Tag: WV House of Delegates

Lawmakers Begin Work on 2016 Budget

A conference committee of seven members of the House of Delegates and seven members of the Senate began work Monday on finding compromise in their budget bills. Each chamber approved their own version of the Fiscal Year 2016 budget last week. 

Senate Finance Chair Mike Hall said each chamber is walking into the negotiations with some priorities.

 In the Senate, members chose to approve a bill that contains a $6 million increase in funds for the West Virginia State Police and their forensics lab. 

Because of staffing shortages, Hall said the lab has a backlog of thousands of cases which in the end increases costs for counties. 

“The problem there is that if somebody is stuck at a regional jail waiting for their trial and their trial is delayed and delayed and delayed, the speculation is the counties are paying on the low end $13 million, on the high end $25, $30, $40 million of regional jail costs that if these things were done quickly would save a lot of money,” Hall said Monday.

“So, this $6 million is not just being thrown to the wind. There is a significant return on investment for the counties.”

The House is also looking to get a “return on investment” for their dollars, choosing to prioritize Community and Technical College funding in their budget.

Gov. Tomblin’s proposed budget included a 1.$ percent across the board cut for Higher Education. The House chose to restore the cut funds to all but one CTC in the state.

“We have a lot of need in our Community and Technical Colleges right now, especially with the growth in certain areas like the oil and gas in the north as well as in the Eastern Panhandle with needs in increased enrollment,” Nelson said.

“So, we just felt that we were putting money back to where it was going to have the biggest return going forward.”

Because of other differences in budget lines, the chambers differ, in the end, in the amount of one-time dollars pulled from the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

Delegates have passed a bill taking about $21 million from the Rainy Day Fund while Senators needed around $27 million to balance their proposed budget.

Governor Tomblin used $15 million from the one-time reserve for 2016, but said he will be working with lawmakers during budget week to keep the number below $30 million.

Compromise Social Work Bill Approved in House

After a public hearing in the House of Delegates, members worked with stakeholders to compromise on Senate Bill 559, a bill that deals with the licensing requirements for social workers in West Virginia.

As passed in the Senate, the bill would have allowed the state Department of Health and Human Resources to create a training program for new social workers who do not have a degree in the field. Currently in West Virginia, to get a social work license a person must have a bachelor’s or master’s degree from a Council on Social Work Education accredited program.

The bill as passed in the House still calls on the DHHR to create the training program, but only for a provisional license. Anyone apply for the provisional license must also have a four year degree in any field. 

“What this bill does is allow DHHR to hire the personnel that they need these are qualified personnel,” Government Organization Committee Chair Gary Howell said of the bill before it was put to a vote. 

“The board of social workers is on board with this committee substitute. We met with WVU, Marshall, West Virginia State University and several others. They are on board with this. DHHR is on board with this. We made a lot of changes in this bill to make sure that the children of this state are safe.”

The bill was approved 62 to 33 Friday.

House Passes Bill Letting Lawmakers OK Carbon Plans

The House of Delegates has passed a bill letting lawmakers approve state plans to meet proposed federal carbon emission standards.

Delegates passed a proposal 93-3 Friday requiring the GOP-led Legislature’s vote before the state sends compliance plans to the EPA. It requires a state feasibility report 180 days after EPA’s rule is finalized.

Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said legislative approval would restrict environmental regulators. Coal industry groups said lawmakers should be included.

EPA’s anti-global warming proposal aims to drop emissions from existing coal-fired plants by 30 percent nationally by 2030, compared to 2005.

West Virginia’s reduction would be 19.8 percent by 2030, compared to 2012.

State plans are due June 2016, or 2017 with extensions. States that collaborate have until 2018.

A similar bill has passed one Senate committee.

Delegate Officially Withdraws from Re-Election Race

A Kanawha County state delegate has officially withdrawn her re-election bid.

West Virginia secretary of state spokesman Jake Glance confirmed Monday that Republican Suzette Raines has withdrawn.

Raines said in a text message to reporters Monday that she needed time to heal after her mother’s death in March. Raines also cited the end of an engagement after a long-term relationship.

The Kanawha GOP requested a replacement candidate Monday. The State Election Commission would need to approve. Kanawha GOP hasn’t picked its candidate.

The state Democratic Executive Committee filed a complaint against Raines in Kanawha County Circuit Court on July 21. The complaint alleged Raines doesn’t live where she claims.

It also alleged that Raines hasn’t filed several campaign finance reports or a financial disclosure report, and didn’t sign previous disclosures.

House GOP: One More Day of Special Session

Lawmakers will spend one more day in a special session in part because of Republican members of the House.

Delegates returned for morning floor session Tuesday, passed all six bills forward from second to third reading and adjourned for the day, a move that was a little unexpected by both chamber leaders.

On Monday, Senate President Jeff Kessler said he expected the session to be completed by Tuesday, but House Speaker Tim Miley said after the floor session, the House didn’t have the votes to suspend legislative rules that require bills to be read on three separate days.

“The Minority Leader had a caucus just prior to the floor session and polled their members and they did not have the votes to suspend the rules,” Miley said.

The Speaker added having an additional day of interim meetings left in Charleston also contributed to their decision.

Governor Tomblin also amended the special session call Tuesday by adding one more bill for lawmakers to consider.

That bill would extend the length of time the City of Richwood can meet as a levying body. The city plans to put a general levy on their fall ballot to help supplement municipal costs.
 

Lawmakers Take More Time to Complete Special Session Work

Lawmakers will return for a second day in an extraordinary session after some called for more time to consider last minute legislation.

Senators considered and passed two bills Monday, one appropriating excess lottery funds to several state programs and a second modifying the funding mechanism for the state Courtesy Patrol, but stopped short of passing the four additional bills on the call.

Senate President Jeff Kessler attributed that to uncertainty from Republicans members of the House.

“We ran our bills, got them out of the way, through the committee process today, they came out clean and so we decided to run them,” Kessler said after the Senate’s evening floor session.

“I spoke to the Speaker and I think they have an agreement with the House Republicans over there to suspend the rules tomorrow after they’ve had a night to review the bills and sleep on them.”

House Minority Leader Tim Armstead said members of his caucus received draft versions of the proposed bills on Sunday and needed clarification on some of the language.

“We had a caucus this morning and there were some questions that needed to be addressed on those and so they were referred to the committees,” he said.

Armstead said sending them to committee allowed members to discuss the legislation more completely with staff counsel.

Lawmakers will go back into session Tuesday morning to further consider the six proposed bills.

Kessler expects to pass the bills fairly quickly, allowing legislators to return to their normal interim meeting schedules.
 

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