CHARLESTON — Judicial pay, used cars and police in private clubs, and dark money in campaign finance were among the issues in bills passed by the House of Delegates on Friday, the 59th day of the 60-day legislative session.
Here are some highlights.
— SB 398 deals with compensation for senior judges and magistrates. It stems from the overpayment issues that were part of last summer’s impeachment discussions.
It sets the per diem pay for retired judges recalled to duty, called senior judges, at $435 per day. Their combined total per diem plus retirement pay may not exceed a sitting judge’s compensation.
It sets senior status magistrate pay at $200 per day and likewise forbids per diem plus retirement pay of exceeding that of a sitting magistrate.
It also addresses several other matters. It passed 77-23 and returns to the Senate for amendment concurrence.
— SB 522, called Randy’s Dream, sets up a Special Road Repair Fund to maintain secondary roads. However, the House Finance committee stripped out the funding put in by the Senate, $110 million. Finance also packaged in HB 2012, the country roads accountability and transparency bill. It directs the state auditor to supply on its wvcheckbook.gov state spending transparency website financial information about DOH contracted projects in all 55 counties.
It passed 100-0 and returns to the Senate.
— SB 543 deals with used car sales. It allows used vehicles to be sold “as is” under specified conditions: It is inoperable or a total loss; it’s been custom built or modified for show; it sold for less than $2,500, has more than 100,000 miles on the odometer or is at least 7 years old.
It generated some debate, with opponents saying it could harm consumers.
Supporters saw it differently. Education chair Danny Hamrick, R-Harrison, said hobbyists like to buy used vehicles with known problems. This bill allows dealers to sell under a lower cost option. “This just gives fairness to our dealers and our private citizens to do what the banks already do.”
Delegate John Mandt, R-Cabell, said Marshall University sits in his district. College-age youths are often balancing school and part-time jobs and don’t have big budgets. “For them, it’s a good bill. … Let’s allow people to have a choice.”
Delegate Terri Sypolt, R-Preston, used the bill as a chance to note the horrific conditions of Preston roads and what the roads do to cars. “We have a lot of vehicles that’s not worth $4,000.”
The bill passed 78-21 and returns to the Senate.
— SB 544 raises State Police salaries. The Senate version provided three annual raises of $3,000 each, plus increasing the annual longevity raise from $500 to $600.
The House amended the bill, and built into the House budget bill, a single raise of $2,370, and kept the longevity raise at $500. It passed 100-0 and returns to the Senate.
— SB 561 is known as the bill to allow the Alcohol Beverage Control Administration to ask local lawn enforcement to assist in enforcing liquor laws in bars and clubs, but addresses another 14 issues besides.
Those include sales of liquor by the drink, bottle sales and licenses for private hotels and nine-hole golf courses.
There’d been a good deal of levity in the debate, but Delegate Jim Butler, R-Mason, took a serious turn describing his parents’ struggles with alcohol and his mother shooting herself on his 9th birthday.
“Policywise, we’re making it easier for people to fall into these traps,” he said. “If you think you’re going to make money off of this, I think you’re wrong.” And kids will suffer.
Delegate Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, argued the other side, saying state alcohol regulations are excessive and often ridiculous. “The purpose of this bill, as amended, is to have common sense in our alcohol laws.” It eliminates antiquated language and removes some unnecessary government micromanaging.
The bill passed 71-28 and returns to the Senate.
— SB 564 provides for comprehensive Medicaid coverage for pregnant women who earn up to 300 percent of poverty level, and six months of postpartum care for women earning up to 185 percent of poverty level.
The bill received warm remarks from both sides of the aisle. Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, summed them up: “You can feel very good, no matter what your politics are, for voting for this bill.” It passed 97-3 and returns to the Senate.
— SB 4, the bill to make Municipal Home Rule permanent, is going to the governor after the Senate concurred to House amendments.
— SB 665 deals with procedures for expedited oil and gas well permitting. The House approved an amended version of the Senate bill. The House reduced the application fee for an expedited permit, set by the Senate at $20,000 for the first horizontal well on a pad and $10,000 for additional wells, to $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.
With Department of Environmental Protection agreement, it also removed a set of criteria for the DEP to consider for approving permits, to avoid putting DEP in the position of picking winners and losers.
Any fees collected above $1 million will go the Oil and Gas Reclamation Fund to cap orphan wells.
It passed 97-1 and returns to the Senate.
— HCR 33 says: “The Legislature hereby applies to Congress, under the provisions of Article V of the Constitution of the United States, for the calling of a convention of the states limited to proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United States that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress.”
A motion to table it narrowly failed. There arguments against it were familiar: It opens the whole Constitution to revision and total destruction. No proponents spoke. It failed 40-56.
— HCR 61 urges Congress to call a convention to amend the Constitution to limit congressional terms of office. Supporters said the federal government has grown too large and out of control and needs to be reined in.
A motion to postpone consideration of the resolution until such time as the Legislature imposes term limits on itself failed 41-56.
Speaking for the resolution, Delegate Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, said there is no way the convention, with 38 states participating, could turn into a runaway. And his constituents have overwhelmingly voiced their support for it.
Delegate John Doyle, D- Jefferson, said term limits already exist in the form of elections, and imposing them via the Constitution would be fundamentally undemocratic.
Sponaugle said lack of term limits helps small states like West Virginia against states like California, Texas and Florida that have 30 to 50 representatives each. Representatives in small states can build power and influence through seniority.
It passed 55-42.
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