CHARLESTON—Medical cannabis, the WVU rifle team, the Bible and a Senate version of a Monongalia County delegate’s racial discrimination bill were among the long list of bills the Senate handled on Wednesday. It was Crossover Day, Day 50, when all bills have to pass out of their house of origin or die.
Here are a few highlights. All bills passed go to the House.
SB 752 is the medical cannabis bill. It allows the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board to recommend to the commissioner of the Bureau of Public Health to add to (or subtract from) the current list of means to deliver medical cannabis. So dry leaf and smoking cold be added at a later date.
The original bill added ulcerative colitis and opioid use disorder to the list of eligible medical conditions that can be certified for medical cannabis use. A floor amendment removed opioid use disorder but again allows the advisory board to recommend updates to the list of conditions.
Current law allows terminal cancer patients to obtain medical cannabis from other states with compatible laws. This is called reciprocity and the bill expands reciprocity to all medical cannabis patients. The bill specifies that employees of cannabis growers, producers and dispensers must be at least 18 and must obtain a license for $25.
It removes a continuing education requirement for physicians, since they will just be certifying patients and not prescribing medical cannabis. It clarifies the fee structure for cannabis businesses. It also expands the research field. Current law allows only universities to perform research. The bill adds accredited colleges and medicals schools.
The bill passed 30-4. All local senators voted for it.
SB 38 allows county school boards to offer elective high school courses on any sacred texts or comparative religion. It was on third reading with the right to amend but no amendments were offered. It passed 34-0 without discussion.
It will probably go to conference committee to address conflicts with its former twin, HB 4780, which passed Tuesday and allows school boards to develop elective social studies courses to teach the literary and historical aspects of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
SB 160 permits someone buying a hunting and fishing license to choose to donate money to the WVU rifle team. The donation may be of any amount and will be placed in a new West Virginia University Rifle Team Program Fund. The fund can also accept money from the Legislature, charitable foundations and federal agencies. It passed 34-0.
SB 850 prohibits racial discrimination based on hair textures and protective hair styles historically associated with a particular race, including braids, locks and twists.
Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, feared it will open the door to gratuitous litigation against employers. Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, said he also had some trepidation about it in committee but changed his mind. “Any time that there’s racial discrimination in the workplace, this body needs to stand against that.” Lawsuits shouldn’t be a concern. It passed 32-2.
The bill originated out of Senate Judiciary and is identical to Delegate Danielle Walker’s now-dead HB 4508, which never made it to a committee agenda.
SB 120 sets priorities for plugging abandoned oil and gas wells. When a bond posted for a well is forfeited, the proceeds must be used on the land where the well is located if the bond was forfeited for failure to plug the well or repair the well, or several other specified reasons.
Under current law, when a bond is forfeited, the money goes to the Department of Environmental Protection’s well capping fund. DEP has a priority list of wells to be capped and draws from the pool of money to address wells in order.
It passed 34-0.
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