Tag: Final Hours

The Legislature Today’s ‘Final Hours Live’ Tonight On WVPB TV

Join us this evening at 8 p.m. for West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s The Legislature Today Final Hours program. WVPB will broadcast live from the Capitol until midnight when the 2023 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature comes to a close.

Join us this evening at 8 p.m. for West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s The Legislature Today Final Hours program.

WVPB will broadcast live from the Capitol until midnight when the 2023 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature comes to a close.

For the past 60 days, our team of award-winning reporters and production staff have brought nightly coverage of the 2023 session.

To watch past episodes from this year or to read our reporters’ latest stories, check out our main program page.

There are several ways to tune in for tonight’s live coverage. The broadcast will be simulcast on your local WVPB TV channel, The West Virginia Channel, online through our YouTube channel or our WVPB livestream.

You can also find our livestream in our WVPB app for either Apple or Android.

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

In addition to the weeknight television broadcast throughout the session, WVPB reporters deliver news from the session daily on the network’s radio news program West Virginia Morning, and on our website wvpublic.org.

WVPB also provides gavel to gavel live broadcasts of Senate and House floor sessions daily online and on The West Virginia Channel.

Watch Or Stream ‘The Legislature Today: Final Hours' Tonight At 8 p.m. On West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Join West Virginia Public Broadcasting this evening from 8 p.m. to midnight for The Legislature Today: Final Hours.

Our award-winning news and production teams will bring you the latest action from the West Virginia Legislature as lawmakers wrap up the 60th day of the 2022 session.

Viewers can watch or stream the special Final Hours program on their local West Virginia Public Broadcasting station, The West Virginia Channel and on YouTube.

Find your local WVPB TV station here.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting will also be broadcasting floor sessions throughout the day on The West Virginia Channel and on YouTube.

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

The Final Hours Of The 2021 W.Va. Legislative Session

West Virginia Public Broadcasting continues a decades-long tradition by covering the Final Hours of the 2021 legislative session, Saturday, April 10 beginning at 8 PM. Dave Mistich and Emily Allen will report live from the Capitol as viewers follow the action of the Senate and House of Delegates up to the session’s midnight deadline.

You can watch beginning at 8 PM on WVPB TV, The West Virginia Channel, our Youtube and Facebook channels, and at wvpublic.org.

Join the WVPB broadcast for floor debates, lawmaker interviews, and analysis.

The Final Hours of the 2021 Legislative Session

House Democrats Criticize Speaker's Budget Conferee Appointments

Over the next two days, ten members of the legislature will participate in a conference committee looking to write a balanced budget for 2017 – the fiscal year that begins in July. But Democrats in the House of Delegates are criticizing the makeup of that committee.

House Speaker Tim Armstead appointed five delegates to represent the House on the budget conference committee – Finance Chair Eric Nelson, Vice Chair Eric Householder, Delegates Bill Anderson and Carol Miller, and one Democrat, Delegate David Perry.

Minority Leader Tim Miley criticized Armstead for the decision to appoint only one Democrat when proportionally he says the committee should have included two Democrats to represent the number of members from the party elected to the full House of Delegates.

Miley says he’s disappointed and disheartened by the decision.

“Number one; the Speaker didn’t have the courtesy of even putting the Minority Chair of Finance on the conferee committee, and number two; he didn’t put the number of Democrats that represent the proportionality of Democrats in the House of Delegates,” Miley said.

Miley says the Democrat who Speaker Armstead did appoint doesn’t have the experience that Finance Minority Chair Brent Boggs could bring to the conversation. But the Speaker has the power to appoint whomever he chooses to the conference committee.

Saturday evening, Armstead said he chose not to appoint Boggs because he voted against the budget bill approved earlier in the week in the House.

Miley was not just critical of who House leadership chose to appoint to the committee, but also of the work conferees will do over the next two days, calling it a “complete waste of time.”

“Governor Tomblin presented a budget with various pieces of legislation that would’ve provided both a balanced budget and revenue enhancement mechanisms and not using one time money,” Miley explained, “This group chose to ignore those revenue enhancements, chose to use one-time money, and it took them 60 days to try to make that happen, and they still couldn’t make it happen.”

During the last 60 days, House Finance killed or tabled a number of bills that were aimed at helping to balance the budget – one involved increasing the tobacco tax, another dealt with a tax increase to help with maintenance of roads, and one looked at an increase in the sales tax.

The Final Hours: What You Didn't See

While most of the night is strictly business, the final hours of the legislative session often have some light-hearted moments scattered throughout. Here are a few things you didn’t see in the news.

Sen. Sam Cann rose to speak to House Bill 4343, the West Virginia Launch Pad Act, but maybe he forgot he’d been appointed to a new chamber:

Sen. Doug Facemire missed the first few weeks of the session and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest after breaking his ankle in January. The Senator was able to stand for the first time on the floor and explain House Bill 4346 to his fellow members, but not without first commenting on their looks:

Facemire.mp3

Delegate Doug Reynolds shared this photo from his office:

We’ve all heard of the dangers of texting while driving, but texting while voting? Sen. Truman Chafin explains:

Truman.mp3

Sen. Dave Sypolt was concerned with changes to the Future Fund made in the House and wanted clarity before his vote, however, he asked Senate Majority Leader John Unger a question for which he didn’t have an answer and got this response:

Unger.mp3

And in a touching moment, Senate President Jeff Kessler stepped down from the podium to hand retiring Sen. Brooks McCabe the gavel. The Senator presided over the chamber while members spoke of his accomplishments during his service.

 

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