‘Riley Gains Act’ Hits Judiciary; Domestic Violence Exec Says It Would Be ‘A Death Sentence’

The House Judiciary committee met Monday morning to discuss a bill that targets trangender West Virginians. 

Members of the House Judiciary advanced a bill from Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office that defines gender and limits transgender access to some public spaces.

Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, asked how the bill would be enforced.

“Then in these areas, are we going to have a confirmation system to assure who’s going into these facilities as to their biological gender?” Fluharty asked. 

“The bill does not contemplate that,” said Curtis Capeheart, director of policy at the Governor’s Office. 

Capeheart said the bill leaves a lot of enforcement decisions to local governments. 

“Okay, so we’re not gonna have attendants in front,” Fluharty said. “I was trying to see if we can turn this into a jobs bill.” 

The bill has no penalties for anyone who violates the proposed statute. Opponents said the bill doesn’t need or have penalties because the things they are trying to protect women from, like assault, are already outlawed in code. 

“We all care about public safety, you know, particularly in places like public restrooms,” said Andrew Schneider, director of Fairness West Virginia, a LGBTQ rights advocacy group. 

“But the fact of the matter, there are already laws that punish people for, you know, harming people in a restroom and so this bill is completely unnecessary,” Schneider said. 

He said instead of protecting folks from harm, it exposes others to harm.

“What it does is it continues to demonize trans people, and that actually creates harm,” Schneider said.

Fluharty says that this bill is an example of the GOP’s legislative priorities so far. 

“We already have criminal penalties in place. It doesn’t add any more. It’s just another political bill,” Fluharty said. 

He said the bill falls into a pattern of culture war legislation coming from the executive branch. 

“It’s a signature piece of legislation from Governor Morrisey, which is quite frankly embarrassing. We have a $400 million deficit. It creates zero jobs. It does nothing to help West Virginia families. You know who it helps? Politicians running for re-election. That’s really what this is all about,” Fluharty said.  

The bill also bans trans people from what’s called private, single-sex spaces, including domestic violence shelters. 

According to the National Library of Medicine, trans women are nearly twice as likely to experience domestic violence than cisgender women. 

Julie Britton, the executive director of YWCA, which operates a homeless shelter in Charleston, said if this bill becomes law it could be deadly for transgender people

“There are no alternative facilities, and if we are not available, the only other option would be a homeless shelter or the streets,” Britton said. “I don’t know if we’re worried about trans women’s safety, but putting trans women out on the street and not serving them would be a death sentence.”

A bill to limit access to transgender care for minors elicited one of the most well attended public hearings of the 2024 session. Changes to House Rules this session did away with public hearings. 

In exchange, Republican leadership said the public should receive 24 hours notice to come to a bill’s first committee and weigh in. That didn’t happen with this bill. The committee agenda for the 9 a.m. Monday committee was posted Sunday around 7 p.m. 

Andrew Schneider from Fairness West Virginia said without the kind of proper notice that House leadership repeatedly said they would give, the legislative process is inaccessible to most people. 

“What the legislature is doing by providing less notice is they’re depriving the public of hearing from all sides of the issue to make the most informed, deliberative decision on these bills that affect a lot of people,” Schneider said. 

The sponsors of the bill, House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, and Del. Kathie Crouse, R-Putnam, were not at the committee meeting. No Republicans spoke in favor of, or against, the bill during the committee meeting.