From the Well | February 18, 2021

Following an announcement ty Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia that the company is investing $210 million to upgrade its facility in Buffalo, WV, and add 100 new jobs, Gov. Jim Justice issued the following statement.

“Toyota’s commitment to increase its investment in West Virginia and into our hard-working West Virginians prove they continue to be a wonderful business partner right here in the Mountain State. This is such exciting news for West Virginia’s business community as well as our families that businesses are choosing to grow their organizations here. Toyota is a wonderful example of how a global company can successful right here in West Virginia.”

“This legislation is a long-overdue fundamental change and modernization to our corporate tax structure, which is absolutely necessary as we continue to move West Virginia forward,” Gov. Justice said. “I am so proud to offer this legislation for consideration because it’s a bold step toward making West Virginia the most attractive state in the nation for remote workers and for all businesses, which is exactly what we want to be.”

If passed, the bill will modernize West Virginia’s corporate income tax structure, incentivizing not only remote workers but also businesses looking to plant their operations in West Virginia, by

adopting model tax provisions regarding the treatment of remote or mobile employees to remove barriers to businesses that have a remote workforce in West Virginia.

The bill has been filed for introduction with the West Virginia Legislature and will be introduced in the coming days. The Governor’s news release gives a detailed description of the bill here.

The Senate Health Committee passed an originating bill to address a situation that keeps well-trained doctors from practicing in West Virginia. Discretion is provided to the WV Board of Medicine, who support the bill, regarding acceptance of substantial equivalency to accredited training in situations where some training simply cannot be accredited.

Chairman Mike Maroney, a physician, described a real-life example, noting that there is a massive shortage of urologists in the country. A doctor who wants to practice in his district had training outside the U.S., completed a fellowship, passed all boards, and has a license in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida but cannot work in WV due to the accreditation issue. Several Senators complimented him on the bill, including Minority Chair Stollings, also a physician. It was noted that the bill doesn’t open the floodgates but rather provides for individual discretion by the Board.

The committee also quickly passed SB67, giving authority to the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council to review any rule proposed by the Commissioner for Public Health under the Emergency Medical Services Act. After reviewing the legislative rule, the EMS Advisory Council shall provide a recommendation to the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee that they should authorize all or part of the proposed rule, amend the rule, propose that it be withdrawn, or reject the proposed rule.

Both Originating Bill 1 and SB67 passed and will be reported to the full senate for passage.

SB15 prohibits teachers from receiving a pay increase “for any education level above A.B. plus 15,” unless they have received a master’s degree that directly connects to their field. This bill would not affect teachers who are currently teaching and have already received a master’s degree, regardless of field.

The intent is to encourage teachers to pursue master’s degrees in the subjects they teach to help strengthen their effectiveness. They would receive a salary increase once the degree is attained.

Senator Patricia Rucker, chairman of the Senate Education Committee said, “This bill is essentially going to encourage teachers to become better teachers.”

These bills now head to the House for consideration.

“Let me be clear: I am not anti-gun or anti-Second Amendment. As an occasional hunter, I have owned a long gun all my life and have no problem with people owning guns legally.

There are places for guns and places where guns should not be allowed. I simply believe that, along with K-12 classrooms, federal and state buildings, courtrooms, detention facilities, sports stadiums and airplanes, college campuses are not places for guns.”

You can read Marshall University President Jerome Gilbert’s opinion piece in the Charleston Gazette-Mail here.

Leaders of the schools presented their budgets to the Senate Finance Committee Thursday and stated they had to use the colleges’ own reserves to make sure students received the scholarship money the state usually provides.

Brad McElhinny of WV MetroNews story further explains the situation here.

Political activity is defined as expressly advocating for others or support or opposition for a political party. The provisions of the bill do not apply to the judiciary, members of the legislature, the governor, or uncompensated individuals. The bill expressly states that public officials and employees may not engage in political activity while on duty or while using a publicly owned vehicle. The Ethics Commission can provide the same consequences for violations that they already have, such as sanctions or recommendation of termination. New Senator Woodrum, a former County Commissioner, asked if this bill applies to local county and municipal elected officials and counsel responded that it does. The bill has no impact if the public officials and employees are off-duty.

A lengthy list of rules was the next order of business after a brief explanation from Chairman Trump that WV is unique in the legislative involvement in the rulemaking process. Some of the rules considered:

SB 193 & 194 – Board of Landscape Architects; eliminates requirement of WV exam and waives fees for qualified individuals

SB 196 – Board of Medicine; allows practice during declared state of emergency registration process for physicians, PAs, and applies to retired and inactive status, also.

SB 203, 204, and 205 – Board of Pharmacy; covers continuing education on controlled substances, adds schedule 5 drugs to monitoring, and pharmacists can provide all CDC recommended immunizations

SB 206, 207, 208, 209 – Board of Physical Therapy; addresses dry needling, telehealth, changes continuing education fees to a dual structure based on hours, and adds a noncompliance fee of $210

SB 215 – Bureau of Senior Services; implements the shared table initiative

All rules are bundled into SB 182, miscellaneous agencies.

The committee concluded with passage of SB79 which was laid over on Feb.17th due to concerns. The bill addresses relocation of a parent with child and allows for an expedited hearing in such cases as a new job. The parents may agree and come up with their own solution for relocation and file a modified parenting plan. There was discussion about who would be parties to the modifications, such as grandparents, if they were parties to the case originally.

Wednesday, the Senate Workforce Development Committee did not take up any bills, but heard a presentation. Christopher Burroughs, a West Virginian who grew up in the Beckley-area testified to the committee about his battle with drug addiction. He began experimenting with drugs in junior high school. He lost his father and turned to drugs and alcohol. He turned to a drug clinic Beckley Treatment Center for help and began making progress. He then thought he was taking another step forward but after a 30-day stint in a drug rehabilitation clinic he realized going back to the treatment center in Beckley was where he belonged. Due to his commitment to getting clean and the help of a counselor at the Beckley Treatment Center Christopher is eight years clean.

He explained to members Medicaid regulations along with OHFLAC DHHR local health departments, as well as OSHA and DEA regulations that many times are “one way” tend to create more issues for those addicted. He told members the Legislature needs to stop municipalities from creating issues for clinics. MAT clinics treat functioning addicts, but many issues hinder their progress. The distance many have to drive to the clinics make it difficult for an employee and many times they are turned away from potential employment because of their commitment to treatment. He added he had spoken with Senator Roland Roberts, R-Raleigh and Delegate Jeff Pack, R-Raleigh about developing a MAT program for incarcerated addicts which would allow them to continue treatment upon release.

Senator Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, expressed concerns over tampering with the regulation of MAT clinics. He spoke of grants available and peer recovery homes where there was no regulation in place. He mentioned instances where fire departments found people sleeping in crowded houses. He went on to explain it was then that Medicaid began, what it thought was a carrot, reimbursing for treatment. However, an unintended consequence of that decision was the peer recovery homes began recruiting out of state people to come to West Virginia for treatment. The home would get the person a medical card, and many of those folks ended up on the streets, which lead to IV drug issues. He asked if he was inaccurate with that perception.

Burroughs agreed with Tarr and said he, himself, is against needle exchange programs. He added addiction is a money-making effort and felt peer recovery houses aren’t held to a standard of outcome. He went on to say that many feel corporations and state regulators tie the counselors hands, and more competition would force facilities to change their way of doing business. He also said group homes don’t have accountability, however not all are bad actors, and some do good work. It is a money-making business, so the regulations administered need to be targeted.

Tarr commented that deregulating treatment facilities would return the state to how treatment began, and that was a concern when it’s coupled with being a cash business.

Burroughs explained Medicaid and Insurance pay or reimburse patients so there aren’t as many patients paying with cash as before. He added the regulation he was focusing on is the drug screens the addict takes. “We need to get to the bottom of the issue causing the relapse. Don’t throw a patient out of treatment for 30-days due to failed drug screens, because when they return after the designated time away they are mostly likely going to be worse off than when they were dismissed.” He added that clinics aren’t able to take in patients with other drugs in their system, only opiates. “The patient is using because they’re addicted, but Medicaid prevents clinics from seeing the addict because of this regulation. Patients turn to methamphetamines or cocaine because the prescription drugs ran out. My concern is the over-regulating of the doctor or counselor preventing them from doing different things to help the patient.”

For the first time since the Great Depression, registered Republicans now outnumber registered Democrats in West Virginia. According to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office, there are 448,924 registered Republicans, making up 37.81 percent of all registered voters, and 444,609 registered Democrats, making up 36.46 percent of voters.

Talkline’s Hoppy Kercheval’s commentary gives Senator Shelly Moore Capito credit for the shift. It can be read here.