House Defends Triple Committee Reference of Senate's Water Bill

It took 12 days from its introduction for the Senate to pass Bill 373.

It has been several days since its introduction to the House and the bill has yet to be seen by its first committee.

The bill will have three committee stops between Health and Human Resources, then Judiciary and then finally Finance. Typically, three committee stops is considered to be the kiss of death for a bill and Senate leaders are concerned that the House is not taking the bill seriously.

House Speaker Tim Miley said that each committee stop is appropriate and represents a unique issue brought up in the wake of the chemical leak. According to him, the concerns the bill will slow down in the House are ludicrous.

“It is nonsense for people to get upset about a triple reference,” Miley said. “There’s plenty of time to get a good piece of legislation through the process. So, anyone suggesting that the bill was triple referenced because there was a desire to see the bill killed is not being honest with general public of West Virginia.”

The House Health and Human Resource Committee will host a public hearing on Senate Bill 373 in the House Chamber at 5:30 on Monday.