Day 8: Bundle up!
Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days, your daily guide to the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session.
Today is Wednesday, January 17, 2024 and West Virginia lawmakers will be meeting at the state Capitol amid frigid temperatures. A Wind Chill Advisory is in effect for Charleston this morning. Break out the long johns and do what your mother told you — WEAR A HAT!
Members of the Fair Shake Network will be at the Capitol today to lobby lawmakers on behalf of people with disabilities. There are also a couple of legislative receptions scheduled for this evening — The Forestry Association will be hosting one at the state Culture Center beginning at 5pm. The reception hosted by the state Firemen’s Association will begin at 5:30pm at Charleston’s Beni Kedem Temple.
Dave ought to have arrived back at his Morgantown home overnight after helping our NPR colleagues cover the Iowa Caucuses. He’s going to need a lot coffee because I’m making him write tomorrow’s newsletter after leaving me to fly solo the past few days.
Today’s Agenda:
The House and Senate floor sessions seem likely to be brief again today. There isn’t much is on either chamber’s calendar. In fact, we’re expecting only one bill to be at the passage stage. It’s in the House and it’s kind of a snoozer.
H. B. 4274 is a housekeeping bill following last year’s break up of the Department of Health and Human Resources. The bill amends state code to reflect the three new agencies that were created — the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health Facilities.
Snoozer.
Don’t look to the floor sessions to keep you entertained today. And although there are slew of committee meetings that will keep lawmakers busy, nothing really jumps out at me as something that screams, “SINGLE ME OUT.”
That said, let’s start with the House committee schedule:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe today’s meeting of the House’s new Artificial Intelligence Committee is the panel’s first ever. The AI committee was created just last week, at the beginning of the session. It’s supposed to consider how AI should be regulated. The panel is holding an organizational meeting at 10 a.m. in the Education Committee meeting room, 432M. (Agenda)
The Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse Committee will meet at 9 a.m. in the East Wing committee meeting room, 215E. (Agenda)
The Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources will meet at 9 a.m. in the Finance Committee meeting room, 460M. (Agenda)
The Committee on Finance will meet at 1 p.m. in the committee meeting room, 460M, to hear two budget presentations and will convene a meeting immediately afterward. The agenda wasn’t yet posted as of last night.
The Judiciary Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in the committee meeting room, 410M. (Agenda)
The Education Committee will meet at 2 p.m. in the committee meeting room, 432M. (Agenda)
The Government Organization Committee will meet at 3 p.m. in the East Wing committee meeting room, 215E. (Agenda)
Senators will also be busy in committee today. Here’s the Senate meeting schedule:
The Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee will meet at 10 a.m. in room 208W. Top officials at the state Department of Natural Resources will be making presentations. (Agenda)
The School Choice Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in room 208W. (Agenda)
The Economic Development Committee will meet at 1 p.m. in room 451M. (Agenda)
The Outdoor Recreation Committee will meet at 2 p.m. in room 208W. (Agenda)
The Pensions Committee will meet at 2 p.m. in room 451M. (Agenda)
The Judiciary Committee will meet at 3 p.m. in room 208W. (Agenda)
And finally the Finance Committe will meet at 3 p.m. in room 452M. (Agenda)
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.
The full Senate will vote on a bill allowing public school teachers to discuss “scientific theories of how the universe and/or humanity came to exist.” This is the intelligent design bill that critics say violates the Constitution. Amelia Ferrell Knisely of West Virginia Watch attended Tuesday’s meeting of the Senate Education Committee, which also sent the “In God We Trust” bill to the full Senate. The House failed to act on both bills last year.
The Senate Health and Human Resources Committee advanced a bill Tuesday aimed at making West Virginia more attractive to doctors. Brad McElhinny of WVMetroNews reports the bill would establish a tax credit for physicians who locate to West Virginia to practice medicine. The Senate Finance Committee must also sign off before the bill it makes it to the floor.
Democrats have a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Joe Manchin. Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliot ended speculation about his plans on Tuesday. He was at the Capitol to file his papers to run for the Democratic nomination. Ogden Newspapers State Government Reporter Steven Allen Adams was there.
Mayor Elliott was the first Democrat to file to run for Senator Manchin’s seat. But he is expected have competition in the primary. Marine Corps veteran and community organizer Zach Shrewsbury announced his candidacy a few months ago. He has until Saturday, January 27th at midnight to file. Here’s a profile of Shrewsbury published by The Guardian back in November.
Resources:
Know of any events, press conferences, etc., we should know about? Tell us about them in the comments.
The LWV of West Virginia sent a Make Some Noise call to action to OPPOSE HB 4675 on the calendar today of Judiciary Committee to remove 10 forms of non photo ID that can be used to vote and make photo ID mandatory. Voter suppression!