Mike Caputo Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Constitutional Protection From Euthanasia Could Appear On Ballots This Fall

Republicans in the West Virginia House of Delegates have backed a resolution allowing residents to vote to add protection from euthanasia to the state constitution during this fall’s general election.

Republicans in the West Virginia House of Delegates are calling on their colleagues in the West Virginia Senate to place constitutional protections from euthanasia on voters’ ballots this fall.

Euthanasia, or medically assisted suicide, is already illegal in the state.

With both chambers’ support, House Joint Resolution 28 would allow residents to vote on adding protections against euthanasia to the state constitution during this fall’s general election.

But lawmakers held conflicting views on the measure at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Monday.

Resolution sponsor Del. Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, was invited to speak to senators in committee, stating that the state’s stance against euthanasia is important.

“There’s this phenomenon of nihilism that’s sort of spreading across the country, and I think it’s an important issue we need to address,” McGeehan said. “To the best of my knowledge, we’ll be the first to place this and take a stand in the state constitution.”

While euthanasia prevention received some bipartisan support, pushback on aspects of the bill fell along party lines.

Republican lawmakers wanted to add language to the amendment so it could not affect capital punishment policies.

But Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, said that contradicts the purported pro-life nature of the resolution.

Woelfel said he supported the resolution generally, but that protecting capital punishment gave him pause. Other lawmakers expressed concern over outright condemning euthanasia.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said he became more sympathetic to legalizing euthanasia after watching his father-in-law suffer through hospice care at the end of his life.

“We was praying for him to die, that’s how much he was suffering. We was literally praying for him to die,” Caputo said. “I know that, if he could have made this decision to end it earlier, he would have done that.”

Caputo also expressed concern that the resolution would hold legal implications for medical professionals, but McGeehan said the measure would not hold legal weight beyond what is already in place in state law.

Ultimately, members of the committee voted in favor of the resolution, sending it to the Senate floor with the recommendation that it pass.

If members of the Senate approve the resolution, West Virginia voters will be able to vote on constitutional protections from euthanasia in the state general election this November.

Senate Changes, Passes Bill To Reduce Unemployment Benefits

The engrossed bill that passed the Senate shaves two weeks of the current 26 weeks of unemployment benefits available to workers who have lost their job due through no fault of their own. It increases the initial benefit to up to $712 per week, or 70 percent of the original wage, for the first four weeks of unemployment. That’s up from $624 per week, and 65 percent of the wage. However after those first four weeks, the benefit decreases by 5 percent of the original wage, or max benefit.

Updated: 02/29/2024 5:13pm

The Senate passed a bill that would reduce overall unemployment benefits but increase initial benefits.

Senate Bills 840 and 841 would have steeply cut unemployment benefits. Those bills were combined and amended- and for the most part gutted with a new amendment.

The amended bill that passed the Senate shaves two weeks off of the current 26 weeks of unemployment benefits available to workers who have lost their job due through no fault of their own. The bill would also allow people to work part time while receiving unemployment. They would receive reduced benefits while working.

Under this amended bill the benefits are front loaded, and taper off as time goes on. It increases the initial benefit to up to $712 per week, or 70 percent of the original wage, for the first four weeks of unemployment. That’s up from $624 per week, and 65 percent of the wage. However after those first four weeks, the benefit decreases by 5 percent of the original wage, or max benefit.

For example, on week five, the benefit would be 65 percent, and on the ninth week it would be 60 percent. On week 20 through week 24, the last weeks of the available benefit, unemployed people would receive 45 percent of their original benefit.

The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy said that the average time an unemployed person collects benefits in the state is 13 weeks.

Sen. Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha, said that this bill would benefit the average unemployed person, because they would collect that initial larger benefit.

The bill also requires that employers contribute more to the unemployment insurance fund.

“The average wage of those on the unemployed base is roughly $35,000,” Nelson said. “And so currently, over that 14 week period, they would receive $5,166. Under the proposed method, they would receive $5,991 to an increase of $800.”

However, Josh Sword, West Virginia AFL-CIO president, said the bill would cost some West Virginians who use the full duration of the benefit thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits.

“As it stands now, compared to the bill that was adopted in the Senate last night,” Sword said. “We know that individuals are going to receive about $4,000 less in benefits than they would today. So that’s concerning.”

The original bills would have reduced the maximum benefit to $550 per week and reduced the duration based on the current unemployment rate. It would reduce the benefits duration down to 12 weeks based on the current unemployment rate of 4.3 percent.

The 28 page amendment, which significantly changed the bill, was introduced on the floor 30 minutes before the bill was voted on.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said he understands the need for the bill but wanted more time to work out the details and bring stakeholders like business and labor unions to the table to talk about the bill.

“Don’t think it should be done in the 11th hour. I think it’s bad, bad government to do this,” Caputo said.

He said this sends a horrible message to the working people of West Virginia and the nearly 2,000 people who are slated to lose their jobs from layoffs from the closures of Allegany Woods and Cleveland Cliffs.

Sword agreed, and said he would have liked the AFL-CIO to have been involved in the drafting of legislation that would affect workers in the state.

“The best way to get good policy is to bring all impacted parties to the table,” Sword said. “And come up with a good common sense solution that makes sense for everybody. That absolutely did not happen. And that’s part of the reason that we don’t know what’s in it because we weren’t at the table trying to put something together.”

Nelson says the bill, that was put together privately over the course of three days, does include a few errors.

“One of the unfortunate things that does happen when we’re here at this speed at the end. This is not a final product, this goes over to the house. There’ll be additional discussions, and I’m gonna have more discussions with Senator Caputo and labor and others because we want the best product going forward. And that’s what we have,” Nelson said.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include Sen. Eric Nelson, and AFL-CIO President Josh Sword.

Bill That Greatly Reduces Unemployment Benefits Advances

Senate Bill 840 would reduce the maximum amount to $550 dollars a week.

Senate Bill 841 reduces the duration of benefits. It works on a tiered system based on statewide unemployment numbers. If the statewide unemployment number is under 5 percent — which it currently is — then the maximum benefit duration would be 12 weeks, cutting it down by more than half.

The Senate advanced two bills Monday that would lower unemployment benefits for out of work West Virginians.

Currently people can receive 26 weeks of benefits, and a maximum weekly benefit of $624 if they lose their job through no fault of their own; meaning they were separated from their jobs due to a lack of available work.

Senate Bill 840 would reduce the maximum amount to $550 dollars a week.

The maximum benefit under the bill is 20 weeks if there is a severe recession with an unemployment rate of 9 percent.

Sponsor of Senate Bill 840, Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said this bill is to help secure the longevity of the unemployment fund.

“This preserves our unemployment fund for the future,” Tarr said. “If we do not do something now, to go in and fix this unemployment fund, what’s going to happen is unemployment services will become unavailable in the future. That’s just a matter of math.”

However Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy says that the fund is healthier than ever.

“Our unemployment fund is at one of the highest balances ever on record,” Allen said.

On Saturday, in the Senate Finance Committee, Jeff Green from WorkForce West Virginia testified that currently the fund could sustain a 10 percent unemployment rate in the state for 91 weeks before all the funds were exhausted.

Allen says that the state has not seen a recession like that in more than 30 years.

“The last time West Virginia had an unemployment rate over 10 percent in a sustained period was more than 30 years ago in 1992,” Allen said.

This all comes shortly after Allegheny Wood Products announced it was closing and laying off hundreds of workers, and the Cleveland-Cliffs tin mill laid off 900 workers last month.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, objected to the bills being advanced.

“This is a bill that reduces unemployment benefits across the state with the recent happenings,” Marion. “And the news that we’ve heard in Weirton, and in the wood products plant. I think it’s a horrible time to do this. Mr. President.”

Allen said that West Virginia is an economically diverse state, and while the statewide unemployment rate is currently 3.8 percent that doesn’t account for differences between localities like the southern coalfields and the eastern panhandle.

“You know, the picture in the southern coalfields as compared with Monongalia is very different,” Allen said. “So essentially, these population centers that are doing well, in terms of the number of jobs available would dictate how many weeks of unemployment everybody in the state would be eligible for, even though folks in more rural parts of the state with fewer job opportunities, are seeing a very different economic landscape job opportunity landscape.”

Senate Passes Bill To Teach Adolescents Dangers Of Fentanyl

The bill, known as Laken’s Law, is named after Morgan Laken, who died from a fentanyl overdose in 2021. It requires students to be taught about fentanyl, heroin, and opioid awareness, prevention and abuse, addiction, community resources, substance abuse among young people, and how to administer opioid reversal agents like Narcan. The instruction will begin in the 2024-2025 school year.

The Senate passed a bill Saturday that would mandate public schools to teach about fentanyl in grades 6-12.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, said that likely if Laken had known the dangers of fentanyl she might still be alive.

“(She) would have never chosen to leave that beautiful baby of hers, and that beautiful family of hers,” Caputo said. “So maybe… maybe we can help the future of West Virginia. You know, I’ve always said we teach our kids at a very early age not to play with matches. And it works. We’ve got to spend more time teaching them about fentanyl.”

Laken’s mother, father, and four-year-old daughter watched as the bill was passed in the Senate.
The bill passed unanimously in both the Senate and the House of Delegates , and now heads back to the House to consider Senate changes.

Senate Passes Two Reproductive Rights Bills

Abortion is banned in the state of West Virginia unless medically necessary, or if the pregnancy is no longer viable. There are also exceptions in the abortion ban in the case of rape.

Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, sponsored two notable bills related to pregnant persons in the state.

The Senate is building momentum now that it is well into the second half of the legislative session. Ten bills were passed and sent to the House of Delegates; two bills were sent to the governor’s desk.

Senate Bill 352

Abortion is banned in the state of West Virginia unless medically necessary, or if the pregnancy is no longer viable. There are also exceptions in the abortion ban in the case of rape.

Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, sponsored two notable bills related to pregnant persons in the state.

Senate Bill 352 requires informed consent prior to a medically necessary abortion being performed. Informed consent means that the patients that are seeking an abortion must be informed of things like associated medical risks, the probable gestational age, and that perinatal hospital services are available before they decide to go through with the abortion. Some of the information doctors are required to present is on the Department of Health’s website.

Those opposed to the bill say that the bill requires doctors to present patients with scientifically inaccurate propaganda.

Rucker said this bill ensures that the patient has all the information that they need to make the decision to have a abortion.

“This is a decision. We’re affecting life and death,” Rucker said. “It is a decision that will impact a woman’s life after the decision is made- whatever decision is made. So I think it is only the right thing to do that she has all the information available.”

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, voted against the bill and read a letter on the Senate floor Wednesday from a physician who urged him to do so.

“I am horrified to learn that the Senate is attacking reproductive health care yet again by advancing Senate Bill 352,” Caputo read. “Banning abortion was not enough. Now lawmakers want to go after the very narrow exceptions afforded in the ban by further demeaning and degrading providers and patients who are deserving of respect and compassion. Enough is enough.”

The physician asked Caputo to try and stop the bill.

“It is dangerous, and far outside the mainstream of medicine,” Caputo read. “Organizations representing 1000s of clinic clinicians, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Nurse Midwives and the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine have strongly opposed bills that place lawmakers in the position of interfering with how health care is provided to push a political agenda. ”

Senate Bill 620

Last year the legislature passed a bill that funded the mothers and babies pregnancy support program.

The grants under this program are for anti-abortion pregnancy centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies and “life-affirming social service organizations.”

Rucker’s other bill, Senate Bill 620, adds flexibility to the ways in which that funding can be used.

State Lawmakers Discuss ‘The Crown Act’

On this episode of The Legislature Today, Briana Heaney talks with Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, and Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, about legislation to make it illegal to discriminate against someone based on the texture and style of their hair.

On this episode of The Legislature Today, legislation for the last several years has been introduced that would make it illegal to discriminate against someone based on the texture and style of their hair. This legislation is typically referred to as The Crown Act.

Every year, that legislation fails.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, has introduced two of the same bill on the issue already this session, and Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, has a version ready to introduce into the House of Delegates. Briana Heaney spoke with both of them to get their perspective.

Also, several health and education bills were on third reading in the House of Delegates. The proposals included one of the most talked about issues this session – getting a handle on a statewide wave of school discipline challenges.

Finally, the state’s two flagship academic institutions, West Virginia and Marshall universities, enjoyed separate featured days at the Capitol. For one school, the growing public, private and academic partnership in workforce development was the leading theme on display.

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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.