The state Senate on Thursday killed a bill to require performance audits of the Secondary Schools Athletic Commission, but unanimously approved one to require the state school board to develop a home economics instruction program that schools could work into their curricula.
Meanwhile, the House of Delegates approved a bill containing a package of rules governing the state Fire Commission, including a controversial rule rolling back a requirement of state electric code.
Senate action
SB 192 proposed to allow the legislative auditor to conduct performance audits and examine the revenue, expenditures and performance of the SSAC.
Sole sponsor Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, explained the genesis of the bill.
Complaints arose after the SSAC announced its reclassification of schools for sports participation. Tarr said he became concerned about the transparency of a statewide organization that uses students as a revenue-generating asset.
He said he learned from SSAC’s director that the reclassification stemmed from Charleston Catholic and Wheeling Central wanting more competition. SSAC used a somewhat arbitrary formula based on per capita income, distance from the county seat and population to base the reclassification. It was a unique formula not employed in other states.
SSAC is subject to a tax audit, but that’s not the same as a performance audit, he said. Since SSAC is considered quasi-governmental and is referenced in code, and places students at risk of harm, he felt the Legislature should be able to review whether it’s operating according to its mission and meeting the charges of statute, as a means of transparency.
Sen. Dave Sypolt, R-Preston, wondered where SSAC’s money comes from and learned it gets no state funds, except for some state retirement system funding for personnel.
Sen.. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel and a football referee for 41 years, opposed the bill. He said of SSAC, “They have done a good job , in my opinion, of trying to regulate the athletics in this state.
SSAC gets about 40% of its revenue from state basketball tournaments, about 20% from corporate sponsors, he said.
The reclassification ruffled feathers, he said. “Nothing gets people fired up faster than messing with their team.” But the Senate shouldn’t appear to be punishing the SSAC over an unpopular decision.
Sen. Bill Ihlenfeld, D-Ohio, said the legislative auditor has a lot on his plate just looking into the various agencies’ proper use of taxpayer dollars. This bill could divert the auditor’s limited resources to a private organization that receives no taxpayer dollars.
And Sen. Bob Beach, D-Monongalia, pointed out that the Education Committee learned that a senator could request an audit of SSAC at any time without mandating it in code.
The vote was close and the bill failed 16-17. Locally, four senators voted no: Beach, Clements, Sypolt and Roman Prezioso. Two voted yes: Mike Maroney and Randy Smith.
SB 297 is the home ec bill. It simply says, “Persons with an understanding of family and consumer sciences are better prepared to perform everyday activities such as cooking, sewing, house cleaning, minor home repair, budgeting, and time management.”
It requires the state school board to develop a family and consumer sciences program, or specific subjects within the field, that schools may offer. It passed unanimously without discussion and goes to the House.
House bills
Delegate Mick Bates, D-Raleigh, opened the House floor session with a motion to discharge his bill to legalize adult cannabis use and allow for county referenda to produce and sell cannabis, HB 2331, from the Banking and Insurance Committee and bring it to the House floor for action.
As is typical, leadership responded with a motion to table Bates’ motion, which passed 54-41. A subsequent motion to untable it failed 39-55.
The Fire Commission rules bill is HB 4275. It contains a number of rules but the one that generated controversy deals with an update the state’s adoption of the National Electric Code from the 2014 edition to the 2017 edition – with one exception.
The exception is a requirement in both editions that new construction include Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters for most areas in new home construction. The rule includes an amendment put forth by the state Fire Commission and authored by the National Home Builders Association to limit AFCIs in new construction of one- and two-family homes to bedrooms.
On Wednesday, Delegates Barbra Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, and Steve Westfall, Westfall, R-Jackson, offered an amendment to the bill to strike the amendment to the rule and keep the building-wide AFCI requirement. That amendment failed.
Because of that failure, Fleischauer on Thursday opposed passage of the bill. “I think this Fire Commission rule is a terrible retreat on safety,” she said.
Delegate Michael Angelucci, D-Marion, is administrator of the Marion County Rescue Squad. He pointed ot the firefighters ithe gallery for Firefighters Day. “A yes vote on this is rolling back safety regulations,” he said. “Why in the world would we ever vote for a bill that rolls back safety regulations that puts more men and women at risk on Firefighters Day?”
Delegate Geoff Foster, R-Putnam, said that the AFCI rule is just one among many, and defeating the bill would kill many good rules, such handicap access to buildings and making school building intruder locks accessible by firefighters.
The bill passed 66-29. Locally, Democrat Dave Pethtel and Republicans Buck Jennings, Amy Summers and Terri Sypolt voted for it. Joining Angelucci and Fleischauer against it were Democrats Mike Caputo, Evan Hansen, Linda Longstreth, Rodney Pyles, Danielle Walker and John Williams.
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