Sen. Charles Trump Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Senate Passes Bill Making AI Generated Pornography A Felony

The use of photos to create deep fakes of sexually explicit content is becoming a trend among child predators. Photos of children can be plugged into AI to create child pornography.

In February, pop superstar Taylor Swift became the target of artificially generated sexually explicit photos using Artificial Intelligence. AI creators used photos and videos of Swift to create a sexually explicit deep fake.

The use of photos to create deep fakes of sexually explicit content is becoming a trend among child predators. Photos of children can be plugged into AI to create child pornography.

Senate Bill 740 prohibits digital manipulation of sexually explicit content that includes minors.

Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, is one of the sponsors of the bill. She said just two days ago she received an email from a constituent whose 14-year-old son had been superimposed using AI onto the body of a naked person. The creators were trying to extort money out of the victim and his family.

“Thankfully he went straight to his parents and they called the police,” Rucker said. “Just so you know, the police told them we don’t know what we can do about this.”

AI depictions of child sexual exploitation and abuse are on the rise.

Senate Bill 741 prohibits the creation, production, distribution, or possession of artificially generated child pornography. Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, sponsored and introduced the bill.

“This bill makes clear that if you do it through the use of artificial intelligence, and generate images, then it’s going to be subjected to felony penalties under West Virginia law,” Trump said.

Both bills passed unanimously and now head to the House for consideration.

Senate Passes Bill That Protects Rails To Trails Landowners

A Rails-to-Trails bill passed the Senate today and could open more recreational trails in the state.

Senate Bill 196, aims to encourage railway landowners to permit unused tracks to become trails for recreational use.

A Rails-to-Trails bill passed the Senate today and could open more recreational trails in the state.

Senate Bill 196, aims to encourage railway landowners to permit unused tracks to become trails for recreational use.

Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, authored the bill and said it would give liability protection to a railway landowner whose land is being used for the rail trail program.

“That’s something that always concerns, you know, any owner of land,” Trump said. “If somebody gets hurt on his or her property, they might get sued. And that’s the fundamental purpose of the bill to try to create opportunities for expansion of rail trails and recreational opportunities for people.”

Trump said the legislation came at the request of the Berkeley County Commission to incentivize the development of rail trails.

Senate Moves To Expand Oversight Of Department Of Health And Human Resources

The Senate once again turned its focus on the state’s health systems today by passing two bills, including one to expand their own oversight capabilities.

Senate Bill 730 would expand the oversight of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability, often shortened to LOCHHRA.

Senate Health and Human Resources Chair Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, specified that the current code limits the committee’s oversight to programs that involve the physical, emotional or social wellbeing of citizens. The bill would expand oversight broadly to any program or area of concern in the DHHR, or any of its future successors.

“This bill also adds that LOCHHRA can investigate DHHR, but also can investigate any successor agencies. This language is important, as DHHR may be broken up into successor agencies this session,” Maroney said. “Language was added to the bill stating that LOCHHRA can investigate, study and review all matters or in any area of concern that exists within the DHHR or any successor agencies, including financial, administrative, programmatic and systemic issues.”

House Bill 2006, which would break up the DHHR into three distinct agencies, completed legislative action on Wednesday and is awaiting the governor’s signature.

Senate Bill 730 also allows LOCHHRA to require routine reporting or that reports be submitted on an as needed basis.

The Senate also took up Senate Bill 678, which would appropriate $1.2 million for the one-time setup costs related to Senate Bill 273, which the Senate passed Wednesday. Senate Bill 273 would reallocate the state’s child protective workers based on county population and caseload.

Near the end of the session, Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, spoke in favor of the bill. Trump has spoken several times in recent weeks about the need for more child protective service workers in the Eastern Panhandle, and the complete lack of such officers in his home county of Morgan.

“I don’t want this session today to end without expressing my gratitude to the Finance Committee, and its chairman, for working on this and making that possible,” Trump said. “Many of us are hoping and praying that having this additional money will be part of the solution to the problem we have now in the state, Mr. President, where vulnerable children are at risk.”

Both bills, along with eight others passed by the chamber, now go to the House of Delegates for its consideration.

Some Political Contributions will Require Additional Step under Senate Bill

Senators are looking to make changes to the way some employees will pay their union dues or club fees.

Senate Bill 239 would require an employer to have the written consent of an employee to withhold any amount from their paycheck for contributions to a political candidate or candidate committee. That consent would have to come through a form submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office and is only good for 12 months.

“A person has to authorize that in writing every year if it’s going to continue or occur,”Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump said as he explained the legislation on the floor Tuesday.

Aside from the usual withholdings that pay for taxes or an employee’s health insurance, union dues or club memberships are sometimes paid through similar withholdings, and those groups do sometimes use the funds for political purposes.

Without written permission, an employer could be penalized for deducting the contributions from employee paychecks, but Trump said under the bill, employers could choose not to do the deductions at all.

Democratic Senator Mike Romano said while the political usages of union dues or membership fees to professional organizations might be easy to link to political activity, there are other deductions that are less clear.

Employers make deductions from paychecks to cover health insurance premiums or make contributions to retirement accounts, and Romano said many large companies also lobby lawmakers or contribute to political campaigns.

“If they’re using any part of the deduction that I pay, whether it’s an investment house or it’s a health insurance company, if they are using any part of my employee’s holding for political activities, then we have to fill out the form,” he said Monday.

Trump responded he does not believe deductions for health insurance premiums or retirement contributions will be affected by the bill.

Whether they are covered under the bill or not, Romano said filling out the additional forms and keeping track of them was a burden for any employer, whether in the public or private sector.

“Why are we interfering with private sector contracts?” Sen John Unger asked on the floor Tuesday, pointing to previous bills Republican leaders had push to reduce government interference in private business.

“We’re saying to employers ‘it’s up to you. It’s up to you whether you want to file a program where these sorts of deductions will occur from employee paychecks.’ I think this bill alleviates, potentially, the burden of employers who choose not to participate,” Trump responded to Unger.

The bill was approved on a 21-12 party line vote. It will now be considered by the House of Delegates.

Drone Bill Approved in W.Va. Senate

A bill to create guidelines for drones in the state has made its way through the West Virginia Senate.

Senate Bill 9 creates guidelines for the private and commercial use of drones or unmanned aircrafts.

The bill says drones cannot be flown within 100 feet of someone else’s home, says you cannot take video or still images on someone else’s property without their expressed permission, and requires law enforcement to get a warrant before using a drone in an investigation.

There are exceptions for police officers though that allow them to use drones for public safety and search and rescue purposes.

The bill also prohibits the taking of photos and video on industrial sights, like at a coal mine, a natural gas processing facility, or a power plant, although Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump explained on the floor there is an exception to the provision.

“We recognized in trying to craft this piece of legislation with some balance that there are times when a designated industrial facility or the owner of it wouldn’t want a drone over that property,” Trump said on the floor.

Media outlets, according to Trump, who obtain a license from the Federal Aviation Administration receive a number of exceptions under the bill to protect the freedom of the press.

Senators, however, were interested in how personal usage of drones would be affected by the legislation, like Senate Minority Leader Roman Prezioso who questioned Trump about taking aerial shots of entire cities.

“If you…took that picture, there’s not expectation of privacy there. You’re shooting the buildings, the streets, the traffic, the people, people have no expectation of privacy when they’re out and about like that,” Trump explained, “but if someone were to fly a drone from someone’s bedroom window and take pictures from the outside of inside the house, there is an expectation of privacy.”

The bill does create a number of misdemeanor offenses for violating various areas of the bill, including harassment or operating a drone while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Fashioning a weapon on a drone would be a felony.

All three offenses are punishable with fines and jail time.

Senate Bill Would Add Four Circuit Judges to W.Va. System

Senators approved a bill Monday that, if fully approved by the legislature, will add four judges to the state’s circuit court system.

Senate Bill 415 comes as a result of a study by the National Center for State Courts.

The study shows West Virginia’s circuit court system is overloaded and recommends lawmakers add more circuit judges, but Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump said the number recommended was too financially cumbersome for the state.

“The recommendation from the National Center for State Courts was that we should add between 17 and 19 judges and we just found that impossible to do,” he said.

“What we did was we picked four circuits that had the highest need, highest workloads per judge and added a judge in each of those.”

The bill adds four judges in circuits in North Central West Virginia, the Eastern Panhandle, Raleigh County and the circuit made up of Jackson, Calhoun, Mason and Roane Counties.

The bill passed the Senate without a nay vote.

If approved by the House, the four new judges will be elected in 2016.