MORGANTOWN — Here are some bills the House and Senate approved on Monday.
House action
HB 4067 removes a legal loophole for people who steal rent-to-own property by refusing to return it. Current law doesn’t allow for prosecution of this crime. This sets up the criteria for prosecution and the penalties for conviction. It passed 92-6 and goes to the Senate. All local delegates of both parties voted for it.
HB 4387 creates a Donated Drug Repository Program to establish criteria for unused prescription drugs to be distributed to those in need. Delegate Matt Rorbach, R-Cabell and a physician, said there are “mountains of drugs” left over in nursing homes and hospitals that are disposed of but could be distributed to the indigent and seniors without prescription drug coverage. It passed 98-0 and goes to the Senate.
HB 4955 reduces the fees for licenses to carry concealed deadly weapons. The fee for a regular license falls from $75 to $25. The fee for a provisional license for those ages 18020 falls from $25 to $15. Honorably discharged veterans are added to the list of those exempt from paying a fee.
Several delegates referred to it as a “freedom bill” because it lowers the cost for people to exercise their Second Amendment rights. A string of delegates asked for a ruling from the speaker on their eligibility to vote on the bill because they were either veterans, gun carriers, or both. After about 10 of these, Speaker Roger Hanshaw stopped taking requests and asked those the rest of those who sought a ruling to light their lights used to notify the speaker of a request to talk. Hanshaw tallied 85 lights. It passed 98-0 and goes to the Senate.
Senate action
SB 265 authorizes the Department of Environmental Protection to create a Reclamation of Abandoned and Dilapidated Properties Program and use program funds to assist cities and counties in addressing their local problems. Passed 32-0 and goes to the House.
SB 702 establishes a nutrition and exercise education fund to award to eligible districts that want to adopt alternate physical fitness and nutrition programs that focus on the importance of increasing awareness of preventing childhood obesity and diseases. Passed 32-0 and goes to the House.
HB 2497 expands protections for public employee whistleblowers. It forbids an employer from denying a whistleblower employee covered by the civil service system a promotion or raise to which they were entitled, and allows the employee to file a grievance for retaliation.
It also bars employers from prohibiting civil service employees from engaging in off-duty political activity. The Senate passed it 32-0 and returned it to the House for concurrence Senate amendments.
HB 4381 extends the time adopted children may obtain a lifetime hunting, fishing and trapping license at half the cost of the adult price.
Current law says the lifetime rate for any resident up to age 2 may obtain a half-price license. The bill extends to age 12 for any legally adopted resident. The bill keeps current language setting the lifetime license fee at 23 times the fee for an annual license.
It passed 32-0 and goes to the governor.
HB 4470 strikes a couple words mistakenly included in criminal code to clarify that adults who commit a criminal offense while still in juvenile custody may not be held within the sight or sound of adult inmates. The bill was requested by the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety. It passed 32-0 and returns to eh House for concurrence on a tweak of the effective date.
HB 4476 deals with establishing, managing and monitoring “a statewide system to facilitate the timely and efficient collection, submission, testing, retention and disposition of forensic evidence in sexual assault cases.”
It expands current code on the subject with instructions on how all that will be accomplished. It requires victim notification should an agency choose to dispose of a kit after the mandatory retention period. It passed 32-0 and returns to the House for concurrence on various amendments.
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