West Virginia will make life easier for craft brewers, many chemical tank owners and people who want to teach without a formal education background under laws taking effect this week.
Many bills that passed on the final night of the legislative session in March were to take effect 60 days later, making Friday, June 11, the trigger date for 47 laws.
One new law lets programs such as Teach for America enter the neediest parts of West Virginia. Another peels back some regulations against leaky chemical tanks that were passed after a January 2014 spill, which contaminated 300,000 people’s drinking water.
Another high-profile law lowers fees and makes other changes to help craft brewers.
Lawmakers passed 262 bills last session to become law, though 18 were vetoed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.
West Virginia has been plagued for the past few years with budget deficits. To deal with the shortfalls, the governor has cut state agency budgets across the board, implemented hiring freezes and dipped into the state’s Rainy Day Fund.
This year, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin cut the House and Senate approved budget by an additional $11 million, leaving some service programs to wonder how they’ll keep their doors open. The Charleston Health Right is just one of those service programs.
The West Virginia Health Right clinic located in Charleston’s East End is a free and charitable clinic that provides medical, dental and vision services to more than 15,000 uninsured and underinsured West Virginians each year.
Beginning July 1, 2015, though, the Charleston clinic, along with nine other clinics across the state, will see a significant reduction in their budget. Executive Director Angie Settle said the cut for her location will be nearly 33 percent.
After two years of 7.5 percent across the board cuts from Tomblin, Settle’s location will have 48 percent less funding than three years ago. Settle said they’ve looked to cut waste wherever possible, but there is little left to find.
Because of the clinics’ ability to bill Medicaid, something the Charleston clinic began doing in January 2014,Tomblin said in his veto message those clinics should be able to recover part of the money cut.
But Settle said that statement just isn’t true for her clinic. In 2014, her clinic brought in $188,000 from Medicaid billing, but spent nearly $100,000 on a person to do the billing and the software and IT upgrades to make it possible.
Settle said even though the start up costs are complete, Medicaid billing won’t make up for her 2016 33 percent budget cut for two reasons. First, because of notoriously low Medicaid reimbursement rates, and second because of the population she serves.
Credit Ashton Marra / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Executive Director of West Virginia Health Right Angie Settle.
“More than half of the patients we see are the working poor,” she said. “West Virginians with two and three jobs.”
Medicaid allows clinics to bill for some services, but Settle said they often won’t reimburse multiple services that occur on the same day. Because she serves a population who may be prohibited from going to multiple appointments because of their work schedule, child care, or ability to pay for transportation, Settle said her patients just won’t return for multiple appointments.
“It reminds me of almost like a NASCAR pit stop when people come here. We [do] everything we can do for them that day. Talk to them about smoking cessation, dental health, get their blood pressure checked, get their blood work done, get their pap smear if its due, give them a slip to go get a mammogram. Everything we can pack into that visit, as much bang for the buck in that day,” she said of their philosophy of care.
Sometimes Medicaid will cover one or all of those services, and sometimes they won’t, Settle said, but she doesn’t see that as incentive to change the way they serve their population, 50 percent of which have Medicaid coverage and 50 percent of which have no insurance at all.
“By squashing funding to free clinics and saying we don’t want to fund free clinics, it basically tells the people of West Virginia, the working poor, we want you to quit your job so you can get on Medicaid,” she said. “It says we don’t want you to work. We want you to quit your job and get on Medicaid or go without.”
Senate Finance Vice Chair Chris Walters said he and his fellow lawmakers tried to work with the clinics to get their line item appropriations in a workable range, knowing the governor intended to make cuts. He said he understands the importance of the clinics to their communities, but lawmakers had to make tough choices to balance the overall budget.
Walters said the state is expecting another budget deficit in 2016, but said lawmakers are working to come up with ways to increase revenues.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has signed a bill that would scale back the Above Ground Storage Tank Act and lessen the number of tanks under state scrutiny.
The 2014 law was approved after a chemical leak tainted the drinking water supply for 300,000 people in the Kanawha Valley.
Under the 2014 tank act, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection was required to register and inspect all above ground storage tanks in the state, with some minor exemptions. In all, the DEP found more than 50,000 would be under their purview.
Lawmakers this year looked to reduce the burden on both the DEP and some industries, including agriculture and oil and gas.
The new law (SB 423) focuses oversight to tanks containing certain hazardous materials, those containing 50,000 gallons or more of any substance, and tanks located in zones of critical concern, or within so many miles of a public drinking water intake.
“The bill that was passed last year was really to protect the drinking water of the people of West Virginia. The bill continued to grow and really got a little bit unmanageable,” Tomblin said of the bill on The Legislature Today in early March.
The new law will leave just 5,000 above ground storage tanks under DEP purview.
Many environmentalists spoke out against the bill saying it puts the state’s drinking water at risk.
In a press release Friday, Governor Tomblin announced his veto of Senate Bill 347, the Firearms Act of 2015.
The bill, as approved by lawmakers on the final day of the regular legislative session, would have removed the requirement for any person 21 and older to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Rescinding the permit requirement would have also discontinued the need for the safety course attached to the permitting process.
In his veto message, Tomblin cited concerns shared with him from law enforcement officers and public safety.
“Throughout my career, I have strongly supported the Second Amendment, as demonstrated by my repeated endorsements and high grades from the National Rifle Association. However, I must also be responsive to the apprehension of law enforcement officers from across the state, who have concerns about the bill as it relates to the safety of their fellow officers. It also would eliminate the required gun safety training courses for those applying for a concealed carry permit. In light of these concerns and in the interest of public safety for all West Virginians, I have vetoed Senate Bill 347.”
Supporters of the bill argued during the session carrying concealed without a permit is a Constitutional right and the $100 fee that comes with the permit is restrictive.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin had previously spoken out against the signing of the bill, calling it irresponsible and dangerous.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said Friday the statewide State of Emergency remains in place after heavy snowfall and flooding across the state. "Although…
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said Friday the statewide State of Emergency remains in place after heavy snowfall and flooding across the state.
“Although temperatures are expected to rise and water levels continue to decline, I encourage drivers to remain cautious while traveling,” Gov. Tomblin said in a news release. “I am extremely proud of our state’s response to this massive winter storm, and I’d like to thank all first responders, the West Virginia National Guard, local and state road crews, and all West Virginians who have worked hard to help combat this storm.”
Representatives from the Governor’s Office, the West Virginia National Guard and Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management briefed members of the West Virginia Legislature Friday on the procedures and protocols for a State of Emergency, as well as an update on current weather conditions.
According to the National Weather Service, no additional major weather concerns are expected this weekend. As waters in most areas continue to fall, local and state officials will continue to monitor the situation in the coming days.
Although residents will experience colder temperatures in the mornings, temperatures are predicted to gradually warm up through the weekend. Snow and ice melt are expected to melt slowly, so West Virginians should continue to exercise caution and prepare for cold temperatures.
For updates on warming stations, shelters, power outages, road closures and weather conditions, continue to monitor the state’s official Facebook page for the response.
The West Virginia Ethics Commission has been reconstituted with fewer members. But most of them are familiar faces.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin reappointed seven members to the commission on Monday. The governor also named two new members, Karen Disibbio of Bluefield and Larry Tweel of Huntington.
A law approved this year by the Legislature reduced the commission’s members from 12 to nine.
Members who were reappointed are: former State Police superintendent and state Sen. Jack Buckalew, Morgantown lawyer Monte Williams, former Delegate Terry Walker of Shepherdstown, former Secretary of State Betty Ireland, former Logan County school board member Robert Wolfe, Michael Greer of Salem and Suzan Singleton of Glen Dale.
Greer was one of the Ethics Commission’s original members in 1989.
