Delegate Mike Caputo Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Abortion in an Election Year: Constitutionality Central to the Debate Over Taxpayer-Funded Services

A bill that would remove Medicaid funding for medically necessary abortions has been drawing a lot of attention in the House since passing through that chamber’s Health Committee last week. While the issue is inherently divisive, many questions about House Bill 4012’s constitutionality have been raised — further drawing attention to the matter.

According to a recent Hart Research poll, nearly two-thirds of West Virginia voters support the state’s Medicaid program covering a range of reproductive health care services, including annual check-ups, prenatal and maternity care, birth control and abortion. House Bill 4012 would remove medically necessary abortions from a list of those services that Medicaid provides.

In 1993, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals overturned a law signed by then-Governor Gaston Caperton that included a provision banning abortions for low-income women when medically necessary. The court determined that it was discriminatory to not provide such services to low-income women.

Republican Del. Kayla Kessinger is the lead sponsor of House Bill 4012. She said the bill takes a different approach to the one that was struck down in 1993.

“The way that we are going about this bill is to redefine the medical procedure and we are well within our rights as the Legislature to define and redefine words. We do it almost every day in the Legislative and the legislative process,” Kessinger said.

“So, I believe that this bill is constitutional. But as with every piece of legislation we pass the Supreme Court can and may have a final decision.”

Kessinger also argues that some taxpayers object to paying for abortions and that the number and cost of them has increased in recent years.

According to data from the West Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources’ Bureau for Medical Services, 1,506 abortions were provided by Medicaid in State Fiscal Year 2017 — coming in at a cost of more than $326,000. While the number of Medicaid funded abortion has more than doubled since 2008, the cost to the state has increased by about a third — an increase of just over $100,000.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists opposes House Bill 4012. As an OB-GYN, House Health Chairman Joe Ellington is a member of that organization. His committee advanced the bill last week, sending it on to its second reference in the House Judiciary Committee. An amendment to House Bill 4012 was shot down in the House Health Committee that would have kept Medicaid funding in place for abortions if the pregnancy occurred as a result of rape or incest.

Chairman Ellington acknowledged the controversial nature of the bill, but said he could not speak to any issues of constitutionality.

“One concern is that having taxpayer money that goes toward performing an abortion but on the other side in the position the West Virginia colleague has is that you want to make sure that our citizens can obtain safe and legal abortions if they so desire,” Ellington said.

“Paying for that is how you would go about that, though. So, whether taxpayer funds go to it — or contributions — from private organizations or nonprofit organization that may supplement the costs for individuals that are seeking abortions. So, as long as they do it under the code of West Virginia, it should still be legal,” he said.

Top House Democrats, though, argue that the bill should not be a priority for the Legislature. Minority Leader Tim Miley also said the legislation addresses an issue that doesn’t need attention and, furthermore, gets in the way of decision made between a woman and her doctor.

“This is par for the course for this leadership team of raising issues that try to divide people instead of bringing people together. But, in this case, I understand the bill is to address pregnancy terminations that are paid for by Medicaid,” said, Miley, noting that the the only pregnancies that are terminated by using Medicaid are those that are medically necessary and certified by a doctor.

“I’m not really sure what the issue is and why they’re trying to make it an issue other than having government inject itself into the lives of a woman and the advice she’s getting from her doctor,” he added.

House Minority Whip Mike Caputo echoed Miley’s concerns as far as legislative priorities. And with House Bill 4012’s constitutionality in question, Caputo says the Republican majority may be using the measure as a barometer for support for a joint resolution that could find its way onto a ballot as a constitutional amendment. But, if it comes to that, Caputo said the issue should stand on its own and away from election of state officials.

“If this Republican leadership team really believes that’s an issue that should be on the ballot — and if it’s about policy — then let’s have a special election and let’s do it prior to the general election,” Caputo said.

Caputo and other Democrats believe that putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot could be a way for Republicans to try to retain the majority in the Legislature.

“The only point I want to make is, if this is really about policy — if this is something they think is good for West Virginia — then we should have it on a special election with no other candidates on there and just these issues. And let’s find out what people really want,” Caputo said.

While not yet on the agenda, the House Judiciary Committee is expected to take up House Bill 4012. As for the larger issue of abortion, lawmakers from either chamber have yet to introduce a joint resolution that would address the matter.

Representatives of Miners, Labor Unions Express Disappointment in Signing of Coal Bill

Representatives of mine and labor unions are expressing their disappointment of Governor Tomblin’s signing of Senate Bill 357, the Coal Jobs and Safety Act of 2015.

Delegate Mike Caputo, who is also Vice President of the United Mine Workers of America International – District 31, expressed his disappointment in the signing of the bill in a Thursday news release:

"It is a sad day when this industry has so much control that they not only have the support of the new Republican majority, but also now have the support of the Democratic Governor, to put miners at risk to increase their bottom line. West Virginia leads the nation in coal mine fatalities. We need to work to strengthen our mine safety laws NOT weaken them."

AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue also released a statement on the signing of the bill:

“It’s only been five years since the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster that took 29 coal miners’ lives, yet this legislation removes safety provisions intended to protect West Virginia miners in the event of a fire,” Perdue said. “I am shocked and saddened by the Legislative leadership’s pursuit of a bill that places profits above safety, and I am very disappointed that Governor Tomblin apparently did not join the majority of Democrat legislators in seeing the danger the legislation poses to miners.”

Common Core, Home Schooling, & Tensions Over Coal Jobs and Safety Act of 2015 in House

In the House Wednesday, the Education committee considered a bill that would repeal the common core standards in West Virginia schools. It passed with little debate, but received four amendments to adjust some technicalities and add new provisions to teacher organizations. It now heads to the floor for its consideration. But it was a bill relating to home schooling that brought some discussion among the delegates.

House Bill 2793 contains many provisions relating to home schooling. Among them, it removes the requirement that the person providing the home schooling instruction have a high school diploma; and it permits a parent to administer the required nationally normed standardized test.

Delegate Denise Campbell of Randolph County expressed some concern with the removal of this provision, and questioned who would monitor the tests if parents were allowed to administer them.

Mike Donnelly is an attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association as well as a father of children who are home schooled. He addressed Campbell’s concern.

“The purpose of education is to help a child to attain the level of achievement that they’re capable of attaining, and a standardized test doesn’t really do that,” Donnelly noted, “So wherever you’ve got home school parents who have the ability to choose other approaches to assess their child, they’re gonna tend not to use that standardized test, because they want feedback that’s gonna be illustrative and instructed to them, so they’re going to ask a certified teacher, can you help me out here, what are you seeing here?”

During the floor session, another bill relating to home schooling was up for passage.

Delegate Amanda Pasdon, the House Education Chair, spoke on behalf of House Bill 2674.

“This bill allows home school students qualify for the PROMISE scholarship without taking the GED,” Pasdon explained, “It essentially levels the playing field. Home school students will be subject to the same standards as students who attend public or private high schools. I urge passage.”

House Bill 2674 passed 97 to 1. The one nay vote came from Delegate Dana Lynch, a Democrat from Webster County.

Another seven bills were up for passage, but all of them passed without any debate.

In the house, the part of the floor session that allows remarks by members have turned tense on many days and Wednesday was one of them.

Senate Bill 357, the Coal Jobs and Safety Act of 2015 was on first reading, not at the debate stage. But fresh from his angry speech in the Government Organization Committee about prevailing wage, Delegate Mike Caputo of Marion County addressed a set of articles he’d sent to all the delegates. The articles referenced multiple mine disasters that happened in recent years, and Caputo called the bill anything but about mine safety.

“There’s only a few of us in here ever been in a coal mine, and some of us have different views on this, and I respect that, but I’m telling you when you’re moving a major piece of equipment in a mine under extreme conditions anything can happen whether you have a trolley wire or whether you don’t. And when coal miners are in by that move, if that move catches on fire, you can have all the transportation equipment you want, you can have all the communication equipment you want, you can have all the rescue equipment you want, that smoke’s gonna get‘em. And you’re gonna be casting a vote tomorrow, an amendment, that I’m going to introduce to put this law back the way it was and the way it should be. So please, read this. Read this. Every coal company that testified to change that law, not once talked about health and safety, they talked about increasing profits, and I will close by saying, the most important thing, the most important thing to ever come out of a coal mine, is the coal miner.” – Delegate Mike Caputo

Delegate Randy Smith of Preston County was outraged by Caputo’s statements.

“I don’t sit behind a desk everyday making decisions. The men I work with don’t pay me to go and sit behind desks. I go underground every day. I’m in these conditions. I know what I’m talking about, and I’m here to tell you that I take offense to being my character attacked on social media, in the newspaper, from colleagues in this chamber. The bottom line is, when it’s said and done, I’m going to go back underground with those men, and anybody that thinks that I would pass a bill to put someone’s life in danger, and put my life in danger, all I can say is it saddens my heart to think that they would think I would be that low. This bill here, this situation that was just, he was just talking about, this situation this bill addresses, if it’s energized trolley wire, you come out by, it’s as simple as that. That doesn’t change, that’s what this law here was made, that’s what brought this law on was energized trolley wire that caused the fire, and it keeps that in place, but why should we stay in 1972? I would say within the next five years, there will be no, no trolley wire in the coal mines anywhere.” – Delegate Randy Smith

Senate Bill 357 will be on second reading, the amendment stage, Thursday.

Addition of Parents on the Education Board Has Overwhelming Support in the House

Anyone visiting the state capitol who is licensed to carry concealed weapons would be allowed to keep loaded firearms in their motor vehicles that are parked near the complex. This bill overwhelmingly passed the house Thursday.

Delegate Gary Howell of Mineral County cited the bill as a safety issue.

“This bill addresses a problem that we have. We have our constituents come down from all over the state, normal, average, everyday West Virginians that have their concealed carry permit. They know that they can’t bring them in the buildings, but they don’t know they can’t park in the parking lots,” Howell noted, “This addresses that issue, so they know they can come to the Capitol, and if some time there is a very late night meeting and it’s dark and whatever, they know when they get back to their car, they’re at a point of safety, and I urge passage.”

House Bill 2128 passed 97 to 0.

On second reading, or the amendment stage, was House Bill 2151, which would make the West Virginia teacher of the year an ex officio, nonvoting member of the West Virginia Board of Education.

Delegate Doug Reynolds, a Democrat from Cabell County, stood to offer an amendment to suggest the a change in the qualifications of some members of the Board of Education.

“The purpose of my amendment is to also add in that two members of the 13 must also be parents,” explained Reynolds, “when they’re appointed of children currently under the jurisdiction of the Board of Education.”

Reynolds’ amendment received major support from both sides of the aisle passing 97 to 1. The one rejection vote was from Delegate Joe Statler, a Republican from Monongalia County.

Currently, the Governor appoints the members of the state school board with the advice and consent of the Senate. Reynolds suggests that the Governor must consider board members who actually have school age children. He thinks it would help bring a new perspective.

“I think that parents bring a perspective of what’s going on in the schools,” Reynolds said, “not necessarily what might not be in those rulebooks and what might be in those policies, but how those policies are affecting kids on a day-to-day basis.”

Reynolds says he has nothing against the current school board, but he thinks his amendment will help aim to make the school system better.

“I think it shows that we value the input of parents,” Reynolds explained, “because almost all of the experts I talk to complain about parent engagement, and I think this is showing some leadership and saying we value you, we want your views on the school board.”

With committee passage of the repeal of the prevailing wage in the Senate yesterday and that issue poised for a vote on the senate floor next week, Delegate Mike Caputo warned his house colleagues that the bill is on its way.

“The Senate passed a bill repealing the prevailing wage in West Virginia, a wage that workers depend on to feed their families, that workers depend on to make sure their kids have the same opportunities as rich folks kids have to go to college and have a nice home and a nice car. They’re deeply concerned and they’re deeply worried, and I know you all have gotten the letters that I’ve gotten,” Caputo said, “And I’ve gotten more letters from businesses who are concerned about the repeal of the prevailing wage on what it will do to good West Virginia businesses. It’s been here a long time, and it’s provided a good work place for those men and women. So I would caution us to think long and hard about how we proceed when that bill comes over here.”

Liability, Non-Partisan Elections, & Labor Cause an Uproar in the House

For years, Republicans have called for nonpartisan election of Supreme Court Justices. But the Democrats never put the issue on the agenda. Now having taken control of the House, Republicans finally got their wish.

Before confronting that issue, the house took up Senate Bill 13, which protects a landowner from liability if someone is injured on his or her property. The bill re-instates the open and obvious doctrine. It means a property owner won’t be responsible for injuries that a person sustains if it’s clear what the conditions are.

Delegate John Shott, chairman of the Judiciary committee, stood to explain that this bill would be worthwhile.

“What we’re doing here is, today if we vote in favor of this bill is saying that regardless of a few remote horror stories, we think its legitimate policy of this state to protect those people who have premises. In those situations where the injuries caused by something as well known and obvious to the person who’s injured as it would be to the person who occupies those premises,” Shott explained.

Senate Bill 13 passed 81 to 18.

Then it was on to House Bill 2010, the non-partisan election bill.

Again, Judiciary Chairman Shott explained why this is good for the state.

“This removes the taint of a partisan election from the operation of our judiciary,” Shott said, “and it extends not only to our state’s Supreme Court of Appeals, but to our circuit judges, our family court judges, and our magistrates, and this is intended to remove any perception that those individuals might be beholding to a particular party organization or a particular group of people with whom that party is perceived as being affiliated.”

Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer stood to oppose the bill, saying voters want to know which party their candidate is affiliated with.

“Well in our state, we’ve had some pretty bad experiences with money in judicial elections, and there have been accusations that judicial seats have been purchased by individuals. By not knowing what party a person’s in, you are deprived of information, and that you otherwise would have in any other election,” Fleischauer said.

But the bill passed overwhelmingly 90 to 9.

But there was uproar about House Bill 2217, relating to the qualifications of the commissioner of labor. This bill changes the current definition of the labor commissioner by taking out the words “labor interests of the state” and inserts “with experience in employee issues and employee-employer relations.”

Delegate Mike Caputo, a labor representative, clearly did not like the bill.

“This is nothing, Mr. Speaker, in my opinion, with all due respect but a poke in the eye with a sharp stick to the working men and women in West Virginia,” Caputo explained, “I just cannot believe that we’re about to vote on a bill that could allow a Don Blankenship to become the commissioner of labor in the state of West Virginia. I can’t believe we’re about the vote on a bill that someone who had nothing but the interest of the corporation at heart their entire adult life can now become the commissioner of labor. Now nothing against corporate executives, we need them, and they need to tend to the business of that corporation, so we can have jobs in West Virginia, but when it comes down to the grassroots level of that working mom, somebody needs to look out for her, and nobody’s going to look out for her other than someone who worked their entire adult life for a paycheck and took the interest of workers at heart.”

Delegate Michael Ihle spoke to try and reason with the word change, using an example from his own experience.

“I deal with both union and nonunion employees, and one of the accomplishments that we, and I do say we, have is a month into my term, we negotiated a labor agreement that was passed unanimously, and I say that not to brag on myself but to brag on our employees. But more relevantly, I say that to illustrate that the interest of management and the interest of labor are not always mutually exclusive,” Ihle said, “And I feel some of the rhetoric that I’ve heard from those who oppose the legislation reflects that belief that those interests must naturally conflict with each other, and I don’t believe that to be the case at all. I think if we’re to move our state forward, if we are to create an environment that is friendly to more jobs for both union and nonunion employees, all interest of labor, if we’re to do that, then we have to move beyond the mentality that labor and management are mutually exclusive.”

House Bill 2117 passed 64 to 35.

Role of Labor Commissioner Argued in House Committee

The Government Organization Committee met Friday to discuss a number of bills, one of which was House Bill 2217, relating to the qualifications of the Commissioner of Labor. With a bill that’s been getting a lot of attention, it was relatively quiet in committee today, with only one vocalized vote against it progressing to the floor.

Earlier this week, this was not the case. On Tuesday, the Committee on Industry and Labor first saw the bill, and some delegates were very concerned.

Currently in state code, the Commissioner of Labor is described as a competent person, who is identified with the labor interests of the state. House Bill 2217 strikes that language to read; has knowledge and experience in employee issues and interests including employee-employer relations in the state.

This language change didn’t go over well with Delegate Mike Caputo from Marion County.

Caputo questioned John Reed, counsel for the Committee of Labor, asking him if the change would alter the qualifications of the Labor Commissioner and require him or her to have a background in Human Resources or HR work.

Reed said he didn’t think so, and said the new language was still looking out for employees. But Caputo wasn’t convinced. He asked for the current Commissioner of Labor, John Junkins to speak to the committee.

Delegates on both sides questioned the commissioner about the qualifications this bill might change. They asked about employee-employer relations, and by the end, there was a distinct split on feelings about the word change.

“We’ve heard from the commissioner, and this agency was established in 1898, and its purpose was to protect the worker,” said Delegate Caputo, “That’s what the gentleman said; protect the worker. Now take a look at the language in this amendment. I can see a CEO becoming labor commissioner for the state of West Virginia. Maybe that CEO worked at a factory for a year or two and got into management, worked his or her way through, became CEO, now all of a sudden, they’re going to come down and protect the interest of the worker? That’s insane. That’s just absolutely insane. Look we’ve got to have good labor management relationships at the workplace, but this agency is not about that, this agency is to look out for the worker.”

Delegate Daryl Cowles from Morgan County spoke to support the change saying it made more sense.

“The bill says the amendment would say, a competent person identified with employee issues of the state and has knowledge and experience in employee issues and interests, including employee, employer relations,” Cowles said, “It would seem to me that employee, employer relations are very important indeed, very important to the interest of employees. It simply clarifies the mission and direction, the mandate of the office does not change with this bill; doesn’t gut anything. The mission and mandate do not change. The qualifications and experience of the appointed position are simply clarified.”

House Bill 2217 will report to the floor for its first reading on Monday, February 2nd.