From the Well | Day 31

February 7, 2020

West Virginia Capitol Update

Day 31

The gas utility may seek approval from the commission for the related costs to serve such customers. The commission may approve those costs if it finds that (1) The process of determining the costs and expected additional natural gas supply is reasonable; the expected additional supply is dependable; and (3) the costs of the additional supply are reasonable and not contrary to the public interest.

Officials said the amount of solar being considered is a small fraction of what is produced in West Virginia. Backers say increased access to solar is desirable for companies investing in West Virginia.

The bill was subject to an hour-long discussion in the Senate on Tuesday, but the Energy, Industry and Mining committee did not take action on the bill until Thursday. This time, the committee substitute was passed in a matter of minutes, and bypassed the second committee stop to send it straight to the senate floor. The reason for that is the fiscal note showed no cost to the state.

On the House side, the bill underwent two hours of discussion on Tuesday and was on the agenda for Thursday afternoon’s House Energy meeting, but it was not taken up.

Read the story here.

The purpose of HB 4070 is to compensate counties for the loss of tax base from state ownership of land and the need to provide services for state land and was introduced primarily for Wirt County. It would address the disproportionate impact of state land ownership on counties with a large proportion of state land due to loss of tax revenue.

There was a motion to table the bill and study the issue due to unanswered questions but it failed. An amendment changed the land acreage from at least 50,000 acres to a total of less than 160,000 acres or more than 10,000 acres, which generated more unanswered questions about what counties were affected. There was a motion to lie the bill over rather than table to allow time to get answers. The motion passed and the bill will lie over.

HB 4178 as introduced would require that calls for emergency service which are recorded be maintained for a period of five years. A committee substitute changed the period of time to two years as an agreed-upon amendment with 911, and the bill passed House Judiciary with little discussion.

House Judiciary members had several questions about HB 4101, which would require that before a child is returned to a home from which he or she has been removed, the court shall verify that if the parent is participating in a medication-assisted treatment program he or she shall be successfully fulfilling their treatment obligations in the program. If a parent is failing their treatment, this bill clarifies that the parent has to be going through the program actively. “We really meant it and we mean it more this time.” said Delegate Fleishauer regarding making sure that the parent is fulfilling their treatment obligations. The bill was amended to use the word verify that obligations are being fulfilled, refer to parent or parents, and refer to substance abuse disorder programs rather than just “medication -assisted.” It was passed as amended and will be reported to the floor.

Of general interest, following Kanawha County Commission’s adoption of a 12-week paid leave policy for birth, adoption, or caring for family member with serious health condition, House Judiciary took up HB 4189 which would provide the same to state employees as introduced. Amendments suggested by the Division of Personnel would change that to 12 weeks of paid leave after 12 consecutive months of employment, following exhaustion of all their accrued sick and annual leave. One delegate asked, “Are taxpayers of WV entitled to 12 weeks of paid family leave?” Counsel responded that this applies only to public employees. It would also apply to teachers and an amendment to remove them failed. The fiscal note from the State Auditor estimated the annual cost for this leave to be about $5.3 million but the fiscal note was determined by assumption that employees would only use half the time. Recruitment & retention of employees was an argument for the bill and the strike & insert amendment passed and will go to Finance.

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 653, which increases the number of magistrates in Putnam and Monongalia Counties. This bill was discussed and questioned in a previous meeting regarding an amendment made to increase the number of magistrates in Monongalia County as well as Putnam County. This amendment adds one magistrate for Monongalia County and one magistrate for Putnam County. This bill now goes to the Senate Finance Committee for further consideration.

The following organizations will have displays at the Capitol this week.

Fri. Feb. 7

·     West Virginia Undergraduate Research Day

Activities on the calendar for next week.

Mon. Feb. 10

Library Day at the Legislature

Tue. Feb. 11

WV Agriculture and Forestry Day

WV Parks Day

Wed. Feb. 12

WV Food and Farm Coalition

Deaf Awareness Day

WV Council of Churches “Compassion Calls Us”

Thur. Feb. 13

WV Hospital Association

WV Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics “Tiny Hearts Day”

WV Athletic Trainers Association

Fri. Feb. 14

West Virginia Rural Health Day

Upper House and Upper Senate Rotundas

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