Senate Health Committee Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Senate Passes, Completes Legislation In First Saturday Session

The Senate gaveled in for its first Saturday floor session of 2023 as Crossover Day looms this coming Wednesday, March 1.

Crossover Day is an important deadline in the legislative process. It marks the final day for bills to pass out of their chamber of origin to complete legislative action in the other chamber.

The Senate began by deferring until later in the day two of the biggest bills on the day’s schedule: Senate Bill 268, which would address the state’s embattled Public Employee Insurance Agency and Senate Bill 423, which would increase salaries for certain state employees.

Nearing Completion

The Senate passed three bills Saturday that originated in the House of Delegates. However, as all three were amended in Senate committees, they must now return to the House before completing legislative action.

House Bill 2993 would create a new hospital designation called “Rural Emergency Hospital.”

During discussion of the bill in the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee Feb. 21, it was stated that the new designation was intended to allow access to critical outpatient hospital services in communities that might not be able to support or sustain a traditional critical access hospital.

House Bill 3113 would require West Virginia high school students to complete a course of study in personal finance to graduate.

Sen. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, said during discussion of the bill in the Senate Education Committee Feb. 21 that he felt the requirement was long overdue.

“In my years when I had a business I was shocked at the number of people that had no earthly idea how to handle any kind of finances in their life,” he said. “I think this is long overdue that we put this in our school system to teach people how to do those daily financial things like balance a checkbook, how to try to manage credit that didn’t get out of hand. I think it’s a very big step for our school systems.”

House Bill 3317 would remove two continuing education requirements relating to controlled substances and veterans’ mental health for certain medical professionals.

Senate Health and Human Resources Committee Chair Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, said that the intent of the bill was not to make license renewal easier.

“Every now and then in code, depending on what’s going on in the world, we’ll put in requirements for licensure,” he said. “After four or five years of doing the same (continuing medical education) over and over and over again, it’s still required unless we remove it. That’s kind of what this bill does for those who have done it multiple times.”

To The House

The Senate also passed nine bills, including Senate Bill 469, which would create a special revenue fund in the State Treasury to pay for CPR instruction in the state’s high schools.

Senate Bill 544 also passed, which would increase the caps on maximum solar power output for commercial customers from 500 kilowatts to 1000 kilowatts.

Senate Government Organization Chair Jack David Woodrum, R-Summers, explained the cap increase would help larger projects advance the public interest.

“One such project is for Calhoun County Schools,” he said. “Two solar arrays will be installed, one to Calhoun County Middle High School with an output of 596.6 kilowatts, and the other at Pleasant Hill Elementary School with an output of 172 kilowatts.”

Senate Bill 558 would prohibit law-enforcement agencies from posting booking photographs of certain criminal defendants on social media, with exceptions such as in the active search of a fugitive.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, said the bill is modeled on legislation passed in several other states, and is needed to protect individuals alleged to have committed a minor offense.

“We all know that social media can be a difficult place sometimes, and there have been numerous studies that have shown the effects on mental health that social media has had, not just on our youth, but also on adults as well,“ Weld said.

Weld cited the case of a woman in West Virginia, whose young son was arrested on a misdemeanor charge.

“And after being released from custody, he found his booking photo on the social media website of the police department that had initially arrested him and charged him,” Weld said. “That young man, after seeing some of the vicious comments that were posted on his photograph, and the shares that it had had, and the attacks that were being made on him and his family as a result of his arrest, tragically took his own life.”

“And so I think that with the exceptions that we’ve placed in the bill, I think we can hopefully avoid another family being struck by a tragedy like that of the one of the mother that I had the pleasure to be introduced to,” he concluded.

Senate Bill 619 would allow, but not require, educators to teach intelligent design as a theory. The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia stated during discussion of the bill in committee that the allowance would enable violations of the establishment clause, which prohibits governments at any level in the U.S. from establishing or sponsoring religion.

The bill’s passage was the most contentious of the morning, with six Senators voting against.

Senate Bill 676 would require the Bureau for Medical Services submit a report every two years on Medicaid fees and managed care provider reimbursements compared to PEIA, Medicare, and surrounding states.

All bills now go to the House of Delegates for its consideration.

The Senate adjourned until 1:30 p.m. In the interim, both the Senate Judiciary and Finance committees will meet to discuss legislation, including House Bill 2526, titled “Relating to reducing the personal income tax.”

Senate Passes Bills On Elections, Cost Of Insulin

The Senate passed five bills Thursday related to elections in the state, as well as issues around diabetes.

The West Virginia Senate passed three bills Thursday related to elections in the state.

All three bills originated from the Secretary of State’s office as technical cleanups.

Senate Bill 620 makes just four changes to state code that would increase the maximum number of registered voters per precinct, as well as the distance between polling places.

Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the bill’s lead sponsor, said the bill increases the maximum number of voters in an urban precinct from 1,500 to 2,500, and allows for greater consolidation of precincts.

“There’s also authority under this bill for counties, county governments, county commissions to consolidate precincts. But there are limitations on the geographical distance,” Trump said. “The consolidated precinct cannot contain more than 5,000 total – that’s up from 3,000 registered voters – and under existing law, there’s a one mile radius limit. This would expand that to five miles. It’s all permissive. It would be up to the county commissions to decide whether or not to do that when they exercise the statutory authority of drawing and configuring the voting precincts in their respective counties.”

During discussion of the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 17, Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, expressed concern that the consolidation of polling places the bill allows would create undue burdens on voters.

“I think it’s our job to make voting easier for our constituents, not to add what I think could be a cumbersome task,” he said. “I get that you’ll move the machines to one precinct, if you consolidate. I still think there could be bottlenecks at check-in. It would appear that we are doing things to make it more difficult for the voter.”

The bill ultimately passed on a vote of 27 to 7. All three Democratic senators were joined by Republican senators Jason Barrett of Berkeley, Laura Chapman of Ohio, Patrick Martin of Lewis and Ben Queen of Harrison in voting against the bill.

The Senate also passed Senate Bill 631, which would facilitate the state’s use of federal money from the Help America Vote Act in federal elections. Also known as HAVA, Trump said the bill was passed by Congress after the 2000 presidential election to help facilitate vote counting in states.

“As the technology of voting machines has become more advanced, they become more expensive. And so in West Virginia, the voting machines that are used by the 55 counties are purchased with combinations of county monies and federal monies,” he said. “This will allow the secretary of state to utilize federal monies that come into the secretary of state’s possession for that purpose.”

Senate Bill 631 also extends the deadline for when county clerks can accept voter registrations on the final day of registration by a few hours, from close of business to midnight.

Senate Bill 644, which aims to clarify the procedure for contested elections, also passed.

“In short, what this bill does is it moves to the courts the place where election contests occur,” Trump said. “If there’s an election contest from a municipal election, the current law is that it’s decided first by the mayor and council. Contests of elections involving the county and district contests, current law is that they’re decided in the county court. This moves all that to circuit court.”

All three bills now go to the House of Delegates for consideration.

Support For Diabetics

The Senate also took up two bills to address issues around diabetes in the state.

Senate Bill 195 would allow a licensed healthcare provider to prescribe ready to use glucagon rescue therapy in a school, or in a school district’s name, to treat severe hypoglycemic episodes.

The bill also sets forth procedures for administering glucagon, including the requirement that a school nurse approve its administration, and authorizes school personnel to receive training on assisting students in diabetes care and how to identify and react to a student experiencing a diabetes related emergency.

Senate Bill 577 would limit the cost sharing for a covered prescription of insulin to a total of $35 for a 30-day supply, and $100 for a 30-day supply for covered diabetic devices.

Senate Health and Human Resources Chair Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, said the bill would apply to West Virginians that currently have private health insurance.

“Our bill applies to private insurance, the 20 percent of West Virginians that have commercial insurance, roughly. That’s what this bill applies to,” Maroney said. “Medicare already has it. PEIA has similar ranges. I can’t answer Medicaid.”

The Inflation Reduction Act capped the cost of insulin at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries starting in 2023.

Maroney said a similar bill passed the Senate last year but failed to complete legislative action.

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

Senate Bill Would Streamline Vaccine Exemption Process

A Senate committee removed religious exemptions from a bill allowing local physicians to exempt children from some vaccines with the approval of the state chief health officer Tuesday. The original bill would have allowed for the religious exemptions in addition to medical exceptions already contained in state law.

Three Senators removed their names from the bills as sponsors before the Senate Health Committee took up the bill Tuesday. Sen. Mike Hall said his sponsorship was a clerical error to begin with, but Senators Mark Maynard and Chris Walters removed their backing because of concerns over the religious exemption in the original bill.

“We need to keep the strict requirements. We don’t have the problems they have in other states, we don’t have the outbreaks,” Walters said.

The committee, however, removed the religion provision Tuesday through a committee substitute. The revised bill instead calls on physicians and parents to prove “the immunization of a child is medically impossible or improper.”

Currently when a parent sees a doctor for an immunization except for his or her child, that doctor’s decision is sent to the local county health officer for final approval or disapproval.

Under the new bill, a physician’s medical exemption must be sent to the state Bureau for Public Health where the state chief health officer oversees and approves the exceptions according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Dr. Rahul Gutpa, Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health, is that chief health officer. He told the committee Tuesday he had concerns over some provisions in the committee substitute, including mandating certain dosage amounts and ages that are subject to change by the CDC.

As to streamlining the process at the exemption approval process at the state rather than the county level, Gutpa didn’t object to the change, but told lawmakers he would need an additional physician in his office to spearhead the process.

“It is our full intent to make sure the inconsistencies that do exist in the system are eliminated, but they are eliminated in a way, in a manner that doesn’t put our children, our families at risk for disease outbreaks,” he told the committee.

“We believe that there is enough authority within the existing code to be able to do that with or without this piece of legislation.”

The Senate Health Committee voted to lay over the bill for later consideration.