At the legislature today, the pros and cons of consuming raw milk is debated in the House. Senate Bill 30 passed overwhelmingly and heads back to the Senate to consider House changes to the bill. In the Senate there’s more discussion about funding for state roads and another agreement for more study about that issue. And we begin a two part series about ginseng. Could it become a leading cash crop? These stories and more coming up on The Legislature Today.
Tag: West Virginia Legislature
Lawmakers to Consider Yearlong Study of Road Funds
It’s too late in the session for Senators to approve a bill that would increase dollars committed to the state Road Fund, but members on both sides of the aisle say they are prepared to commit to a study of the issue.
Sen. Bob Plymale of Wayne County introduced Senate Bill 478 nearly a month ago, which would do just that. The bill proposes increasing revenues for road construction by upping the gasoline and consumer sales taxes and raising Division of Motor Vehicle fees that haven’t been touched since the 1970s.
Plymale told members of the Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday the bill takes some of the unofficial recommendations from Governor Tomblin’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways and incorporates them into code.
“We did come out with a comprehensive plan,” Plymale, who was a member of the Commission, said, “but what is missing from that is the tolling aspect.”
“If we don’t keep the tolls on and allow that money to be spent on new construction, on the King Coal Highway, the Coalfield Expressway, within a 75 mile radius of the turnpike, we’re not going to continue to have the commerce that we need.”
Neighboring Ohio, Plymale said, has leveraged their turnpike to pay for road construction and Virginia and Maryland implemented blanket sales tax increases, dedicating those funds to roads.
Mike Clouser with the Contractors Association of West Virginia told the committee a study by his organization shows if the state would increase highway spending by $500 million, it would create 10,000 jobs not just in construction, but across a variety of industries in West Virginia.
“These states are realizing that Washington is not going to solve our problems,” he said. “That if it’s going to be done, its going to be done on the state level.”
Transportation Chair Sen. Chris Walters said it’s too late in the session for both chambers to approve Plymale’s bill, but he’s working to craft a resolution to commit the Legislature to study road funding for a year.
The resolution would have to be considered and approved by a simple majority voted of both chambers by the final day of session Saturday.
W.Va. Senate Rethinks Common Core Repeal
Members of the Senate Education Committee made major changes Monday to a bill that would repeal Common Core English and math standards in West Virginia. The bill no longer calls for a repeal, instead requires the West Virginia Department of Education study the standards for two years.
House Bill 2934, as approved by the House of Delegates, would have fully repealed the content standards by July 1,2015. As it moved through the Senate, an Education subcommittee agreed to give the repeal an additional year, amending the date to July 1, 2016.
At the time, state Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Martirano called the conversion a heavy lift that would cost the WVDE $113 million to implement. The Education Committee heard his plea Monday, removing the repeal language all together.
Instead, the bill requires Martirano to work with a comprehensive review committee, comprised of West Virginia parents, teachers, administrators, lawmakers and union officials, to conduct a complete review of the content standards to report to the Legislature by Jan. 1, 2017.
During that process, the review committee will also recommend content standard revisions to the West Virginia Board of Education.
The amended bill also requires the superintendent to conduct four regional town-hall style meetings to hear from stakeholders across the state about the standards. It also discontinues the use of the Common Core aligned Smarter Balance Assessment after the 2016-2017 school year.
Gov. Tomblin said Monday he does not support a full repeal of the standards.
Governor Signs Opioid Anatagonist Bill into Law
At a ceremonial signing Monday, Governor Tomblin signed Senate Bill 335 into law.
Short titled the Opioid Antagonist Act, the bill allows emergency responders, medical personnel, family and friends to administer a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose and can save a person’s life.
Opioids are drugs like heroine, morphine and oxycodone, drugs that are commonly abused in West Virginia.
“With the crackdown we’ve had on prescription drugs, it seems that street drugs are becoming more and more prevalent in West Virginia and heroine is the fastest growing one,” Tomblin said.
Tomblin said more than 500 people overdose in West Virginia each year, and he hopes this bill will prevent similar deaths from happening in the future.
A companion bill that would grant immunity for some minor drugs charges to people who seek help for someone experiencing an overdose is stalled in a House Committee.
Tomblin said he’d like to see the Good Samartian Law make it to his desk.
Public Hearing to Be Held on Charter Schools Bill
At 8 a.m. on Tuesday, March 10 West Virginia Public Broadcasting will air the public hearing on SB 14, a bill that would create charter schools in the state. Coverage can be found on WVPB.2 as well as online.
Senate Bill 14 was the focus of a lot of debate in the Senate and passed last Monday on a vote of 18 to 16.
Public Charter Schools still receive government and county funds, just like regular public schools, but charter schools would not be overseen by the county Board of Education. This in turn would give teachers at charter schools more flexibility in the way they deliver their curriculum, but they would still be subject to state education standards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvp0-VIZRWI
What's Next, Clay County?—Nonstop Journey to a Better Tomorrow
Early one morning this past January, two Clay County school busses pulled up at the state capitol complex in Charleston. Inside were members of the group “What’s Next, Clay County?”, one of twenty-five communities across the state that is organizing to strengthen their local economy as a part of the “What’s Next, WV?” initiative.
Sign up to bring "What's Next" conversations to your community today! http://whatsnextwv.org/organize-discussion
Over seventy people attended their first community meeting last fall—not a small feat in a community of their size. They chose five areas to focus their work: youth and education; infrastructure; small business; drugs; and cleaning up trash and dilapidated properties.
Since then, they realized they would need outside help to accomplish all they have set out to do, so they set off for a day at the capitol. This is a story about a small, rural community fighting for a brighter economic future for their families and neighbors.
To get to know these Clay Countians in living color, check out this short documentary about their day at the legislature.
What’s Next, WV? is a partnership of the WV Center for Civic Life, the WV Community Development Hub, and WV Public Broadcasting.
Find more stories in this series! wvpublic.org/programs/whats-next-wv