s desk.

WVMetroNews has a story providing quite a lot of details about historical context on the issue.

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November 2024 may be a long way off, but the list of candidates is growing in the race for governor. State auditor and former member of the House of Delegates J.B. McCuskey has announced that he’s running to be the state’s chief executive.

McCuskey, who’s in his second term tracking fraud and the misuse of state funds in his role as auditor, joins a number of other prominent Republicans already in the race — Secretary of State Mac Warner, House Judiciary Chair Moore Capito and Chris Miller, a businessman and the son of Rep. Carol Miller.

WVMetroNews reports McCuskey is kicking off his campaign with stops in Morgantown, Clarksburg, Shepherdstown, Fayetteville, Huntington and Beckley through the remainder of the week.

If there is one thing to be noted about McCuskey, it’s that he strikes many political observers as a GOP moderate. During the 2020 election cycle, he was the only Republican among those running for one of the five constitutional offices (Secretary of State, Agriculture Commissioner, Attorney General, Auditor and Treasurer) who did not have a campaign slogan that included some version of “Pro Trump, Pro Life, Pro Gun.”

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In closing for the day, I’d like to reintroduce the 60 Days aggregation ticker — a quick rundown of stories we’ve run across that focus on the statehouse:

• WV House narrowly passes bill that would cap noneconomic losses recoverable from employers that deliberately imperil workers | The Charleston Gazette-Mail (paywall)

• House and Senate consider multiple bills focused on education | WVMetroNews

• Satellite gaming bill passes again | WVMetroNews

• Community solar advocates urge action as time runs short in WV legislative session | The Charleston Gazette-Mail (paywall)

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You can find me on Twitter at @davemistich.

Giles is @GilesSnyder.