CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Members of the House of Delegates voted on many pieces of legislation this week, sending some to the Senate for debate and several others completed the legislative process this week.
“We knew by consciously deciding this year to spend more time learning about issues and talking about potential solutions the natural result would be fewer bills brought to the House floor for a vote and I believe that’s a good thing,” said House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay. “I’ve been excited to shift the mindset and the narrative away from assuming the goal here is to pass as many bills as possible because often what is necessary to fix a problem in this state is not a new line of Code.”
Hanshaw gave as an example the issue of dilapidated buildings and structures, something every town throughout West Virginia struggles to manage. He said that with roughly 50 different proposals on how the state could or should address it, each looking only from a narrow perspective in a specific portion of the state, it would be a disservice to look with blinders at each individual bill one at a time.
“We have probably 50 different proposals on that, and it’s incumbent upon us as the Legislature to really examine how we want to deal with that issue as a state,” he said. “There are many other problems that truly are not ours to solve, but these are the types of decisions we should be making here as a body to solve what problems we can.
“I’m proud of our members for showing up to the 60-day session ready to listen and talk rather than just perform a rapid-fire sorting of bills that come from any number of sources.”
Hanshaw pointed out the House has passed 63 bills, including two that completed the legislative process this week after unanimous votes in the House of Delegates.
Senate Bill 138 would create enhanced criminal penalties for a person repeatedly convicted of fleeing an officer, and those repeat offenses would play into sentencing. Senate Bill 240 would update definitions included under the state’s criminal code as it relates to the extortion of sexual conduct and would criminalize the practice of threatening blackmail under the threat of disclosing private images without consent. Those two measures now go to the Executive for action.
The House Health and Human Resources Committee this week advanced several measures related to foster care. House Bill 2503 would revamp the foster care clothing allowance program by establishing what is considered an adequate wardrobe and approved necessities for children removed from their homes. It also would provide reloadable purchasing cards for more flexible purchasing online or at any store that accepts an electronic payment transaction. House Bill 2934 would require the Department of Human Services to prioritize housing applications, such as HUD or any government-assisted housing, for children who have turned 18 and transitioning from foster care. House Bill 2377 would update child welfare data reporting and create a Critical Incident Review Team to review both fatalities and near fatalities involving children in the child welfare system. It would allow the Foster Care Ombudsman to access relevant report and would require reports to be retained for at least one year.
The 60-day, regular legislative session ends at midnight April 12.
