Coal Association President Chris Hamilton said the 300-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline would displace coal-fired electricity generation in North Carolina.
Environmental groups have opposed the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and they’ve had some success blocking it in court.
They may have an unlikely ally: the West Virginia Coal Association.
Coal Association President Chris Hamilton told Sen. Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, and a member of the Economic Development Committee, that the association had supported the pipeline in the past.
But Chris Hamilton said the 300-mile natural gas pipeline would displace coal-fired electricity generation at four power plants in North Carolina.
“So you’d be against it now?” Bill Hamilton asked.
“Yes,” Chris Hamilton said.
“Unfortunate, thank you,” Bill Hamilton said.
The committee then approved Senate Bill 188, which would expedite permitting for natural gas projects in West Virginia.
Chris Hamilton encouraged lawmakers to modify the bill with language that gave equal favor to coal and natural gas for electricity generation, but the committee voted down the effort.
The 42-inch diameter pipeline is a priority for state leaders, including U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last year gave the pipeline’s builders a four-year extension to finish the project.
The Citizens Legislative Compensation Commission is recommending a pay raise for members of the West Virginia Legislature. Members of the West Virginia Legislature currently make $20,000 a year with additional money for participating in interim meetings and travel expenses.
The Citizens Legislative Compensation Commission is recommending a pay raise for members of the West Virginia Legislature.
Members of the West Virginia Legislature currently make $20,000 a year with additional money for participating in interim meetings and travel expenses.
If a new recommendation is approved, the annual pay would increase to $28,000 which is equal to the per capita income of the state according to the U.S. Census.
Pay for extra duty days and interim meetings will also increase from $150 to $250 a day as part of the recommendation.
This pay raise would not take effect until January 2025. Legislative pay was last increased in January 2009.
The measure was referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
The Senate had nine bills on third reading Wednesday, including a bill to improve law enforcement’s awareness of, and ability to interact with, citizens with certain mental health conditions. Also up for consideration were bills amending school athletics eligibility and new requirements for school board membership.
The Senate had nine bills on third reading Wednesday, including a bill to improve law enforcement’s awareness of, and ability to interact with, citizens with certain mental health conditions.
Also up for consideration were bills amending school athletics eligibility and new requirements for school board membership.
Senate Bill 208 would require all law-enforcement and correction officers to undergo training for appropriate interaction with, and response to, individuals with autism spectrum disorders, Alzheimer’s, and related dementias.
Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, is the bill’s lead sponsor. He said the idea for the training came from a concerned mother.
“It’s very important because you can mistake them for maybe you know, someone who wants to do harm,” he said. “It came to us from an idea from a mother whose child is on the spectrum. He was so excited to see a policeman pull his mother over, that he ran out of the car. It came to her, ‘He could have really been hurt,’ because a policeman could have mistaken him for someone that was wanting to do harm.”
Caputo said the training has been in place for two years, but was initially made voluntary. Senate Bill 208 makes the training mandatory for all officers.
“We’re dealing with a problem in West Virginia that we want to make sure we treat folks kindly and appropriately,” he said.
The bill specifies the course of instruction relating to autism spectrum disorders shall be developed and delivered by Marshall University’s West Virginia Autism Training Center. Training will focus on de-escalation of potentially dangerous situations, provide an understanding of the different manner in which individuals process sensory stimuli and language and language difficulties likely to affect interaction.
Instructors are also required to include adults with autism spectrum disorders and/or a parent or primary caretaker of an individual diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in the course.
“I think it’s pretty simple and upfront, it’s not going to cost anything to folks who are being trained anyway,” Caputo said. “It’s just gonna be part of the curriculum, and I think it’s going to be good for West Virginia.”
Senate Bill 208 passed unanimously and now goes to the House of Delegates for their consideration.
Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, discusses student athlete eligibility on the Senate floor Wednesday, Jan. 25 2023. Credit: Will Price/WV Legislative Photography
Student Athlete Eligibility
Senate Bill 262 would allow students to transfer between schools inside West Virginia and retain athletic eligibility.
Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, is the bill’s lead sponsor. He said the current rules unfairly punish West Virginia students for moving.
“Students have to sit out for a year because they need this settling in period. They have to get adjusted to their new school and figure it all out.” Weld said in reference to WVSSAC rules. “But it’s very important to keep in mind that that settling in period doesn’t apply if you’re coming from out of state. So if you move here from California, get on that team, get out there and play… For hundreds of other students across the street or the state, if you’re transferring from a public school or from a private school, public to private, you got to sit out.”
Sen. Randy Smith, R-Tucker, opposed the bill. He said schools in rural communities like his already have a hard enough time finding enough students to field sports teams without students being lured away to surrounding schools by athletics.
“When I was a parent, when my children were involved in something, you know, things aren’t always fair,” Smith said. “Sometimes you have to learn to get along with the teacher. You have to learn to get along with a coach. And I just feel that we’re opening it up where if you don’t like your coach, then you look elsewhere. And I just think we’re starting a bad precedent doing this.”
Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, voiced her support of the bill, likening it to school choice measures the legislature has introduced in recent years.
Senate Bill 262 passed 27-5, with two senators absent, and now goes to the House of Delegates for their consideration.
New Requirements For Board Of Education Members
Senate Bill 264 also passed the Senate Wednesday. It would prohibit persons who have been convicted of certain crimes against minors from holding positions on either the state board of education or a county board of education.
Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, said the requirement will be enforced with a certificate of announcement.
“These crimes are numerous and include such crimes as distribution and display to a minor of obscene matter,” Grady said. “The bill also requires that candidates for county Board of Education provide a statement on the certificate of announcement that the candidate swears and affirms that he or she has not been convicted of one of the applicable crimes when the victim was a minor.“
The bill passed with a unanimous vote, and now heads to the House of Delegates for their consideration.
The six other bills: SB 4, SB 121, SB 192, SB 244, SB 245 and SB 246 were also passed. All now go to the House of Delegates for their consideration.
Senate Bill 59 makes several changes to the system of unemployment benefits in the state.
Senate Bill 59 makes several changes to the system of unemployment benefits in the state.
Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, is the lead sponsor of the bill. He says the bill aims to help target benefits fraud that saw a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For example, I got contacted that I had filed for unemployment and all these benefits were kicking in. Obviously having been a pulmonary physician during 2020- 2021, it’s the busiest I’ve ever been,” he said. “But it’s outside entities, it’s foreign governments trying to get in, break into our system, computer hackers. So there’s always going to be more fraud. What this does is gives more latitude to us as a workforce development state to be able to defend against those fraudulent activities.”
Takubo also said the bill aims to alleviate the burden of the unemployment tax on the state’s businesses.
“Everybody thinks of a big corporation when you think of employers but in West Virginia, over 90 percent of the employment is small businesses, and those small businesses are having to pay a very high tax levied to pay for unemployment,” Takubo said.
He said the bill ultimately aims to modernize the state’s unemployment laws to reflect the modern workforce and work environment and try to help more people get back to work.
“What we believe we can use this bill for is to help match jobs that are good jobs for people looking for those, and improve our workforce participation,” Takubo said. “We’re still the worst in the country. Part of that may be that they’re having more difficulty, so this bill will address some of that.”
If passed, the bill would require a job search, with the help of Workforce West Virginia, as a condition of receiving unemployment benefits. If a recipient of unemployment refuses the offer of what the bill calls a “suitable” job, their benefits could be reduced.
Takubo said the bill isn’t intended to penalize anyone.
“We’re not trying to pass legislation that guarantees you the perfect job,” he said. “What we are trying to do is get people back into the workforce because we do believe that one job will springboard to the next, to the next to get you to what you feel suitable, and what you enjoy doing for a living.”
The bill also reducess the maximum number of weeks applicants can receive unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 20.
Sen. Mike Caputo, R-Marion, voiced his opposition to the changes during discussion of the bill on the Senate floor. He drew from his own experience of being on unemployment, and said the changes Senate Bill 59 makes are too harsh on workers.
“When things got a little slow in the mining industry, and myself and my friends got laid off, we wanted to go back to work, we wanted to go back to work desperately, but sometimes things just weren’t available to us,” he said. “There was a time when folks were laid off for years. Sometimes things get extremely tough, and sometimes 26 weeks is not enough. But I’ll tell you what I do know, I do know that 12 is not enough. And I do know that 20 is not enough when you’re trying to pay the light bill.”
Caputo also questioned why the government had no issue helping corporations, but couldn’t do the same for workers.
“We hand out things to corporations all the time, and I’m supportive of that, because we believe it brings jobs to West Virginia, and we all want people to succeed and have good employment, and we hand it out constantly,” he said. “But when it comes to workers, it seems like it’s a constant beat down. I just don’t get it.”
Takubo said Senate Bill 59 is just one tool in the state’s toolbox to address workforce issues, and they are always looking for more.
“We’re trying to look at all facets to help as many West Virginians as we possibly can. And so one thing I would say is legislators are all ears,” he said. “What we need is all the help we can get. So anybody out there that has ideas that maybe would help us with this, or any piece of legislation, please let us know.”
The bill will head over to the House of Delegates for consideration.
