MORGANTOWN — The House of Delegates passed its foster care bill and sent it to the Senate on Tuesday. It passed and handful of other bills, too, most of them unanimously.
HB 4092 is the foster care bill. Among other things, the 35-page bill establishes a Foster Children’s Bill of Rights and a Foster Parents’ and Kinship Bill of Rights, and establishes a reasonable and prudent parenting standard for caregivers to use when choosing various activities for foster children.
It also sets higher compensation rates for foster parents: 40% of the minimum daily rate of $75 for fostering through child placement agencies, or at least $900 per month for fostering directly through the Department of Health and Human Resources.
DHHR estimates the increased compensation to cost an additional $30.3 million per year, with $16.9 million from state funds and the rest from federal funds.
Delegate Larry Kump, R-Berkeley was among those who praised the bill. Among the many positive elements is the support for foster parents. “Foster parents want to be supported, they want to be part of the team, they want to be included. I think it’s important to say that in code.”
Delegate Jason Barrett, D-Berkeley, commented, “Our foster families in West Virginia are truly angels among us. … We must acknowledge that this is an investment, an investment in West Virignia’s children.” It will lead to fewer kids being placed out of state or in higher levels of care than they need.
Delegate Mick Bates, D-Raleigh and minority chair of Finance, pointed out the extra federal money the bill brings in, and noted the work Finance did to find the $16.9 million for the bill. He said they need to make sure that the Senate doesn’t use that money for something else in its version of the budget bill. “We’ve done good work here but the job is not done.”
Delegate Daryl Cowles, R-Morgan, is a foster parent and led a string of requests by delegates for a ruling from the speaker on whether they should vote on a bill that will directly impact them financially. Based on House rules that they’re all members of a class of five or more people, they were directed to vote.
The bill passed 97-1. All local delegates voted for it.
Other bills passed
SB 620 authorizes the commissioner of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish a nonviolent offense parole program for qualifying nonviolent offenders without action of the Parole Board. It was explained that the state Parole Board is falling behind on parole requests so this turns the task over to Corrections in certain limited circumstances. It passed 97-0 and goes back to the Senate for amendment concurrence.
HB 2775 requires high school students to complete a course in personal finance in order to qualify for graduation. Delegate Patrick McGeehan earned some unintentional chuckles when he asked if the bil applied to private and parochial schools and got a yes in reply. That made him angry.
“I’m tired of the government down here mandating on my Catholic schools what we can and can’t learn and can and can’t teach. … Lay off with the mandates. If you want to preach local control, lay off the lip service.”
After he finished the education chair complimented his speech then told him the previous answer was wrong – it applies only to public schools. McGeehan voted against in anyway. The tally was 89-9. Locally, only Amy Summers, R-Taylor, voted against it.
HB 4165 is called the West Virginia Remembers Program and allows veterans to accept invitations to speak of their experiences in school classrooms. It was explained that this is already permitted but some schools are reluctant to do it without express permission in code. It passed 94-3. All local delegates voted for it.
HB 4621 is the oddly named FinTech Regulatory Sandbox Act. Four other states are doing this. It allows tech companies testing innovative products or services in the banking industry to apply for limited exemptions for licensing or other regulatory hurdles in order to set up and conduct their tests in West Virginia. The goal is to open doors for entrepreneurs and, if successful, possibly be applied to other tech businesses. It passed 97-0.
HB 4633 allows county commissions to dispose of unwanted property by donating it to any nonprofit community center organization or nonprofit senior center organization without putting it up for public auction. It passed 88-8. All local delegates voted for it.
HB 4729 requires higher education boards to establish or continue an educational materials affordability committee to recommend to their bookstores how to minimize student book costs. This includes encouraging or incentivizing the use of older versions of books if they’re available, less costly and still relevant. It passed 96-0.
Other bill action
The House concurred with Senate amendments to these bills and sent them to the governor:
HB 2497 expands protections for public employee whistleblowers.
HB 2922 deals with people convicted of misdemeanor first-time drug offenses – excluding marijuana — and would allow a judge to order the offender to be evaluated for and enrolled in a drug treatment program prior to and as a condition of dismissal and eventual possible expungement.
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.
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.”
Two other bills will see more work.
HB 4007 is the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. The House concurred with Senate amendments but made another tweak and sent it back.
HB 4275 is a Fire Commission rules bill that has generated controversy over an update to 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.
Some members of the House tried and failed to amend the bill to strike the Fire Commission amendment because of safety concerns and keep the building-wide AFCI requirement. The Senate succeeded in striking that amendment and sent it back to the House, which – not unanimously – refused to concur with the change. So it goes back to the Senate.
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