Senator Mike Woelfel Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Vaccine Exemption Bill Progresses, Four Amendment Attempts Fail

In the Senate’s debate over whether to amend the vaccine exemptions bill, senators talked about polio, live aborted fetuses, and religious freedom.

This bill is one of the first bills to reach the Senate floor. It makes it easier for parents to receive an exemption for school vaccine requirements for their school-age children.

Four amendments were introduced. The amendments came from Republicans and Democrats, but none passed.

The first amendment was introduced by Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, and co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell. It would have allowed private schools, and childcare centers to continue to require vaccines as a requirement for enrollment.

Woelfel, who is Catholic, said the bill would violate religious freedoms by forcing religious institutions to accept unvaccinated children.

“The bishop (Mark E. Brennan) has indicated clearly that his diocese will choose not to accept unvaccinated students,” Woelfel said.

He says without the amendment the bill could be unconstitutional.

“We took an oath to protect the Constitution and to uphold it,” Woelfel said. “When I say the Constitution, I really mean Article Three, Section 15 of our West Virginia constitution, which says the religious freedom is guaranteed.”

The bill originates from the Senate Health Committee.

Sen. Jack Woodrum, R-Summers, questioned the chair of that committee, Sen. Laura Chapman, R-Ohio, about the constitutionality of the bill.

“If we’re requiring them to take an unvaccinated student against the policy that they would prefer to have, is this any different than, say, the argument with the Christian bakery requiring them to bake cake,” Woodrum said.

Chapman asserted that this requirement that private schools accept vaccine exemptions is similar to other requirements that private schools have to follow, like fire safety laws and curriculum requirements.

Rollin Roberts, R-Raleigh, said he thought the amendment was disingenuous. He said the law would protect religious freedom, not restrict it.

“All of these years the religious preference has been ignored and trampled on, and now all of a sudden, they want to flip it around and use that as a defense,” Roberts said. “I find offense in that defense.”

Ultimately the amendment was rejected 10-21.

Weld’s second amendment was to fix the language in the bill that would remove the word public from the bill, a technicality that he says would make the bill inline with current case law. That amendment was also denied.

Woelfel asked for an amendment that would give the polio vaccine an exemption, meaning the polio vaccine would have still been required.

“These children are real people that are going to live in our state and will be born in our state,” Woelfel said. “Save them from this demon polio, please.”

Sen. Chapman urged legislators to reject the amendment.

“I think when we start parsing out specific vaccines any one of us can say, ‘Oh we don’t want X vaccine to come back or we don’t want Y disease to come back.’ We’re still violating children’s religious beliefs,” Chapman said.

Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, urged Senators to vote no to the amendment. She asserted that the polio vaccine comes from aborted fetuses.

“Those are mostly from voluntary abortions,” Rucker said. “And I do know that when they use those aborted fetal cells they must keep the subject, the person, the fetus alive, to take the cells out. The cells must be alive.”

However, according to a pro life organization, the Charlotte Lozier Institute, that is not currently true.

The Kanawha Health Department’s Doctor Steven Eshenaur said the vaccine being used in the United States comes from monkey kidney cells used to replicate the virus.

“It does not come from human fetuses,” Eshenaur said.

Regardless, that amendment failed 12-19.

Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, asked for an amendment that would require private, public and parochial schools and child care centers to create a report laying out the numbers of what percentage of children in that facility are receiving a vaccination exemption.

“If this is the policy, give the citizens the right to make this informed decision about something that can affect their health and their lives,” Garcia said.

Objections came from members of the health committee, who raised concerns about burdening schools with more paperwork, and concerns about medical privacy.

“This is red tape on small businesses. I am friends with several private school administrators in my part of the state, and I can tell you, they operate on a very thin budget,” said Tom Will, R-Berkely.

That amendment failed 9-22.

The vaccine exemption bill was similar, but more extensive than a bill passed by the legislature last year that was vetoed by Gov. Jim Justice.

It differed from the bill that came from Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office by not requiring schools to report the percentage of students who receive a vaccine exemption.

Members of the Senate say the bill will likely receive a final vote on Friday. If passed, it heads to the House of Delegates.

Child Care Tax Credit Crosses The Legislative Finish Line

A bill that would give parents whose children are in child care a tax break was passed by the Legislature and heads to the governor’s desk.

The Childcare Tax Credit Bill could give the average Mountain State family $265 off of their state income taxes.

To put that in perspective, it would offset 1-2 weeks of the cost of child care for one child.

Sen. Micheal Oliverio, R-Monongalia, said this tax credit is a small step in the right direction, but the legislature needs to do more to attract young families to the state and help those already here.

“We are among the oldest per capita states in the country, what we desperately need are young people here, young people with families will help us curb that demographic cliff that we’re looking at,” he said. “And so I just see that investment in child care as a way to help us get there.”

Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, who also voted for the bill and authored many child care bills during the regular session that never made it to the finish line. He said the state needs to do more, and could do more.

“We’ve proven that time and time again, we’re spending $300,000 on some statutes for some unknown reason,” Woelfel said. “I mean, the money is there if somebody pushing the buttons thinks that’s a priority.”

Currently there is a lack of child care in the state with many families on waitlist, with 20,000 spots needed in the state.

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.

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.

2017 Session So Far Lacking Broadband Expansion Bills

Lawmakers are 14 days into this legislative session and so far, not a single bill dealing with broadband expansion has been introduced. The issue received attention early last session, but lawmakers say they’re still working on a plan to reach both unserved and underserved areas of West Virginia.

Thirty percent of West Virginians do not have access to basic broadband service under federal definitions. When you look at just the rural parts of the state, that percentage increases to 48, according the Federal Communications Commission.

The lack of access poses a problem for many West Virginians on a daily basis.

“My family owns a hardware store in the municipality of Clay and there are often times in which we can’t process a credit card because connectivity is so poor,” Del. Roger Hanshaw, a Republican from Clay County, said Tuesday.

“A credit card.”

So far this session, no member of the Legislature has introduced a bill to take on the lack of access, but Hanshaw said those talks are underway in his chamber.

“All over the Capitol right now, we have representatives of all of the companies who provide internet access in West Virginia having almost daily meetings about just what kind of help the state can offer,” he said.

But exactly what that help looks like hasn’t been determined.

During the 2016 Legislative Session, then-Republican Senator Chris Walters championed a bill to create a government-owned broadband network, using a bond to pay for its construction. The bill made it through his chamber, but members in both bodies had concerns about the government interfering in private business.

That included now-Senate President Mitch Carmichael who works for Frontier, one of the largest internet providers in the state.

Advocacy groups have started pushing lawmakers to take action this year, including the AARP.

State Director Gaylene Miller released the group’s legislative priorities today and broadband is near the top of the list. This year, AARP is teaming up with Generation West Virginia, a group that advocates for millennial issues, to get a bill passed.

“The issue is so important that you have all the generations, from AARP to Generation West Virginia coming together to say, ‘hey look, let’s shine a light on the issue.’ Let’s see what we can do together to move the state forward,” she said.

Senate Majority Leader Ryan Ferns Tuesday on the Senate floor.

This year, Senate Majority Leader Ryan Ferns said proposals will likely come in the form of two pieces of legislation, at least in the Senate.

One would incentivize private expansion into areas that currently don’t have access with tax credits; the other would provide government-backed loans to internet companies to upgrade access in underserved areas, or areas with slow internet speeds.

Democratic Sen. Mike Woelfel opposed the government-owned network proposed in 2016 and said this year, he’d likely support tax credits for businesses, but still doesn’t think they will make much difference.

“Tax credits can be a useful tool, but the free market is going to drive this and there are so many parts of this state that don’t even have a water line to their house,” he said. “I don’t know how we can justify subsidizing broadband access to those folks when we can’t even get them water.”

But Woelfel and his colleagues on both sides of the aisle do agree that the lack of connectivity is impeding business expansion.

“If we’re going to talk about small businesses in West Virginia growing and doing new things and talking about a new economy, we have to give them the tools to do that,” Del. Hanshaw said, “and one of those is being able to sell products to people who aren’t in your backyard.”

In 2015, the FCC reclassified broadband access as a public utility, blocking industry practices that allowed certain companies to pay to have their websites respond more quickly for consumers.

The reclassification was eventually backed by federal courts, but many lawmakers in West Virginia—lawmakers in both parties—don’t think broadband should be treated as an essential service rather than a luxury.

Sen. Mike Woelfel on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Still, Sen. Woelfel believes it’s an expensive proposition for the state no matter how the Legislature decides to incentivize expansion.

“To take it to that final mile or the last mile to someone’s house or someone’s business is going to be, just due to our topography, going to be an economic burden that the private sector is not likely to take on,” he said.

Del. Hanshaw expects a broadband expansion bill to be introduced in his chamber by the end of the week.

State Senator Wants to Mandate WVU-Marshall Series

A state senator wants to force the men’s basketball teams from Marshall and West Virginia to play each other every year.

Cabell County Democratic Sen. Mike Woelfel says he plans to introduce a bill requiring WVU and Marshall to meet once each season if school administrators can’t first reach an agreement.

Marshall and WVU have met every year since 1978, including in Charleston since 1992. WVU has won five straight meetings and nine of the last 10, including an 86-68 win last month.

Woelfel noted that he’s both a Marshall alumnus and a graduate of WVU’s law school.