CHARLESTON — The 60-day legislative session ended at midnight Saturday. Action on bills continued until the gavel came down.
Bills to lower insulin copays, save high school athletes’’ lives and maintain fire safety were among those that passed after The Dominion Post’s print deadline. Here’s a look at the bills and a couple fond farewells.
HB 4543 is the insulin bill. The Senate increased the House copay cap for a 30-day supply of insulin from $25 to $100. The Senate passed its version Friday afternoon and sent it to the House, where it appeared to sit idle for most of the day.
There was talk that the House was considering seeking a compromise copay of $50 and people with insight into the bill confirmed that some informal approaches were being made.
There was concern that the House might try to amend the bill to reflect that interest and send it back to the Senate where lack of time would probably do it. But the legislators close to the bill said the House would just accept the Senate version rather than risk the whole bill.
Still, there was nail biting when the bill appeared on a list issued at 9:40 p.m. of bills up for action; it was was skipped over, prompting Delegate Cindy Lavender-Bowe, D-Greenbrier, to ask the speaker about the plans for the bill. The speaker assured her they would get to it.
The vote to accept the Senate version came at 10:41 p.m. and the House passed it 96-4; all local delegates voted for it.
But it required some additional technical amendment and had to go back to the Senate. So the fate of the bill came down to the wire. The Senate agreed to the new House amendments at 11:22 p.m. It’s on its way to the governor.
There are several types of insulin, including short-acting and long acting formulations, and some diabetics use more than one type. The cap covers the total of all prescriptions so the patient won’t be paying $100 per drug.
The bill specifies that nothing prevents the insurer from making the copay less than $100. Insurers must also cover equipment and supplies, including glucose monitors, syringes and infusion devices.
In response to a request from the West Virginia Independent Pharmacy Association, it says drug makers, wholesalers and pharmacy benefit managers may not recoup any lost revenue from the dispensing pharmacy or pharmacist.
HB 4497 requires that an automated external defibrillator and a posted emergency action plan be present on school or event grounds during all school athletic events and practices under the control, supervision, and regulation of the Secondary School Activities Commission.
The law will be called the Alex Miller Law in memory of Alex Miller, a Roane County football player who collapsed and died during a school football game.
The Senate passed it with amendment at 2:14 p.m. Saturday and returned it to the House, where it sat until 8:45 p.m. The House concurred 99-0 and sent it to the governor.
HB 4275 is a Fire Commission rules bill that includes an update to the state’s adoption of the National Electric Code from the 2014 edition to the 2017 edition. One item of the bill deals with Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters, a fire safety device, and led to an impasse between the House and Senate that was resolved in conference committee on Feb. 29.
But the fate of this bill also came close to the wire. The House adopted the conference report and passed the bill 61-37 on Thursday. The Senate waited until Saturday to take it up, and passed it 34-0 at 7:41 p.m.
Both editions of the National Electric Code require new construction to include Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters in all areas of a newly built home except the garage, an unfinished basement, a bathroom or the home’s exterior unless there’s a device in a room connected to the exterior that would require it. AFCI’s detect arc faults and trip in order to prevent fires starting in unseen places, such as inside walls.
The version of the bill that passed out of the House included an amendment put forth by the state Fire Commission and authored by the National Home Builders Association to limit AFCIs to bedrooms in the new construction of one- and two-family homes. The Senate struck that amendment to preserve the NEC code unchanged.
The conference committee compromise says that for any renovations that don’t increase the square footage of the home, AFCIs will be required only in bedrooms. For home additions that don’t require electrical service, no upgrades are required.
The practical effect of that: Renovations that increase the square footage will require AFCIs in the new addition but no upgrades in the rest of the house if the service is unaffected by the addition. New construction will require AFCIs throughout, as per current code with the stated exemptions.
Farewells
Throughout the day, delegates who are leaving the House this year gave brief farewell speechs.
Delegate Linda Longstreth, D-Marion, is running for county commission and said her goodbye. “It’s been quite a ride good and bad,” she said. She appreciates she’s been able to serve for 16 years. “I wouldn’t trade this opportunity for anything in the world.”
She looks to see new, fresh minds to come into the House. “It’s time for a new generation.”
Delegate Mike Caputo, also D-Marion, is running to succeed Sen. Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, who is retiring.
“I never thought this day was coming,” Caputo said. He’s a coal miner raised in a coal family who’s served 24 years in the House. “I never dreamed I would ever be one of 100 representing the people of West Virginia. … It gets in your blood and you just come to love it.”
His mother got to see him file for office the first time but passed away and didn’t see him win by 10 votes, he said.
A fellow delegate advised him to always carry the membership book with him on his travels so he would always have a friend in reach if he ever needed help. He followed that advice, but said his colleagues are more than friends, they’re family.
He also mentioned last year’s incident when he had an angry reaction to a racist display set up outside the chamber. The doors were closed for prayer and Caputo forced them open. The door hit a House doorman who later sought medical attention.
“We all make mistakes, Caputo said. “You own it, you apologize and you try to pick up your life and move on.”
He thanked the 98 members who forgave him for it. Whether the math error was conscious or not, he left out one member. Delegate Marshall Wilson, I-Berkeley, attempted unsuccessfully to have Caputo ejected from office after the incident. Wilson stood for the customary standing ovation that follows each speech, but didn’t applaud with the others.
Caputo concluded his address, “It’s been the most humbling experience a boy from Rivesville, West Virginia, could ever receive.”
Other bills
SCR 46 is a study resolution crafted to do the work of two safe drinking water bills that died.
Both bills are called the Clean Drinking Water Act. Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, is lead sponsor of HB 4542. Sen. Bill Ihlenfeld, D-Ohio, picked up Hansen’s bill and introduced it in the Senate as SB 679.
Both bills deal with toxic manmade chemicals known as PFASs, which are found in various household products and cleaning supplies, in water-repellant fabric and firefighting foam. They are suspected of being carcinogenic. The chemicals don’t break down and remain in the environment and in the bodies of humans and animal.
West Virginia has two areas affected by PFAS. One is Wood County, where runoff from Dupont’s Washington Works plant put the chemical known as C8 into the water, leading to the class action suits in 2001 that are featured in the National Geographic documentary The Devil We Know, and the recent movie Dark Waters.
The other is in Martinsburg, where the presence of PFAS is apparently to firefighting foam used in training. The health impacts of that are being studied.
The bills have three parts. One, they require industrial sites that have used PFAS to disclose that to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Two, those facilities would have to monitor their discharges. Three, state agencies would use the data gathered to propose Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act thresholds.
The resolution requests the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Health and Human Resources cooperatively propose and initiate a public source-water supply study plan to sample PFAS substances for all community water systems in West Virginia, including schools and daycares that operate treatment systems regulated by the DHHR.
The Senate adopted the resolution back on Feb. 24. The House waited until Saturday night.
HB 4494 creates the Tobacco Use Cessation Initiative. As it came from the House, where it passed 90-10, the program would draw its funding from 25% of a prior year’s interest earnings from Rainy Day B, the Tobacco Settlement Medical Trust Fund.
The bill creates a Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Task Force under the Bureau for Public Health’s Division of Tobacco Prevention to recommend and monitor programs to be administered by the division.
Senate Finance took out the funding mechanism to make the bill revenue neutral and kept the task force. The Senate passed that version 33-1 Friday and sent it to the House for amendment concurrence.
The House waited until 10:07 p.m. to concur with additional amendment and send it back to the Senate. The Senate concurred and re-passed it at 11:20 p.m. It’s on its way to the governor.
HB 4524 makes the whole state “wet” – meaning permitting the sale of alcohol in stores for off-premises consumption – by July 1. It originated from a request by Snowshoe Resort, which is located in a dry community. Customers are frustrated because they can’t buy wine from local stores.
The Senate amended the bill regarding how localities can choose to remain dry. The House refused to concur and a conference committee settled on two methods: A county or municipality may issue an order for a local referendum by July 1 and hold the referendum in November; or the commission or council may simply vote by July 1 to stay dry.
The House adopted the conference report and passed the bill 75-24 at 10:39 p.m. The Senate passed it 29-5 at 11:28 p.m.
HB 4560 enables shops that sell wine to deliver gifts baskets containing wine without the purchaser coming into the store. The purchaser may order the gift basket by phone or email or website. The Senate amended it to include a legal-age verification provision and passed it 33-1 on Friday. It went back to the House for amendment concurrence. The House concurred on Saturday but made an additional cleanup amendment and bounced it back to the Senate. The Senate concurred at 11:12 p.m. and it heads to the governor.
HB 4069 is the Student Religious Liberties Act. The bill says a school district must treat a student’s religious expression in the same manner it treats other forms of expression. Students may express their views in homework, artwork and other assignments without discrimination or penalty. Students may participate in religious activities and organize religious activities in the same manner as they would in nonreligious activities.
The House passed it 76-22 on Feb. 11. The Senate took it up again Saturday and passed a trimmed-down version 33-1 at 1:34 p.m.
But it amended the bill’s title and sent it back to the House, which amended some of the stricken provisions back in, and passed it 83-16 at 8:32 p.m. That bounced it back to the Senate, which refused to concur. So at 10:32 p.m. the House surrendered and passed the Senate version 74-25.
SB 597 provides raises for magistrates and judges spread across three years.
On July 1, family court judges will get a 10% raise. The total cost will be $441,150 for the additional expense. On July 1, 2021, Supreme Court Justices, circuit judges and magistrates will get a 5% raise (total additional cost $960,750), followed by another 5% raise on July 1, 2022 (another $960,750).
The last judicial pay raise was in 2011.
The House passed its amended version on Friday. The Senate concurred at 10:48 p.m. Saturday and it heads to the governor.
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