Day 58: The clock is ticking toward midnight Saturday
Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days.
Today is Thursday, March 9th, 2023 — the 58th day of the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session.
I really shouldn’t speak for Dave, but it’s probably safe to say we’re both looking forward to coming down off this caffeine buzz you’ve been helping to nurture with your coffee donations for the past two months. And even if you haven’t financially contributed to our fake internet coffee club, you’ve kept us going just by reading 60 Days and helping us grow this newsletter by sharing it with your friends and neighbors, even the ones you avoid when you see them walking down the street.
West Virginia may not be an affluent state, but its people are generous.
You’ve reminded us of that time and again.
I could get even more maudlin, but I’m saving that for when Dave and I dip into the sham internet beer club we plan to inaugurate while West Virginia lawmakers are busy putting the finishing touches on the session Saturday night. We’ll be in Dave’s Morgantown stomping grounds, celebrating “Final Night” and a successful run for 60 Days.
I’m not sure where we’ll be in our cups but do say hello if you see one or both of us wandering around aimlessly, muttering something about a bill we’re supposedly watching.
In the meantime, hit the button. Coffee donations are still a thing. After all, the curtain doesn’t come down on the session for a couple more days.
The tax cut deal the Legislature passed and Gov. Jim Justice signed into law on Tuesday is getting national attention. Look for the governor on Fox News this morning. He’s scheduled to be interviewed at 7:40 a.m.
And there’s this opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal:
West Virginia Joins the Tax Cutters | WSJ (opinion) (paywall)
With HB 2007 regaining traction in the final few days, trans rights activists are planning a rally at the Capitol this morning. That measure would ban gender-affirming care for minors.
Medical professionals across the board say the measure blocks essential healthcare and would put many youth at the risk of suicide. A 2017 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA’s Law School showed West Virginia had the highest per-capita rate of trans youth in the nation.
HB 2007 cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday in about five minutes and will be on the amendment stage this morning. The Judiciary panel did adopt a new version of the measure — a title amendment sent over by the Senate Health Committee that would exempt physicians from being banned from providing care if the patient had begun “sex-reassignment prior to the effective date of the legislation.”
Last week, Sen. Tom Takubo (R-Kanawha) tried amending the bill to allow for hormone therapy for minors, but the Senate Health Committee downed that effort.
Such a proposed ban has sprung up in Republican-led states over the past few years, with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida Tennessee and Utah all having enacted laws banning gender-affirming care for minors. The laws in Alabama and Tennessee are currently on hold with lawsuits tied up in the courts.
Lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee also voted late last night — near the close of International Women’s Day — to down a measure that would have banned children from getting married. The panel voted 8-9 to not advance HB 3108.
You can read more on that measure, including comments from lawmakers on the Senate panel, here (though, the AP’s headline has an obvious error, seeing how it was defeated on the Senate side):
Child marriage ban bill defeated in West Virginia House | The Associated Press
The House and Senate will each take to their floors at 11 a.m. Expect these sessions to take quite a while, with dozens upon dozens on each docket.
To see the list of bills on each floor, you can find the House Special Calendar and the Senate Calendar, which lists on various stages. But to not make you scroll through all of that, we’ll stick to what’s on Third Reading.
Delegates will put the following bills up for a vote today:
S. B. 146 - Modifying regulations of peer-to-peer car sharing program
S. B. 149 - Exempting certain organizations from property taxation
Com. Sub. for S. B. 151 - Levying tax on pass-through entity's income
S. B. 244 - Making rosters of individuals who obtain professional, occupational, and trade licenses, registrations, and certificates available to public
Com. Sub. for S. B. 273 - Relating to allocation of child protective workers in counties based upon population of county
Com. Sub. for S. B. 294 - Clarifying amount of deputy sheriff annual salary increase
Com. Sub. for S. B. 345 - Authorizing Department of Revenue to promulgate legislative rules [Judiciary Committee Amendment Pending]
S. B. 465 - Increasing limit on moneys placed in county's rainy day fund
Com. Sub. for S. B. 478 - Relating to Jumpstart Savings Program
S. B. 488 - Aligning state and federal accreditation rules
Com. Sub. for S. B. 543 - Authorizing rule-making changes to terms, procedures and reporting duties in higher education
S. B. 559 - Relating to spousal privilege
Com. Sub. for S. B. 613 - Relating generally to certificates of need
S. B. 625 - Requiring certain transcripts to be accepted as record of student's performance for placement in micro school programs [Education Committee Amendment Pending]
Com. Sub. for S. B. 649 - Authorizing Berkeley County Council to change its name to Berkeley County Commission
Com. Sub. for S. B. 667 - Requiring periodic performance audits of WV Secondary Schools Athletic Commission [Education Committee Amendment Pending]
H. B. 3109 - Supplementing and amending appropriations to the State Board of Education - State Department of Education
H. B. 3542 - Expiring funds to the Department of Administration, Board of Risk and Insurance Management, Public Entity Insurance Trust Fund
And in the Senate, these measures are expected to see a vote (it’s quite a long list, too):
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2004 - Prevent the use of payment card processing systems for surveillance of Second Amendment activity and discriminatory conduct - (Com. title amend. pending)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2016 - Relating to confidential childcare records - (Com. title amend. pending)
Eng. Com. Sub. for 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 - (With right to amend)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2026 - Authorizing municipalities with police or firefighter employees in PERS to elect to become participating employer in Municipal Police Officer and Firefighter Retirement System for a limited time - (With right to amend)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2218 - Distracted Driving Act - (Com. title amend. pending)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2346 - Declaring a shortage of qualified bus operators and allowing retired bus operators to accept employment
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2621 - Relating generally to bail bondsman - (Com. amend. and title amend. pending) - (With right to amend)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2814 - To create a Hydrogen power task force
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2821 - Relating to taxation of gambling and lottery winnings
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2865 - To clarify that the PSC may enter an order requiring corrective measures up to and including an acquisition of a distressed or failing utility - (Com. title amend. pending)
Eng. H. B. 2875 - Clarifying that Circuit Court Judges have the ability/authority to waive the requirement that a party pass a home study performed by the DHHR - (Com. title amend. pending)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2890 - Modifying student discipline - (Com. amend. and title amend. pending) - (With right to amend)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 2900 - Relating to the Deputy Sheriff Retirement System - (Com. title amend. pending)
Eng. H. B. 2955 - Relating to the establishment and operation of regional water, wastewater and stormwater authorities
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3035 - Relating generally to high-quality education programs and school operations - (Com. amend. and title amend. pending) - (With right to amend)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3036 - Increasing the number of districts and the limit on approved costs under the BUILD WV Act
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3077 - Relating to making the use of the multi-state real time tracking system permanen
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3084 - Relating to revising provisions related to public charter schools - (Com. amends. pending) - (With right to amend)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3092 - Relating to in-state food service permit reciprocity
Eng. H. B. 3156 - Raising the compensation rates of panel attorneys - (Com. amend. and title amend. pending) - (With right to amend)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3168 - Ensuring investment in WV Tourism is competitive with other states and accessible long term
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3189 - The PFAS Protection Act - (Com. title amend. pending)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3191 - Relating to certain facilities operated by the state government to obtain a license
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3224 - Adding West Virginia Junior College to the list of eligible institutions that accept PROMISE scholarship recipients
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3271 - Relating to increasing monitoring of special education classrooms
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3332 - Creating judicial circuits and assigning the number of circuit judges in each circuit to be elected in the 2024 election - (Com. amend. and title amend. pending) - (With right to amend)
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3344 - To pay certain moral obligations of the state
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3369 - Creating a School Safety Unit within the Division of Protective Services
Eng. H. B. 3371 - Relating to federal funds for land-grant institutions
Eng. Com. Sub. for H. B. 3398 - Relating to the establishment of the West Virginia Memorial to Fallen Heroes of the Global War on Terrorism - (Com. amend. and title amend. pending) - (With right to amend)
Eng. H. B. 3441 - Revising the training requirements for members of the Higher Education Policy Commission, Council for Community and Technical College Education and the institutional governing boards
Eng. H. B. 3512 - Making a supplementary appropriation to the Department of Health and Human Resources, Division of Human Services (original similar to SB724)
Eng. H. B. 3514 - Making a supplementary appropriation to the Department of Health and Human Resources, Division of Health - West Virginia Birth-to-Three Fund
Eng. H. B. 3516 - Making a supplementary appropriation to the Department of Health and Human Resources, Division of Health - West Virginia Safe Drinking Water Treatment
Eng. H. B. 3517 - Making a supplementary appropriation to the Division of Human Services - Child Care and Development
Eng. H. B. 3555 - Relating to student purchase and refunds of course material - (Com. title amend. pending)
Eng. H. B. 3557 - Making a supplementary appropriation to the Department of Veterans' Assistance
Eng. H. B. 3559 - Relating to defining a newborn safety device - (Com. title amend. pending)
Committee work is beginning to thin out a bit, but here are the House panels planning to meet:
9 a.m. — Committee on Health and Human Resources - Room 215-E
10:45 a.m. — Committee on Rules — Behind the House Chamber
And in the Senate, there is only one meeting scheduled:
10:45 a.m. — Committee on Rules - Room 219-M
The following has nothing to do with the legislative session, but since Dave and I have lately been dealing with train derailments as part of our newsroom jobs at NPR, we thought we’d include this Associated Press update. It’s on Wednesday’s derailment in Summers County.
Train derailments are big news right now because of what happened in East Palestine, Ohio. The derailment last month led to a chemical spill that the town is still contending with.
It should be noted that derailments happen more than you might think. The U.S. averages more than 1,000 per year as the Poynter Institute reports. Poynter, by the way, is a respected mainstay in journalism circles that provides fact-checking and training opportunities for reporters.
60 Days legislative links:
'A backward turn': Advocates of greater industry oversight pan new funding cap proposed for cash-strapped Office of Oil and Gas | The Charleston Gazette-Mail
Third Version of Third Grade Success Act on the Move | The Intelligencer
DHHR chief says work will begin right away to divide the agency into three | WVMetroNews
Completed Legislation Includes Treatment Bed Limits, Possible School District Consolidation And Retirees Back To Work | West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Thanks for reading 60 Days.
Questions? Comments? Concerns?
Dave is taking your complaints. I’m happy to hear your compliments. Just reply to this email or smash the comment button. We’ll be back tomorrow morning with the penultimate briefing of this year’s regular session.