Delegate Tim Manchin Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

House Judiciary Looks at Coal Jobs and Safety Act of 2015

House Judiciary took up a bill Tuesday that addresses mine safety. Senate Bill 357, also known as House Bill 2566, is the Coal Jobs and Safety Act of 2015. This is a big bill with many provisions, and House Judiciary considered a handful of amendments to it.

There were two amendments to the bill that stirred up some debate within the House Judiciary Committee. Amendment number 2, as the delegates called it, was an amendment proposed by Delegate Woody Ireland of Ritchie County.

Ireland’s amendment addresses when and how and who moves equipment within a coal mine. This amendment adjusts some language related to energized trolley wire, which is a way for miners to move large loads of equipment in shuttle cars.

Delegate Tim Manchin of Marion County proposed a rival amendment to Ireland’s. In Manchin’s amendment, which was referred to as amendment number 4, it suggests putting the language back in the bill that is currently law saying there would be restrictions on how the equipment would be moved.

Manchin called Ireland’s amendment a roll back in mine safety.

“This is a huge roll back in miner safety to take seventy some mines out of the control of this statute to say that seventy some mines will now be allowed to move oversized equipment with motors and other apparatuses that are being strained to their limits in carrying that equipment, to remove those from the provisions and to subject coal miners to being in by of those where they’re going to be exposed to those fumes and fire and all the noxious smoke that comes off of that is an outrage,” Manchin said, “It is a roll back in coal miner safety, it should not be permitted, that we have not been given any adequate excuse to do that, and therefore we should reject this. Men have died, men died to get this statute passed, men died after this statute was passed. Nine men, in Marion and Monongalia County died, I think it was in the 60s or early 70s if I’m not mistaken, because, for this statute, and now we’re going to remove that.”

Delegate Stephen Skinner of Jefferson County, a fellow sponsor of Manchin’s amendment, also spoke against Ireland’s amendment, number 2.

“The amendment offered by the gentleman across applies to a very narrow number of mines,” Skinner said, “The statute as it is right now applies to all mines and is safety focused. We should make the choice for making decisions based on evidence, and we don’t have that evidence here today.”

Delegate Patrick Lane of Kanawha County supported Ireland’s amendment, explaining that amendment number 2 was a good middle-ground and still addressed all the safety concerns.

“The gentleman from Ritchie has offered, what I would consider to be a balanced approach to making sure that miners in most of the mines where there’s a real safety issue with the movement of equipment are protected, but at the same time allowing that equipment to be moved in an efficient manner,” Lane noted, “and I would just remind people to look at the language that it says that a qualified person has to be in charge of transporting it, and specifically, as we heard yesterday, the primary issue is the energized wire that can create the problem, the real safety issue, and I think the gentleman has addressed that specifically, and would ask the committee to adopt amendment number 2 offered by the gentleman from Ritchie and reject amendment number 4.”

After the debate however, Ireland’s amendment passed, and Manchin’s amendment was rejected.

Two more amendments were proposed by Delegates Manchin and Skinner; one having to do with the diesel commission and inspections, while the other had to do with rail track variants from the face of a mine. Both amendments were rejected.

Senate Bill 357 now reports to the floor for its consideration.

Thousands Rally on the Capitol Steps Against Prevailing Wage Bill

At the capitol Monday, a rally was held to speak out against the scaling back of the prevailing wage. Senate Bill 361 passed last Thursday in the senate. The rally was organized by Senator Jeff Kessler who has spoken strongly against the bill on the Senate Floor.

Over 1,000 people showed up to support the rally on the steps of the capitol building. The majority of protestors were union workers who were angered by the bill which initially repealed the wage altogether.

A number of Democrats from both the House and Senate spoke to the crowd including Delegate Tim Manchin.

“The snow out here it looks like Christmas, and it is. It’s Christmas from the Chamber of Commerce, and guess who’s buying the presents? You are! You’re paying for the presents. You’re paying for the presents, because they’re taking away the safety that you’ve come to expect after 60 years under Democratic rule. This is not a new agenda. They’ve been proposing these bill for the last ten years since I’ve been here. We’re the ones that have stopped them,” Manchin said.

Sen. Jeff Kessler speaking at the rally he called at the Capitol to protest changes to the state’s prevailing wage.

Anthony Jividen was one of the many protestors who felt like the scaling back of the prevailing wage would hurt workers and their families.

“They’re basically taking food off our tables and our livelihood; taking food from our families,” Jividen said, “I mean, they get voted for us, the working man, they say, for that they need to show it. All these bills they’re passing, it’s not right. It’s just telling us, they don’t care.”

Laurie and Sheila are teamsters from Wheeling, and they both feel like the prevailing wage is good and to lose it is detrimental.

“It affects our wages. The thing with the union is, you know, you get treated fairly, good wages, it’s made a huge difference in my life, and I know it has in Sheila’s also. And just want to support it,” Laurie said.

“You know I can make all the noise on the floor of the Senate that I’d like and over in the House the same way. Politicians understand one thing and that’s the voice of their voters and the voice of their people, and quite frankly I think many of them think they came down here, they won their election, and they have a mandate, because if you look at the votes that are being cast, you know, I don’t call it a mandate, I call it a mistake. Because there are so many things that are running out of there that are not good for the people of our state. I challenge anybody to go out there and say, I can’t remember any of the new majority that ran on a platform issue of right to work, and prevailing wage repeal, and shutting down the seventh amendment right to have access to the courts. I don’t remember any of that, I don’t remember anybody out there advocating those type of issues, and yet those are the things that are shooting right out of the box, and ram-rodding through." – Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler

Senator Kessler says he was very glad to see the turnout for the rally, and he hopes it sends a message to his fellow legislators.

Senate Bill 361 has been sent to House Government Organization for Consideration.

House Bills Move to Next Stage Without a Hitch

A number of bills were on the floor Tuesday from child welfare to the election of judges to the qualifications of the labor commissioner; all of them passed to their next stages without much of a hitch.

Eight bills were on the House Floor, and only House Bill 2200 was on third reading. This bill is to revise, rearrange, consolidate, and recodify the laws of the state relating to child welfare and juvenile disposition.

Judiciary chairman, Delegate John Shott, is the lead sponsor. He described the bill to be more user-friendly for those who have to deal with this area of law.

“There have been complaints for many years over how difficult it is to work in this area and how it can lead to misinterpretations, misunderstandings,” Shott noted, “and this is an effort that this bill, it’s got bipartisan support, it’s got widespread support among those who need to be able to navigate these complicated provisions of law, and Mr. Speaker I urge passage.”

House Bill 2200 passed 98 to 0.

The next five bills were on second reading; the amendment stage. First up was Senate Bill 13, which has to do with the liability of a possessor of real property for injuries caused by open and obvious hazards.

Delegate Shott proposed an amendment.

“The amendment that has been passed in the judiciary committee to modify the senate version, Senate Bill 13, basically recognizes a very limited exception to the open and obvious doctrine,” said Shott, “and that is where the danger on the landowner’s property is a violation of a law intended for the public safety, and that violation caused the injury, then in that narrow situation, the landowner is still responsible.”

Shott’s amendment passed and the bill progressed to third reading.

House Bill 2010 was up next. This bill relates to electoral reforms requiring the election of justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals, circuit court judges, family court judges, and magistrates to be on a nonpartisan basis.

Delegate Tim Manchin proposed an amendment that would extend public campaign financing to circuit court judges. It’s already in place for candidates for the Supreme Court.

“That program has worked. As a matter of fact, we have a current Supreme Court justice now who sits in the chamber upstairs because of this bill. It was a private project at the time, which is now been made permanent for Supreme Court judges,” Manchin explained, “The reason that I’ve offered this bill [amendment] is because, quite frankly, the only real reason to have nonpartisan judges, or the only stated reasons, are two; number one, so that there not beholden to anybody and they don’t appear to have partiality after they’ve been elected. Number two is to cut down on the cost of election, however if we miss this opportunity to extend the public campaign financing to those circuit court judges, we will leave in probably the greatest threat to the appearance of impartiality that there is, and that’s direct campaign contributions.”

Delegate Shott stood to oppose the amendment but in good faith.

“This is a good idea, and it’s an idea that it’s time may come, just not today,” Shott said, “I’m going to speak against this amendment not because I don’t think it’s a good idea, I think it’s where we want to be at some point, but I’m concerned that it complicates a bill whose focus is to take the first step, and that is to make these judicial elections nonpartisan.”

Delegate Manchin stood again to encourage the amendment be adopted.

“We have an opportunity right here to do something good right now and not wait until later, until all other kinds of people weigh in,” Manchin said, “and tell us all other reasons why the system won’t work, when in fact it already has.”

Delegate Manchin’s amendment was rejected 67 to 31, and House Bill 2010 moved on to third reading.

Also up for passage Wednesday will be House Bill 2217, relating to the qualifications of the Commissioner of Labor. The bill removes the term “labor interests of the state” and inserts language to require the commissioner to have knowledge and experience in employee issues and interests including employee-employer relations.