Tag: WV Senate

Senate Bill Would Add Four Circuit Judges to W.Va. System

Senators approved a bill Monday that, if fully approved by the legislature, will add four judges to the state’s circuit court system. 

Senate Bill 415 comes as a result of a study by the National Center for State Courts.

The study shows West Virginia’s circuit court system is overloaded and recommends lawmakers add more circuit judges, but Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump said the number recommended was too financially cumbersome for the state.

“The recommendation from the National Center for State Courts was that we should add between 17 and 19 judges and we just found that impossible to do,” he said.

“What we did was we picked four circuits that had the highest need, highest workloads per judge and added a judge in each of those.”

The bill adds four judges in circuits in North Central West Virginia, the Eastern Panhandle, Raleigh County and the circuit made up of Jackson, Calhoun, Mason and Roane Counties.

The bill passed the Senate without a nay vote.

If approved by the House, the four new judges will be elected in 2016.

Senators Work to Realigin Magistrate Court System

The study came as a companion to a bill approved during the 2013 legislative session. That bill gave pay raises to some magistrates in smaller counties.

Conducted by the National Center on State Courts, the results of the study were presented during January interim meetings, just a day before the legislative session began.

The NCSC presented three options to reduce the overall number of magistrates, keeping the current county based system, aligning it with the circuit courts, or aligning with the regional jail system.

In the originating bill, Senators proposed keeping the current county system in place, but reducing the overall number from 158 to 149 and reassigning some positions to counties that have larger workloads, like Berkeley and Kanawha.

Overall, the county system reduces the system by the least number of magistrates, but members of the committee tried to amend the bill Sunday evening by taking out any mention of reductions.

Sen. Bob Beach of Monongalia County attempted to make the change, but his amendment failed even after receiving bi-partisan support.

The bill in its original form was approved and moves to the Senate Finance Committee for further consideration. 

W.Va. Senate Passes Bill Allowing Consumption of Raw Milk

West Virginia senators have narrowly approved a bill letting people drink raw milk through animal herd sharing agreements.

On Friday, the Senate voted 18-16 to approve the measure. Sen. Tom Takubo, a doctor, was the lone dissenting Republican vote. Sen. Bob Williams was the only Democrat voting in favor.

The bill wouldn’t allow retail sales of raw milk.

Instead, it would require filling out a contract of ownership for milk-producing animals. The person consuming the raw milk would have to sign a form acknowledging health risks.

Federal officials have warned of health risks when children, the elderly and pregnant women consume raw milk.

The bill next moves to the House of Delegates for consideration.

Senate Approves Bill Creating Nonpartisan Judicial Elections

Senators approved House Bill 2010 Friday, creating the nonpartisan election of judges at all levels in West Virginia. The new election process would begin…

Senators approved House Bill 2010 Friday, creating the nonpartisan election of judges at all levels in West Virginia. The new election process would begin in 2016 and include all levels from Supreme Court Justices down to county magistrates. 

Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump said on the floor of the Senate before the vote West Virginia is one of only six states in the country that still holds partisan judicial elections and the time has come for the state to make the chance.

“I contend that whether a person is a Republican or Democrat, or a Whig or a Libertarian, or whatever, tells us really nothing about whether that person possess the qualities and characteristics that we seek and desire in those who hold judicial office in West Virginia,” Trump said.

Senator Mike Romano of Harrison County said he neither supports nor opposes the bill because he doesn’t think it gets to the core of the issue with elections. That issue is campaign financing. 

“The time has come to look at public financing for our judges,” Romano said. “It’s worked well in our Supreme Court and it does take some of the influence of big money out of the most important office in our state.”

Members of the chamber approved the bill 33 to 1.

Senator Ron Miller of Greenbrier County voted against the bill, he said, because a judge in his district strongly opposed the bill.

The bill now goes back to the House for members to consider some Senate amendments.

Senators Approve Bill to Cap Punitive Damages After Failed Vote

Senators reconsidered a bill Thursday that previously would have capped the punitive damages awarded in a civil lawsuit and also give the state a portion…

Senators reconsidered a bill Thursday that previously would have capped the punitive damages awarded in a civil lawsuit and also give the state a portion of the award. Wednesday, two Republican Senators voted against the measure.

The bill as originally considered would have capped the punitive damages a jury could award at three times compensatory damages won in a case or $500,000, whichever is greater.

It also included a provision to give one third of any award over the half million dollar threshold to the state to deposit in the Rainy Day Fund. Senator Chris Walters disagreed with that portion of the bill and voted against it

Democratic Senator Corey Palumbo and Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump, a Republican, came up with a compromise overnight which they presented to the full chamber Thursday. 

The amendment adjusted would adjust the cap in from three  to four times compensatory damages and removed the state share of a punitive damages award.

The changes were adopted and the bill approved 26 to 8 with only Democrats voting against it.

Senate Committee Advances Bill to Expand Broadband Access

The Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee took up a bill Wednesday that its sponsor says will create a government owned broadband interstate…

The Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee took up a bill Wednesday that its sponsor says will create a government owned broadband interstate in West Virginia.

Senate Bill 459 calls on the state to invest $78 million in expanding broadband access to West Virginians. The money would pay for the installation of 2,600 miles of broadband fiber across West Virginia with an emphasis on expanding access in rural areas.

The state would own the fiber, but give open access to any private business who may want to build off of the main fibers into smaller communities. The bill’s lead sponsor and Transportation Committee Chair Sen. Chris Walters said that would help cut down on the private sector’s costs and incentivize them to expand access.

Representatives of both cable internet providers and Frontier told the committee they see the bill as inserting government directly into competition with the private sector. They say their companies have already invested upwards of a billion dollars to expand access and its working

But Jim Martin, owner of the internet provider CityNet, told committee members the expansion would allow the private sector to partner with the state to provide much needed access while lowering the cost for providing service to schools, libraries and other government buildings.

He said the state received a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, or BTOP grant from the federal government for a similar project, but that project didn’t help with access problems.

“We were all very hopeful that when the BTOP funds were made available in which the state received $126 million dollars to build a middle mile network, that that was going to be a solution for us,” Martin said.  “At the end of the day BTOP didn’t do anything for broadband in West Virginia.”

The state spent some $30 million of the grant on wireless routers that were installed in rural libraries and State Police barracks, many of which were reportedly too large.

Martin, who was a member of West Virginia Broadband Deployment Council, a committee created by the governor that focused on ways the state could increase access to rural areas, told the committee the state put $60 million in a wireless network that isn’t being used and awarded $40 million to Frontier to “extend their last mile network into state facilities and continue to keep a grip on top of state government.”

“There was no middle mile built with that $126 million,” Martin said, “so here we are today trying to find other ways in which we can find funds to get into our rural markets where our citizens are significantly challenged.”

Many members of the committee spoke in favor of the bill despite the high cost.

It ultimately passed and now goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee for its consideration.

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