From The Well January 20, 2020 West Virginia Capitol Update Day 13 Recap of Week Two At the end of the second week of the 2020 legislative session, the Senate has introduced 534 bills and passed seven. The House has introduced 971 bills and passed 11. While there is a general feeling at the capitol that the session is moving at a slower pace, roughly the same number of bills have passed each house compared to [...]
From The Well January 17, 2020 West Virginia Capitol Update Day 10 Four bills originated in substance abuse committee The House subject matter committee, Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse, heard presentations and passed four originating bills during a lengthy meeting on Thursday. Delegate Rohrbach, a physician, chairs the committee. Michael Goff, Director of the Board of Pharmacy and Controlled Substance Monitoring Database, presented information about recent trends. He noted that hydrocodone and related drugs have significantly decreased from [...]
From The Well January 16, 2020 West Virginia Capitol Update Day 9 House Committee on Energy unanimously passes two bills Two bills with a positive impact on oil & gas drilling in West Virginia were passed unanimously by the House Committee on Energy. HB4090 reduces the severance tax on marginal (or low producing) oil & gas wells to 2.5% from 5%. Wells utilizing horizontal drilling techniques are excluded from this bill. The bill calls for the [...]
From The Well January 15, 2020 Update from the West Virginia Capitol Day 8 Incentives for local government consolidation discussed A bill that has passed the Senate a few times in the past but died in the House was taken up yet again for 2020 in Senate Government Organization. Committee Substitute for SB138 would provide incentives for local governments to consolidate pursuant to the consolidation legislation passed in 2006. No municipality or county has [...]
From The Well January 14, 2020 Update from the West Virginia Capitol Day 7 House and Senate work to reorganize boards and commissions Two pairs of companion bills were introduced in the House and Senate Monday that would reorganize the various boards and commissions governed by Chapter 30 of state code. SB313, introduced by Sens. Maynard, Clements, Smith, Sypolt, and Swope, is a 345-page bill that divides Chapter 30 into three different chapters Each [...]
AAOS Advocacy in Action Expressed our support for the Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Quality and Access Act, which would establish the requirement that ASC payment updates be made according to the same criteria as hospital outpatient departments. Submitted formal comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on its proposed rules to reform the anti-kickback statute and Stark physician self-referral law. Bonefied News Updates and information about the Academy's public relations efforts... As the [...]
From The Well January 11, 2020 Update from the West Virginia Capitol Day 4 Greyhound breeding fund elimination bill introduced On Thursday, the West Virginia Senate introduced SB 285, which eliminates the WV Greyhound Breeding Development Fund. Senate President Mitch Carmichael, along with Senators Sue Cline and Roland Roberts sponsored the bill that would end the sport of greyhound racing at two of West Virginia's tracks/casinos, Wheeling and Cross Lanes. Presently, state law requires [...]
From The Well January 10, 2020 Update from the West Virginia Capitol Day 3 At the end of Day Two of the 2020 Legislative Session, the Senate had introduced 245 bills and the House introduce 79 new bills. The House also lists hundreds of carryover bills from last year's session. Senior Center Directors tired of being ignored The West Virginia Directors of Senior and Community Services (WVDSCS) met with lawmakers to discuss [...]
From The Well January 9, 2020 2020 Legislative Session Begins Governor Justice says state of the state is strong in spite of projected 25-year low severance tax collection In what may have been his best state-of-the-state speech, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice brought out the tackle box and ax he used as props in his first speech as Governor, but refrained from his recent use of other props and white boards. He reported that [...]
From The Well... Monday, October 22, 2018 HCA schedules hearing on WVU Hospitals transplant CON According to a State Register filing, the Health Care Authority has scheduled a hearing for West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc.’s, application for a certificate of need to provide kidney transplant services. The capital expenditure is $50,000. A prehearing conference is scheduled Jan. 02, 2019, at 1:30 pm. The administrative hearing is Tuesday, Jan. 08, 2019, at 9 a.m. …Renewal granted for $14.5 million land acquisition [...]