Pat McGeehan 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.

House Bill Would Cut Ties To ‘Antithetical’ Nations

A bill under consideration in the West Virginia House of Delegates would ban the state and its political subdivisions from engaging in certain forms of business with nations that hold values deemed “antithetical” to the state.

A bill in the West Virginia House of Delegates would restrict the state’s financial ties with foreign nations that hold values “antithetical” to its own.

House Bill 4364 would bar the state from contracting goods or services from foreign companies that could benefit the governments of China, Cuba, Iran, Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia or Vietnam.

The bill states that restrictions would be imposed upon these nations because they either “align with communist ideology” or have caused “nonmilitary deaths” of U.S. citizens without proper governmental response.

In the bill, lawmakers cited a growing globalized economy as the cause of its creation, stating that “a company may obfuscate the beneficiaries of the proposed commercial activity that are in fact foreign entities.”

At a meeting of the House Committee on Government Organization Monday, some lawmakers expressed concern that the bill could limit the competitiveness of the state economy, or that it could violate preexisting contracts with foreign organizations.

Counsel for the committee said retroactively rescinding agreed upon contracts is often disapproved of by state and federal judiciaries.

Del. Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, who sponsored the bill, confirmed that the bill would work retroactively, affecting contracts implemented before its passage.

In response, Del. Chris Pritt, R-Kanawha, said that state lawmakers should have authority to interpret whether or not the bill adhered to the state constitution.

“It is up for us to make determinations and give our input in terms of what’s constitutional and what’s not,” he said.

Pritt added that he viewed the pending legislation as a “very, very good bill” that is “perfectly in conformity with the constitution.”

He also said that the bill marked an important step toward protecting the values of the state and country. “There are certain countries that are hostile not only to the interests of West Virginia, but that are hostile to the interests of the United States,” he said.

Ultimately, the committee voted in favor of the bill, recommending that it pass but first be referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

West Virginia House Rejects Motion To Advance ‘Defend the Guard Act’

A bill requiring an official declaration of war from U.S. Congress to deploy members of the West Virginia National Guard overseas remains inactive, despite a robust conversation on the West Virginia House floor Tuesday.

Del. Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, is the lead sponsor behind House Bill 2732, otherwise dubbed the “Defend the Guard Act.” McGeehan has proposed such an act every year since being elected to the House in 2015.

This year’s bill, which carried over from last year after the House failed to vote on it, was referred to two committees for consideration before the full House can vote on it.

McGeehan unsuccessfully requested on Tuesday that the House vote to discharge his bill from its first committee reference, in Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security, to its second committee reference in Judiciary. In his remarks to the rest of the House, McGeehan said his bill was on an agenda of bills to be considered in the Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security Committee last week but was removed by the request of the “powers that be.”

Del. Tom Bibby, R-Berkeley, chairs the House Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security Committee. He confirmed he did pull the bill from last week’s agenda. He said he plans to reschedule it on next week’s committee agenda.

“War is the most serious, serious operation, [the most] serious enterprises that a government could engage in,” McGeehan said. “And, quite rightly so, the founders saw it fit to vest that power within the legislative branch so that it can be openly debated.”

Lawmakers ultimately voted 50-50 to keep McGeehan’s bill in Veteran Affairs & Homeland Security.

Del. Isaac Sponaugle, D-Pendleton, noted that the bill has come up several times before. He urged other delegates to approve McGeehan’s request.

“He gets no respect,” Sponaugle said of McGeehan. “Some of you may like him, some of you may not like him. But the ideas that he likes expressing deserve debate, and getting buried in a minor committee and never seeing daylight is not a way to debate the issue.”

Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, disagreed with Sponaugle, saying committee references are a part of the legislative process.

“All of us have bills that don’t make it on an agenda,” Steele said. “The point is that all of us have issues that we’re passionate about, that we wait for leadership to put on an agenda. This is not the place to push your own agenda. This is a body that deliberates. … I find it very disingenuous, and very hypocritical.”

A “Defend the Guard Act” has come up from McGeehan in every session, every year since he was elected to the House of Delegates in 2015. This year’s bill is a carryover from the 2019 session. Before that, he introduced House Bill 2168 in 2015 and House Bill 2377 in 2017.

Bibby said after the floor session Tuesday he had removed House Bill 2732 from last week’s committee meeting agenda after hearing concerns from the West Virginia National Guard that the passage of such legislation could endanger their relationship with federal National Guard leaders.

Bibby — who voiced support for McGeehan’s bill in comments made before the discharge vote — said he plans to add the item back to his committee’s agenda next week. He also said he would introduce his own House resolution, calling on Congress to declare war before deploying West Virginia National Guard troops.

The National Guard’s Public Information Office declined to comment on McGeehan’s bill.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

House Kills Bill to Increase Beer Barrel Tax & More

The West Virginia House of Delegates has killed a bill that leadership says was one of the keys to balancing the 2018 budget. The bill was presented on behalf of Governor Jim Justice and originally would have raised $450 million in new taxes but drastically changed as it worked through the committee process.

House Bill 2816 would have put about $20 million dollars back into the general revenue fund during the 2018 fiscal year. The governor’s office says the budget hole for 2018 could be as high as $497 million dollars. But House officials say that’s because the governor attempted to increase state spending in his budget plan. The House’s budget calls on closing about a $340 million dollar gap, and without House Bill 2816, the chamber’s Finance Chair says that will be more difficult to do.

The bill looked at three major things to help balance the 2018 budget. First, it would’ve eliminated the film tax credit, putting $5 million back into general revenue. Second, it would’ve ended a transfer of monies from sales taxes on automobile products to the state road fund, putting about $12 million back into general revenue. And third, it would’ve increased the beer barrel tax, which estimated to bring in almost $3 million additional dollars.

This bill was up for passage in the chamber Tuesday, but was immediately met with opposition from members on both sides of the aisle. Several Democrats and Republicans opposed the bill because of its elimination of the film tax credit. But it was the beer barrel tax increase that had delegates like Republican Pat McGeehan from Hancock County fuming.

“So I’d just like to know, are we conservatives here? I thought the Republicans controlled this chamber. Maybe not, I don’t know,” McGeehan said, “Some members in my party seem like they’d like to take us back to the 1920s and early 1930s as prohibitionists. It’s not our job to pick and choose which legal products to tax. That’s called the ‘nanny state.’ It’s called free enterprise; that’s what we’re supposed to embrace.”

The bill failed 39 to 60. House Finance Chair Delegate Eric Nelson of Kanawha County says he was extremely surprised by the vote.

“You know what, we’re just going to continue – our idea of having a budget out by [Wednesday], which we were on a path of last Saturday; it’s going to be very difficult now,” Nelson noted, “So, you either have to look at cuts, or I hate to say it, revenue measures, and I don’t think the body, if they don’t look at a potential beer consumption change, where do you think they’ll be? Difficult times right now.”

Originally, delegates were also going to vote on House Bill 2933 Tuesday. It’s another bill to increase revenues for the state.

The bill in its current form reinstates a 3 percent food tax in October 2017, and it would also get rid of a number of exemptions to the current sales tax — like cell phones and professional services.

It would lower the sales tax from 6 to 5 percent in July 2018, and it would put a flat 5.1 percent rate on the personal income tax. All in all, the bill is estimated to bring in an additional $215 million between 2018 and 2020.

Delegates pushed consideration of that bill off until Wednesday.