Sen. Craig Blair Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Senate Acts In Frustration Over House Inaction On Bills

With four days left in this legislative session, tension between the two chambers is rising. Each chamber is waiting for their prospective bills to be passed by the other chamber before the fast-approaching deadline.

The Senate passed 25 bills Tuesday, about half of which were House bills and the others Senate appropriations bills.

The Senate cruised through the other chamber’s bills like House Bill 4998. It would increase the penalties for the third offense of shoplifting. House Bill 4768 expands a program for out-of-state medical students who receive in-state tuition if they agree to stay in the state and work for the same number of years they received in-state tuition.

However, the process hit a snag when an otherwise non-controversial bill was introduced. House Bill 5002 would require at least one baby changing station to be placed in all men’s bathrooms in rest areas in the state.

Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, opposed the bill. He said this is essentially in retaliation for the House’s failure to advance bills sent over to them from the Senate and urged a no vote.

“None of those bills, or very few, of those bills,” Woelfel said. “based on my review of today’s agenda in the House had been looked at or even examined, much less never, never, showing up on an agenda.”

He said that one of the committees he is part of, the Judiciary Committee, sent 27 bills to the House that have yet to reach the floor.

“What they send us. A bill about changing a poopy diaper at a rest area is a metaphor,” Woelfel said. “I’m sorry, Mr. President, but it’s a pretty good metaphor for how they do business down the hall.”

After a brief discussion between Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley and Majority Leader Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, the bill was parked in Senate Rules, a small but powerful committee responsible for setting the agenda for what bills hit the floor and have a chance to advance.

State Senate Calls On Congress To Reform Energy Permitting

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said West Virginia is an all-of-the-above energy state and he introduced a resolution that calls on the state’s congressional delegation to reform the federal permitting process for a federal regulatory environment that encourages energy production.

“The federal government’s permitting processes a system of unnecessarily complex, redundant and uncertain, thereby discouraging investment and job creation in the energy sector,” he said. “Delays caused by permitting inefficiencies inhibit the essential components for low cost and modern energy that are needed to support economic competitiveness, and also threaten domestic exports towards national security.”

Blair said he is the chairman of the Council of State Governments Southern Office (CSG South) as well as the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC). He said he expects the remaining 14 states in the southern group of states to present similar resolutions.

“With CSG South and SLC we’re attempting to send a clear message to the federal government that the federal government exists for the purposes of the state, the states do not exist for the purpose of the federal government. This resolution gives us that flexibility,” Blair said.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 16 passed the Senate unanimously and heads to the House of Delegates.

Resolutions are not binding, and the United States is currently producing record levels of oil and gas.

Senate’s First Week Of Regular Session: Hundreds Of Bills Introduced, 36 Passed

The W.Va. Senate closed out its first week of session Friday after passing 36 bills, and introducing 143 more. There have been a total of nearly 450 bills introduced thus far. Most of the 36 bills passed today, passed unanimously.

The West Virginia Senate closed out its first week of session Friday after passing 36 bills and introducing 143 more. There have been a total of nearly 450 bills introduced thus far. Most of the 36 bills passed today, passed unanimously.

Last year the Senate suspended rules and fast-tracked 28 bills, moving them over to the House on Day 1. This year the Senate has gone through the procedural process, reading the bills on three different days.

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said the substantial amount of bills introduced is for efficiency and all bills that have been read thus far had been passed last year by the Senate but did not become law.

“We got 60 days to do the work of the people of West Virginia,” Blair said. “You guys demonstrate that you’re willing to press down on the accelerator and make a difference for the people in the state of West Virginia.”

Some notable bills passed include:

Senate Bill 162 which establishes a summer feeding for all programs. The bill was passed unanimously. Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, said West Virginia has a 34 percent higher child hunger rate than the national average, and that around 15 percent of children in West Virginia face hunger during the summer months.

“What this does is, it sends the mandate to the counties and to the boards of education to say ‘are our kids eating during the summer in your county? And if they are, that’s good. If they’re not, let’s get some churches and other resources available out there to make sure these kids have nutrition,” Woelfel said.

Senate Bill 143 would allow education boards to contract former law enforcement officers and military veterans to provide armed security in public schools. Anyone convicted of domestic violence, driving under the influence, child abuse or any other conviction deemed exclusionary for contracted individuals by the county school board would not be eligible. The officers or veterans would need to have a concealed carry permit, pass a drug screening, and undergo physical and psychiatric exams. This bill passed unanimously.

Senate Bill 156 would consider wages paid by a contracted company by a state government entity confidential. This would prohibit a governmental entity from requiring a contractor to share records of wages paid to employees. There were three nay votes.
Senate Bill 154 would increase sentences for certain controlled substances and upgrade a possession charge of some narcotics and methamphetamines to a felony. The only nay vote on this bill was by Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion.

Rucker To Challenge Blair For State Senate Presidency, Grady New Education Committee Chair

Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, has announced she will challenge Sen. Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, for the presidency of the West Virginia Senate.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

On Wednesday, Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, announced she would challenge Sen. Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, for the presidency of the West Virginia Senate.

Rucker said she was frustrated Republicans have failed on priorities like tax reform and banning abortion. She said, unlike the political dynamic in the House of Delegates, her philosophies don’t differ that much from Blair’s. However, Rucker does take pride in her leadership style.

“I am honest and forthright and welcome opinions and information from everyone,” Rucker said. “I don’t separate myself from those who disagree with me, I am actually happy to learn from them. And I try to work out differences of opinion, even if they are in opposition to what I want to do.”

Also on Wednesday, Blair replaced Rucker as chair of the Senate Education Committee. He appointed Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, to the position.

“Sen. Rucker has done a tremendous job in promoting and advancing school choice options in the state of West Virginia,” Blair said. “We have made monumental strides in providing educational options and expanding school choices for our families. It’s now time to usher in a new era with a focus on supporting our state’s public schools and increasing student achievement. I believe there is nobody better to lead that focus than Sen. Grady.”

Grady was elected to the Senate in 2020. She is vice chairman of the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee and serves as a member of the Senate Agriculture and Rural Development, Judiciary, Military, and Natural Resources committees.

She’s a career public school educator and is currently a 4th grade teacher at Leon Elementary School in Mason County. She is the first full-time public school educator to serve as chairman of the Senate Education Committee since 1970.

Grady has been a public school classroom teacher since 2007 and a 4th grade teacher for the last 12 years

“I am excited and humbled to be trusted with such an important role in our state legislature. I look forward to assuming my new role and working with others to make positive changes in public education in West Virginia,” Grady said in a statement. “My focus when it comes to education is (and always will be) making sure that student success is at the center of every decision considered.”

With the appointment of Grady, Blair also said he’s been working with state education leaders to establish an office and position that supports non-traditional education programs.

“We can’t simply check the box and move on simply because the legislation has passed,” Blair said. “We need to ensure the appropriate support is provided to parents and entities taking advantage of education options so that they flourish and are successful.”

As chair of the Senate Education Committee, Rucker was the architect of the Hope Scholarship program, now under court review for constitutionality.

“I have complete confidence that we were within the constitutional grounds,” Rucker said. “The West Virginia Constitution mandates that we provide a free public system of education. It does not say that that is the only system that can be supported.”

Rucker said she also takes pride in her other achievements as education committee chair.

“Until our education reform bill, the local school boards really did not have much ability to do anything,” Rucker said. “Everything was decided centrally in Charleston. I’m very proud of the fact that I fulfilled that campaign promise to bring much more control and power to the local school systems.”

President Blair said Sen. Rucker would be a perfect fit and a “rock star” as the shepherd of West Virginia’s non-traditional education programs.

Pointing to Lawsuits and Education Policy, GOP W.Va. Senate Leader Calls on Gov. Justice to Resign

A top Republican in the West Virginia Senate is calling on Gov Jim Justice to resign.

Sen. Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, took aim at Gov. Justice first in a paid-for column in a weekend edition of The Martinsburg Journal and then with other news media on Monday.

In an interview with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Blair cited legal issues surrounding Justice and his family businesses, a lawsuit over a constitutional residency requirement and policy positions on education reform as he argued the governor isn’t committed to his work in public office.

“This has been building up for me for probably six months to a year on this and then — when the governor come into our caucus other day talking about the Student Success Act — his greatest concern was the extracurricular activities,” Blair said.

Justice visited Senate Republicans and Democrats separately earlier this month to talk about an ongoing special session on education reform. One proposal amended into a complex and controversial bill would keep schools from holding extracurricular activities on days when educators go on strike. Justice told both caucuses and reporters he opposed that element of the measure.

“This just didn’t make any sense to me at all,” Blair said as he questioned Justice’s position. “Students right now cannot participate in extracurricular activities when they miss school, but yet teachers can? And, of course, he’s a basketball coach. It dawned on me — it hit me like a ton of bricks — that this man was more interested in coaching basketball than working for the state of West Virginia.”

Justice was elected in 2016 as a Democrat but switched his affiliation to Republican at an August 2017 rally for President Donald Trump in Huntington.

In recent months, Justice’s family businesses have been the target of civil suits for failing to pay creditors. Del. Isaac Sponaugle, D-Pendelton, has filed suit against the governor for allegedly failing to meet a constitutional provision requiring West Virginia’s governor to “reside at the seat of government during their terms of office.”

“I didn’t vote for this man. He’s running around claiming he’s a Republican and soiling our brand, so to speak, by not behaving like a Republican,” Blair said. “The people of West Virginia expect better.”

If Justice were to leave office before the end of his term, Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, would be first in line to take over the governor’s office.

Carmichael and Blair have long been political allies, including work on the Senate’s recent controversial education reform proposals such as charter schools and education savings accounts. Justice has expressed opposition to both of those ideas championed by the GOP-led Senate.

Blair said Monday he did not consult with Carmichael before giving remarks on Justice and they aren’t intended to launch his close friend to higher office.

“That is the chain of succession — I recognize that. But anybody that knows me knows I’m outspoken. Whenever I see a wrong, I try to right them for the benefit of the people West Virginia,” Blair said. “[That’s] a victim of circumstance. I would have done it regardless.”

Justice initially responded to Blair’s comments through Mike Lukach, a representative of the governor’s 2020 reelection campaign.

“It’s no surprise that career politicians are upset that the Governor is trying to drain the Charleston swamp,” Lukach said in an emailed statement. “Governor Justice is busy every day working with President Trump to create jobs for West Virginians, fix our roads and protect the right to life and 2nd Amendment.”

Later Monday at a news conference, Justice responded directly to Blair’s comments by calling Carmichael and Blair “halfway friends.” He also alluded to the controversial Student Success Act, which has seen opposition from educators around the state.

“I think they have dug themselves a hole and I’m not going to help them dig – that’s all there is to it,” Justice said. “I think, absolutely, they have dug themselves a hole that the people of West Virginia don’t like and now they maybe want to beat on me.”

Blair said he plans to introduce a resolution in the Senate that would call for a vote of no confidence in Justice as governor.

Prevailing Wage Repeal Set for Senate Vote Thursday

On a party-line vote Monday, members of the Senate Committee on Government Organization approved a bill to repeal the state’s prevailing wage. It was reported to the floor Monday as well, setting it up for a vote Thursday.

The prevailing wage is the rate of hourly pay and benefits workers are paid on state funded construction projects.

In 2015, the new GOP majority proposed a repeal, but compromised with Democrats instead approving a recalculation of the wage rate. A year later, lawmakers are once again debating a repeal and controversy has followed the proposal every step of the way.

In the House, a public hearing drew more than a dozen speakers, only two of which were in support of the repeal. Since it’s passage in that chamber, the opposition has continued to speak loudly against it.

Three West Virginia contractors were among those naysayers. The three, including Glen Jefferies of Cornerstone Industries, spoke against the repeal during a Senate Government Organization Committee meeting Monday.

“I am asking that we work together with the individuals who represent this industry and find a fair answer that is good for the West Virginia taxpayer, the West Virginia contractor and the West Virginia construction worker,” Jefferies told the committee. “We need to keep a prevailing wage here in West Virginia.”

Jefferies and others opposed to the repeal say it will cut workers’ wages and increase the rates of workplace fatalities, but supporters say those claims are false. Del. Gary Howell said Monday taxpayers won’t see savings in the form of wage cuts to workers, but in the decreased cost of government oversight.

“There’s a massive amount of paperwork dealing with the prevailing wage and its scared off a lot of contractors,” Howell said.

“In the brief time [last summer] that the prevailing wage was repealed, we’re seeing a lot of small, in-state contractors that never had the staff to deal with prevailing wage plus these contractors also have lower overhead, they are passing those savings on to the taxpayer.”

Democrats pushed Wednesday for a fiscal note, an attachment to a bill that explains the impact a piece of legislation will have on the state’s budget, and a second reference to the Committee on Finance to prove the savings, but both efforts were denied.

The bill will be on first reading Tuesday and likely up for a vote in the chamber Thursday.