Amy Grady Story Archives - Page 2 of 2 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

A Bill To Restructure DHHR On The Move And Lawmakers Weigh In On Education Legislation

On this episode of The Legislature Today, dozens, if not hundreds, of bills have been introduced in the West Virginia Legislature this year that involve education. Randy Yohe spoke with Senate Education Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, and teacher Del. Jeff Stephens, R-Marshall, about what some of those bills mean for public education in West Virginia.

On this episode of The Legislature Today, dozens, if not hundreds, of bills have been introduced in the West Virginia Legislature this year that involve education. Randy Yohe spoke with Senate Education Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, and teacher Del. Jeff Stephens, R-Marshall, about what some of those bills mean for public education in West Virginia.

Also, in the House, the bill to officially rename the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) has now passed both the House and Senate. Bills increasing penalties for child abuse and candidate residence passed on third reading. Randy Yohe has the story.

The Senate completed action on a bill that makes it a felony to give someone drugs that cause them to die. The chamber introduced other bills today and sent the Controlled Substances Act, Senate Bill 219, over to the House of Delegates. Briana Heaney has the story.

And, tourism industry partners and organizations from across the state gathered at the Capitol to recognize Tourism Day. Briana Heaney has the story, and she found a potentially underserved market.

Finally, the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia held its winter meeting in Charleston last week. Curtis Tate stopped by and has this story.

Having trouble viewing the video below? Click here to watch it on YouTube.

The Legislature Today is West Virginia’s only television/radio simulcast devoted to covering the state’s 60-day regular legislative session.

Watch or listen to new episodes Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Literacy Program Unintentionally Pulling Resources From Special Education

As a side-effect of legislation passed earlier this year, 41 percent of special education aides in the state have moved into first grade literacy aide positions.

State Superintendent Michele Blatt told legislators during Monday’s meeting of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Educational Accountability that the shift is an unintended consequence of House Bill 3035.

The Third Grade Success Act is meant to address literacy and numeracy in early education by bringing more aides and specialists into first, second and third grade classrooms across the state. Implementation has begun this fall in first grade classrooms, with second and third grades to follow in the coming years.

Blatt said the data is based on a survey of 48 counties, and represents some 249 aides that have transferred out of special education.

Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, said legislation often creates unforeseen issues, but keeping special education aides needs to be addressed.

“We need to find a way that we can entice them to stay in those harder positions,” Grady said.

Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, asked how the special education aides were being replaced.

“Many of them have been replaced with people, new positions, people trying to get into the system,” Blatt said. “We can follow up and see how many of those are actually still shortages, but I do know, we still have some shortages and some day to day subs in those classrooms.”

First PEIA Public Hearing Draws Criticism

The first of four public hearings held by the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) Monday drew criticism about changes to the plan.

The embattled agency has struggled with fiscal solvency and most recently, the announcement by one hospital that the insurance carrier would no longer be accepted. Senate Bill 268, which goes into effect July 1, was a concerted effort between the House and Senate to rescue PEIA by requiring a minimum 110 percent reimbursement of the Medicare rate for all providers, paid for in part by a 24 percent increase in premiums for employees.

About 50 people, including retirees and several educators, were present for the meeting at the Culture Center in Charleston.

PEIA Interim Director Jason Haught talked about the three plan options on the table.

The plan changes reflect the increase in premiums for active and retired state employees. Non-state agencies, retirees, spouses employed by PEIA-participating agencies, or spouses with Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE coverage are exempt.

Effective July 1, significant changes to the plan include:

A surcharge for spouses of active policyholders – if they have coverage elsewhere but choose PEIA coverage instead.
A hike in premiums to return to a 80/20 employer/employee premium split
Increasing reimbursement to providers to a minimum of 110 percent of Medicare’s reimbursement.

The first of the three options discussed by Haught includes an increase in state employee premiums of almost 24 percent. The increase would vary since enrollment and performance vary from plan to plan. For the non-state fund there would be a 15.6 percent increase. No premium increase would be imposed on retirees.

Option 2 calls for a blended approach with a slightly lower increase in premiums (19.2 percent) but higher deductibles, and out-of-pocket and prescription costs to make up the difference.

Non-state plans that opt into PEIA under option 2 would see a 9.7 percent premium increase and medical deductible and out-of-pocket increases of approximately 35 percent along with a hike in prescription drug costs.

Option 3 is also a blended approach (State plan & RHBT) and would include a 14.6 percent premium increase with retirees being exempt. Changes to non Medicare include a medical deductible increase of 50 percent under plan tiers, out of pocket expenses, and an increase in prescription co-pays or drug costs.

Several retirees and former educators spoke to the panel about their concerns, including Rosa Huffman, a teacher in the Kanawha County school system. Huffman asked why the public is not being given more time to understand and decide on the proposed options.

“Why is this plan being rushed through?” Huffman asked.

Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, said comments that the PEIA plan was rushed through the legislature are unfounded.

“It hasn’t been rushed, and that’s the misconception,” Grady said. “This specific plan has been worked on for at least a year. I know I was reaching out to people, saying ‘Give me some input on this,’ I’ve no reason to believe other senators and delegates don’t do that.”

Grady said down the road the legislature may be able to consider taking money from the state’s “Rainy Day” fund to prevent an increase in costs for retirees, a suggestion put forward by West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee.

When asked, the panel informed Lee that there was $74 million in the fund.

“Because I know that was a part of the fiscal note when you looked at Senate Bill version of 268 – whether the premiums would go up 14 percent or 26 percent based on the $74 million in the rainy day account,” Lee said. “I’m guessing that that money could still be used if the legislature appropriated the money, is that true?”

Haught responded, saying that it was his understanding that the expenditure side of the budget would not be completed until May 1st, but stated “theoretically” that was possible.

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, criticized the legislature for passing a bill that he said places strain on retirees.

“I mentioned the word arrogance earlier in regards to our current legislature, in regards to this super-duper majority,” Pushkin said. “I mentioned arrogance to raise premiums on public employees under the guise of a shell game of giving out a pay raise at the same time, while voting to give themselves a raise, a substantial raise for those in leadership.”

“They built into it cost of living adjustments for those at the top of the legislature, something they could not find it in their hearts to do for retirees for how many years?” he continued. “When’s the last time you got a cost-of-living adjustment if you’re a retiree?”

Pushkin contended that Gov. Jim Justice broke his promise when he said that premiums would not go up.

“When asked if he would raise premiums he said, ‘Not on my watch,’” Pushkin said.

Retired educator John Riddle told the panel that retirees are facing an ever-increasing cost of living.

“Let me tell you something, for 18 years of retirement, if you look at the cost of living, retirees on a fixed income are not in a very good spot,” Riddle said. “And all I’m asking you to do is to continue to allow our retirees to have a place at the table to talk with you.”

Three more public hearings are scheduled this week, including two on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Morgantown at the Hampton Inn and in Huntington at the Mountain Health Arena. The fourth public hearing is on Wednesday at the Holiday Inn in Martinsburg.

The Finance Board will follow up with a meeting on Thursday, March 30 at 1 p.m. The board will consider comments from the public hearings and adopt the new Plan Year 2024 which will be published in the 2024 Shopper’s Guide.

Visit the PEIA website for more information on the public hearings.

Justice Signs Education Bills With Grade Schoolers

After a playful half hour of taking questions in the school gymnasium from the all-student audience, the governor had students help hold his pen as he began signing House Bill 3035, the Third Grade Success Act, putting teachers aides in grades one through three.

With his bulldog Babydog by his side, Gov. Jim Justice traveled to Leon Elementary in Mason County on Tuesday to sign four bills passed during the West Virginia Legislative session. All of them were education based.

He told the kids the classroom helpers would help them better prepare for the future.

“What we want to have happen is we want to ensure that all of you, every single last one, gets off in school to a great start and you’re able to master certain skills that will absolutely take you off in a really good way. We don’t want anybody behind,” Justice said.

The governor and the students signed three other bills into law:

House Bill 3369 creates a School Safety Unit within the Division of Protective Services.

Senate Bill 422 requires public schools to publish curriculum online at the beginning of each new school year.

And, House Bill 2005 establishes the dual enrollment pilot program for high school juniors and seniors in conjunction with state colleges, universities and community and technical colleges.

Leon Elementary is the home school of fourth grade teacher and Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, who was emcee of the event. Grady read questions to Justice submitted by the students.

Olivia from the sixth grade asked if the governor got a lot of letters. That prompted the longtime high school basketball coach to tell a story of perseverance.

“I got a letter the other day from a kid I coached 25 years ago,’ Justice said. “I hadn’t heard from him in 25 years and this kid was just like a lot of y’all, didn’t have a whole lot growing up just like me. This kid worked really hard and in his letter he told me, ‘You told us a long time ago when we were playing for you in the national tournament to keep sawing the wood.’ He asked me what that meant and I told him that it meant just to stay at it and you’ll make steady progress. The student said, ‘I went to West Point, then I went to army ranger school and said in every deployment I ever had, I reminded himself every day to keep sawing the wood.’”

The question that got the biggest reaction from Justice and the kids was, “What is your favorite food?” Justice said he and Babydog were the same – chicken nuggets. A few minutes later, someone handed the governor a bag of chicken nuggets.

Babydog smelled them, and got up off his front legs. Justice fed his beloved pet a nugget, but didn’t eat one himself.

Senators Look Both Ways On Legislative Activity

With the sixty-day legislative session over, legislators and West Virginians have a chance to reflect on what was accomplished and look forward to what still needs to be done for the state.

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, took a break from his duties just before midnight Saturday night to say the accomplishments of the 2023 Legislature rank among the best he’s ever seen.

“I’ve been doing this since 2003. And I believe that this was the best session that we’ve had in this state,” he said. “Since I’ve been here, and maybe since I’ve been alive, never before have we been able to give a tax reduction, been able to grow our state, our economy, and do the things that the people of West Virginia want and need. We did work on education. There’s a whole host of things that we got across the finish line. I’ll still be trying to figure out everything that we got passed tomorrow.”

The legislature passed a tax cut plan that includes a 21.25 percent reduction in personal income taxes, with a mechanism to further reduce personal income taxes in the coming years. Retroactive to Jan. 1, 2023, the tax reduction package, including a rebate on personal property and small business inventory taxes, represents a $754 million cut in taxes.

Even with so much activity, and especially in the final week, Blair acknowledges that there is always more to be done.

”There’s always things that are left undone, and I can’t tell you what those are right now,” Blair said. “(There’s) still more things to do for education, there’s more things to do to make it so that businesses want to locate here, but to a greater degree. We keep getting better and better by what we’re doing. More than anything. It’s the efficiencies of the Senate.”

Blair said that since Republicans have taken control of the Senate, there has been a daily meeting held each morning at 7:30 a.m. for party members to caucus and discuss pending issues. He also pointed to ending what he called “Senate time,” instead opting to start meetings and floor sessions on time.

“You have to admit, people thought that it’s going to be a hard time with 31 Republicans, that they’d be fighting with each other,” Blair said. “With the exception of yesterday’s outburst by one of my members, they operate as a team, as a unit, what’s good for the people of West Virginia. And I’m proud of them all.”

Blair is referring to an incident Friday morning where Sen. Robert Karnes, R-Randolph, was removed from the Senate floor after repeated outbursts claiming violations of Constitutional rules.

A Democrat’s Perspective

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said the Republican supermajority is concerning.

“When bills are running that I believe will harm workers, I’m going to speak up. When I believe bills are being run that would harm people who maybe don’t look like us or love like us, I’m going to speak up, somebody’s gotta be that voice down here,” he said. “It can’t be one sided. These huge majorities, in my opinion, is just not good for government. There needs to be more of a balance, but that’s up to the voters, I don’t have any control over that.”

Caputo is one of three Democrats in the Senate this year and on the House of Delegates side, there are only 12 Democrats.

“As long as the people have sent me down here, I have not changed my ways, and I’ve been here 27 years,” Caputo said. “I just gotta assume that the people that sent me here want me to continue advocating for what I’ve done since day one, and I’m going to continue to do that as long as either I decide to run or until the people back home decide it’s time for a new voice.”

He acknowledged that being part of the “superminority” has limited his ability to impact legislation, but he still did what he could to help his constituents.

“You try to do the best you can with what you have and try to put forth amendments that you think the committee would support,” Caputo said. “I got to say, Chairman Charlie Trump has been more than gracious to me. We’ve had a long-time relationship, friendship. I can just be the voice for the people to send me down here and do the best I can.”

Protecting Children

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, highlighted the constitutionally required judicial redistricting as one of the most important achievements of the session. He also highlighted an issue that will require the continued attention of the legislature, but one he hopes will improve thanks to laws passed in the 60 days.

“There are always things that need to be done. One of the things that we’ve been working hard on, I’ve been working hard on, is trying to address the Child Protective Services crisis in our Eastern Panhandle,” Trump said. “We just don’t have caseworkers, and calls and referrals to the hotline about abused and neglected children are not being investigated. We’ve got to solve that.”

Trump was the lead sponsor of a bill that reallocates the state’s child protective workers based on county population and caseload and spoke in favor of a bill updating the authority of the Foster Care Ombudsman.

“We got a number of bills, plus some extra appropriations across the finish line this year, that I’m really hoping and praying are going to help solve that problem,” he said. “I’m hoping that some of the measures we passed will help to do that, so that we can get people that can go out and knock on a door and lay eyes on a child to see if you know the child is indeed being subjected to abuse or neglect.”

Key Education Bill Comes Down To The Final Bell

Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, also had her focus set this session on helping children. The Third Grade Success Act, a key piece of legislation that will put money and resources behind improving early childhood literacy in schools, came down to the wire Saturday night.

“We’re waiting for the message, I just saw a runner go by. I hope that that was the message they were carrying so we can look at it and hopefully concur. That’s the plan,” Grady said around 10 p.m. Saturday. “I guess we want to go out on this session with a bang, with the most important piece of legislation that I feel this session.”

The Third Grade Success Act passed just before the Senate adjourned for the year. Grady, who is also a teacher, said she was excited to get back to her classroom this week, but she also acknowledged more needs to be done for her fellow teachers.

“The pay raise, it does help a little bit. But I wish we would have gotten some more things across the finish line that dealt with their personal leave days,” Grady said. “That would keep teachers in the classroom. We’re mentally burnt out, we’re emotionally burnt out, we’re really exhausted physically from everything that we’re doing. So it’s easy to take a day for yourself if those days don’t really matter in the end anyway. That was a goal that I wanted to accomplish, and so we’re gonna try again next year.”

The work of the legislature never truly ends, and interim sessions are likely to be announced for the coming months soon.

Senate Sends Religious Freedom Restoration Act To Governor’s Desk

A bill purporting to forbid “government limitations on the exercise of religion” now only needs Gov. Jim Justice’s signature to become law after Senate action late Tuesday.

House Bill 3042, also known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed the Senate on party lines after the chamber suspended constitutional rules to advance the bill.

The bill, which drew fierce opposition during a public hearing last week, was only passed by the House of Delegates Monday morning.

Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, presented the bill on the Senate floor. She said the bill would prohibit the government from treating religious persons or institutions more restrictively than comparable secular institutions or persons and create a legal standard.

“The bill also establishes a standard called the compelling state interest test for courts to use when evaluating whether the government has infringed on the freedom of religion,” Grady said. “This judicial standard already applies to all federal laws and is in place in most states.”

Grady went on to highlight a clause that clarifies, “nothing in the new section may be construed to create a defense to protect actions to end the life of an born or unborn person.” She finished by stating that the bill is functionally identical to a 2021 law passed in South Dakota that has not been challenged successfully.

Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, asked for clarification on the bill’s purpose, using the closure of churches during the COVID-19 lockdowns as an example.

“As I understand the bill, one of the things that it would do, if I’m correct, would be if there was another COVID outbreak, prevent the state from closing my church and preventing me from exercising my freedom of religion, or as the bill puts it, the exercise of my freedom of religion, is that correct?” Woelfel asked.

“Yes. If other secular institutions are left open, such as movie theaters, shopping malls, casinos then churches cannot be closed,” Grady replied.

Woelfel went on to voice his opposition to the bill, and raised a concern that the clause relating to ending the life of an unborn or born person was designed to discriminate against the Jewish faith. The Torah holds that life begins at the first breath, and Jewish sources explicitly state that abortion is not only permitted but is required should the pregnancy endanger the life or health of the pregnant individual.

“I submit to you the reason that’s in this bill is to discriminate against one group of people. They have the same right to exercise their freedom of religion,” Woelfel said. “Page one we protect the people that see the world the way we do, if we’re Christians, and then page two we deny that same freedom to the Jewish faith. I’ll tell you right now, that’s not going to stay under strict scrutiny. That is not gonna hold up, that will declare this bill unconstitutional. A magistrate court will figure that one out. So that’s what happens when we get in a hurry, respectfully.”

Grady argued that the bill is not for attacking, but rather “a shield” to protect more people in West Virginia. She pointed to similar laws in states across the country that have been in place for more than thirty years without issue.

“This is not a tool to use for discrimination,” Grady said.

Woelfel also raised concerns that the bill would allow challenges to vaccine requirements, as well as existing nondiscrimination ordinances in several cities across the state.

Also known as fairness laws, the ordinances passed by individual municipalities protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.

West Virginia has no statewide anti-discrimination law for its LGBTQ residents.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, echoed Woelfel’s concerns.

“There’s 17 cities at least that have adopted fairness ordinances that I believe are in true jeopardy if they are challenged, if this bill passes,” Caputo said. “They’re little rural areas like Sutton, all the way to our biggest cities like Charleston and Huntington and everything in between. We talk about how we want local government to have local control and make local decisions, until it’s something that we don’t like.”

Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, argued that the legal test the bill establishes would work to protect existing nondiscrimination ordinances passed by cities and towns. He pointed to cities with similar ordinances in Texas, Florida and South Dakota – all of which have passed similar “religious freedom” bills – and argued that by passing such ordinances, those cities have made such protections a compelling governmental interest.

“If someone were to have a case against a city that had a nondiscrimination ordinance that included that as protected class, the compelling governmental interest would have been to include that protected class,” Weld said. “So because that exists, this piece of legislation cannot be used to, in my opinion, overturn a city’s nondiscrimination ordinance.”

Caputo also expressed frustration that laws like House Bill 3042 go against the purported interest of attracting people to move to the state in the interest of economic development. He said the young people he spoke with were dismayed by this type of legislation.

“They can’t believe we’re even talking about stuff like this. They want a more inclusive West Virginia. They don’t want to be having these kinds of discussions. They just want things to be normal for everybody, regardless of how they feel about certain issues and how they love maybe a little differently than most of us in this room,” Caputo said.

“I’m gonna have to go home and hear about this, of how silly a bunch of old people are talking about the future West Virginia, and how we think it should look,” he continued. “Not how it is, not how the future wants it to be, but how we think it should look and we should make that perfect little picture and go home to our perfect world and I’d like none of this exists.”

Grady argued that such laws in other states have not impeded economic development.

“As a matter of fact, a few, most of the places still show growth,” she said. “Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona, Illinois, North Dakota. They’ve all shown tremendous growth when it comes to economic development and nothing has impeded that growth based on this law.”

The bill passed 30 to 3 along party lines, with one senator absent.