Special Session Ends, Bills Extend Beyond Original Scope

The legislature adjourned its second special session Tuesday around 10 p.m. Out of 42 proposed bills, 37 passed the legislative finish line. Many involved one or both chambers suspending constitutional rules to pass bills without a typical three-day reading process.

The governor framed the special session call around childcare and a personal income tax cut along with appropriations. But many other bills made it to the call as well, including bills on nuclear waste regulation, charter school funding, an opioid treatment clinical trial, and firefighter funds.

All special session bills were fast tracked to the finish line, which involved one or both chambers passing the bills without considering them over a total of at least five days.

The last bill the legislature passed allowed for two limited clinical trials involving prescriptions of controlled substances.

Both chambers passed the bill, but it passed narrowly in the House where it was shy of four votes to be effective immediately. 

On the Senate side, senators were scrambling to convince some of the House members who voted no on the bill to reconsider. Sen. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, says a grant funded recovery clinic in his district was at risk of closing if the bill wasn’t effective immediately.

Ultimately, the House reconsidered its vote and passed the measure to be effective as soon as Gov. Jim Justice signs it. 

A bill that would temporarily restrict fire stations from levying a fee on businesses and homes outside of their tax district was passed. Firefighters were in the gallery protesting the fast-tracked bill amid debate on whether fees penalized out-of-municipality residences.

After leaving the galley, Buckhannon Fire Chief James Kimball pointed to large proportions of out-of-municipality fire responses and funding needed for staffing and training.

“Counties that have a lot of population should be looking at supplementing their volunteers with career staff,” Kimball said. “It’s just in today’s world, we are so busy.”

Bills expanding charter school funding and establishing state primacy for nuclear waste passed after debate in both chambers.

Under the session’s original focus, the legislature also passed a 2 percent personal income tax rate cut and a childcare tax credit, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in appropriations bills.

Special session bills now wait for Gov. Jim Justice’s signature.