Tag: WV Senate

Longest Serving Senator Says Her Party Won't Concede Power

Senator Donna Boley of Pleasants County was the only Republican member of the West Virginia Senate in the 1990’s. 

Now, she is the longest serving member of the upper chamber and will preside as Senate President pro-tem.

After Tuesday night’s mid-term election, Boley’s tenure also means she will preside over the next Senate President election in January. 

Boley said Wednesday she was surprised by the Republican sweep, but is unsure, like many others in the chamber, of how to proceed now that the body is evenly spilt between the two parties.

“I thought we would we might pick up three or four more to make 14,” Boley said.  

“You always knew that you were going to elect a Democrat president and you had Democrat chairs,” the Senator said of previous session, “and with this split I’m just not sure how we’re going to handle that.”

But Boley doesn’t believe Republican members will simply give up their claim to leading the chamber.

“I’m sure that since the Republicans fought so hard to get 17 they’re not going to automatically  give up the fact that that they might give up the presidency,” she said.

Boley was first elected to the state senate in 1985.

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.
 

The Final Hours: What You Didn't See

While most of the night is strictly business, the final hours of the legislative session often have some light-hearted moments scattered throughout. Here are a few things you didn’t see in the news.

Sen. Sam Cann rose to speak to House Bill 4343, the West Virginia Launch Pad Act, but maybe he forgot he’d been appointed to a new chamber:

Sen. Doug Facemire missed the first few weeks of the session and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest after breaking his ankle in January. The Senator was able to stand for the first time on the floor and explain House Bill 4346 to his fellow members, but not without first commenting on their looks:

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Delegate Doug Reynolds shared this photo from his office:

We’ve all heard of the dangers of texting while driving, but texting while voting? Sen. Truman Chafin explains:

Truman.mp3

Sen. Dave Sypolt was concerned with changes to the Future Fund made in the House and wanted clarity before his vote, however, he asked Senate Majority Leader John Unger a question for which he didn’t have an answer and got this response:

Unger.mp3

And in a touching moment, Senate President Jeff Kessler stepped down from the podium to hand retiring Sen. Brooks McCabe the gavel. The Senator presided over the chamber while members spoke of his accomplishments during his service.

 

Senate Passes Minimum Wage Hike

The West Virginia Senate has passed a bill to raise the minimum wage by $1.50 over three years.Under the bill passed Friday, the wage would increase from…

The West Virginia Senate has passed a bill to raise the minimum wage by $1.50 over three years.

Under the bill passed Friday, the wage would increase from $7.25 to $7.50 an hour in January 2015, to $8 in January 2016, and to $8.75 in January 2017. Originally the House approved a wage increase of 75 cents each year for two years.
 
The Senate Finance Committee extended the phase-in for the increase Wednesday. At that time, Sen. John Unger expressed concern that minimum wage workers will lose out on $1,040 in potential earnings in 2015 and an additional $520 in 2016.
 
The House must now agree to the Senate changes before the bill goes to the governor.
 

Senate Approves Bill for Frack Waste

Members of the state Senate unanimously passed a bill Friday allowing for the drill cuttings from natural gas fracking sites to be disposed of in county or privately owned landfills.

Currently, the drill cuttings can either be disposed of by burying them on site or deposited in landfills, but Senator Herb Snyder said landfills are the most environmentally friendly option.

The bill adds provisions that require the sites to monitor for heightened levels of radioactivity in the drill cuttings. It requires that landfills accepting the material separate it from any municipal waste and that a $1 fee be assessed for every ton.

Snyder said the first $750,000 of that fee will go toward conducting a scientific study of the materials themselves. Money collected after that mark, which Snyder expects to reach the millions, will go toward repairing roads in the drilling counties.

“Without this bill there are very little or no environmental regulations,” Snyder said. “There is no requirement for landfills to have these detectors at the gate.”

Counties that have a karst topography- meaning they have limestone- are prohibited from applying to accept waste.

The bill also says fracking filters which filter the water used on sites must be disposed of in an industrial landfill.
 

Senators Bring Local Issues to Senate Floor

Two senators rose to speak on the floor Wednesday about local issues they feel could have larger state impacts.

Senator Bill Laird brought to the chambers attention the possible closure of the Hawk’s Nest Golf Course in Fayette County.

Sixty-two percent of the course’s budget is absorbed by the state because of a lack of participation from the community, but Laird said the point of state parks is not to make a profit. The point is to provide recreational opportunities to the people of West Virginia while protecting its wildlife.
 

“Mr. President, I rage today on behalf of the people who live in a region that once contributed greatly to the economy of this great state. Mr. President, I rage today on behalf of the communities who are struggling to rebuild themselves in the wake of declining populations and shrinking economic opportunities. Mr. President I rage today on behalf of families who want their children to learn to hit a golf ball rather than a crack pipe. Mr. President and ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, thank you for allowing me to rage.”  

Senator Mike Hall of Putnam County stood to address the struggles the city of Hurricane is facing in trying to build a water impoundment to use as a secondary, emergency water source.

The city currently has a pond that can provide a 25 day supply, but Hall said since 2010, they’ve been trying to build a second that could provide and additional 17 days worth of water.

The plan is being blocked because the Department of Environmental Protection says it impacts a small stream and three tenths of an acre of wetlands.
 

“I understand wetlands and streams need to be mitigated, but the frustration that I personally feel for the city and the citizens is that this is a water project and I can tell you that since what’s happened recently with the Elk and so forth, people came to Hurricane for water during the crisis. If you look, there aren’t any above ground tanks there. There isn’t anything to interfere with this and because our county does well and our per capita income is what it is, we apparently can’t get some relief that some of your counties might get.”  

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