Day 51: The Day That Should Not Be
Also, the Capitol Press Corps assesses Crossover Day
Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days, your daily guide to the West Virginia Legislature.
Today is Thursday, February 29, 2024 — Day 51 of the regular session. It’s a leap day — or a Leap Year Day — er something. This whole extra day in February thing confuses us — as does Daylight Saving time, so much so, that we’ve both taken off form our normal jobs that weekend, which happens to fall on Day 60.
Anyway, the 29th of February is always a strange date, so much so that Dave’s Chico Bail Bonds teammate Andy Tuck made this poster for a gig in Morgantown tonight that looks like its promoting a George Romero film.
“THE DAY THAT SHOULD NOT BE” — maybe? But it puts us all one day closer to Day 60. And it does still count on the legislative calendar and that’s all that really matters.
If you’re around Morgantown tonight, go see Tuck play some guitar and sing some songs at the new Chestnut Beer Hall. Dave may make a VERY brief appearance before hopping on his overnight shift for his real job.
Anyway, now that we have the leap year stuff out of the way, we might as well get down to business. In the meantime, fuel us up with a cup of coffee, if you would:
Did you miss our Activity Day schtick yesterday? Did you notice that we failed to mention that students from the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind were at the Capitol for Deaf Awareness Day?
We’re getting back on that horse.
Today is Arts Day at the Legislature. Displays from arts organizations from around the state will be set up around the Rotunda.
It’s also the lobby day for the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia. If you’re interested in the issues that the ACLU of WV is keeping up with, the organization has a bill tracker you can get in your inbox.
With “Crossover Day” now in the rearview mirror, some marquee bills are now clear of an important hurdle. Legislation focusing on everything from unemployment reform to pay raises for teachers and some other state employees remain in play, as lawmakers passed these proposals and fired them across the rotunda to the other side in time to meet the Day 50 deadline.
Instead of recapping things ourselves, we thought it’d be more appropriate (and less work) to give a nod to some of the reporters in Charleston who’ve been working their butts off for the past month and a half:
Steven Allen Adams recaps House action on Crossover Day in the pages of the Parkersburg News and Sentinel.
There’s also this from reporter David Beard of the Morgantown Dominion Post breaking down a busy Crossover Day.
Brad McElhinny of WVMetroNews has more on one of the unemployment benefits bills that cleared the Senate.
Caity Coyne of West Virginia Watch reports on the state Senate’s proposed budget. The chamber suspended the rules as one of its last act on Crossover Day and passed the spending bill.
The House Finance Committee has its version of the budget bill on the agenda today. The panel meets at 9 a.m.
West Virginia teachers, state police and non-uniformed state correctional workers remain in line for a pay raise. Those pay raise bills made it through the House. It’s now up to the state Senate as Henry Culvyhouse of Mountain State Spotlight reports.
Charles Young reports in today’s Charleston Gazette-Mail that a House bill that further restricts health care for transgender minors is now in the hands of the state Senate.
Today’s Floor Agenda:
After making their way through more than 50 bills on “Crossover Day,” the House of Delegates has only two measures up for passage today. Aside from that, supplemental appropriations bills on first reading make up the bulk of today’s calendar.
Over in the Senate, the bill that would ban “non-binary” on West Virginia birth certificates is on third reading and up for passage. Given that it already passed the House, HB 4233 wasn’t up against yesterday’s big deadline and was laid over on third reading. It retains that spot on the calendar today. For a look at what else is in store, the Senate’s daily docket can be found here.
Committee schedule:
9:00 a.m. – House Finance Committee
9:30 a.m. – House Judiciary Committee
The committee substitute for S. B. 152 is on the agenda. The Senate-passed bill would require public schools to display the official US motto. “In God We Trust.” Since today is the ACLU of WV’s lobby day, it seems appropriate to mention that this bill is among those opposed by the organization.
10:00 a.m. — Senate Government Organization
10:00 a.m. — Senate Education Committee
10:45 a.m. – House Rules Committee
1:00 p.m. — Senate Health and Human Resources Committee
After the House’s morning floor session – House Energy and Manufacturing Committee
3:00 p.m. — House Economic Development and Tourism
3:00 p.m. — Senate Judiciary
3:00 p.m. — Senate 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 day in, day out.
There is concern about a bill moving through the Legislature that would make changes to the state Educational Broadcasting Authority, the board that oversees West Virgina Public Broadcasting. Both of us on the 60 Days editorial board cut our teeth in WVPB’s newsroom. Steven Allen Adams, the state government reporter for Ogden Newspapers has more on what might happen with the EBA if lawmakers pass the bill.
After customers on Charleston’s West Side went without heat due to an outage in November, the House has passed bill that would require utilities to have an outage communication plan as Mike Tony of the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports.
P.R. Lockhart of Mountain State Spotlight reports on the stalled CROWN Act and why advocates say it’s important that lawmakers take up the bill, which seems to have died in the Senate Finance Committee.
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.