MORGANTOWN – The House of Delegates on Friday sent the just-passed Hope Scholarship bill back to committee for retooling after receiving some unexpected price-tag news. And after an amendment kerfuffle Thursday, the House unanimously passed its bill to reign in the governor’s emergency powers.
Across the way, a divided Senate passed the governor’s COVID-19 liability protection bill.
HB 2013 is the Hope Scholarship bill. It originated as a way to provide state money to families for public school to transfer into a private or home-school and was expanded to include all state students starting in 2026. It passed 60-39 and would have gone over to the Senate.
But Finance chair Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, brought the bill back to the floor Friday morning. He said a fiscal note from the legislative auditor’s office put an unexpected twist in their financial calculations.
The projected first-year cost was $23 million and the figure the delegates based their votes on. But the auditor pointed out an issue: A parent of a student currently in private or homeschooling could enroll their child in a summer public school program, making them eligible to apply for the Hope Scholarship. Or, they could enroll their child in the public school system to become eligible. “As this would introduce new students into the eligible population, it has the potential to substantially increase costs.”
The auditor outlined the math that led to possible first-year cost of $112.3 million, nearly five times the original projection.
So delegates walked through the process to reconsider their vote for passage and sent the bill to Finance. When Finance completes its work the bill will return on second reading and open for amendment.
Emergency powers bill
HB 2003 says a state of emergency may last no longer than 60 days unless both houses of the Legislature pass a concurrent resolution to extend it. A state of preparedness may last no longer than 30 days unless extended by resolution.
Because the bill doesn’t specify that it applies to the COVID emergency Gov. Jim Justice declared last March, Delegate Patrick McGeehan, R-Hancock proposed an amendment to say that, which the committee adopted then rescinded. McGeehan tried again and failed on Thursday when the bill was on second reading.
When the bill came up on Friday, McGeehan asked Judiciary chair Moore Capito, R-Kanawah, if he would go on the record saying he believes the bill will apply even without the amendment. Capito said, “I believe that.”
Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, had supported the amendment. He said, “What we’re passing now is mere symbolism. … We decided to cower in fear and not stand up to the executive.”
There was confusion on both sides of the aisle on when the 60-day clock would start ticking once the bill becomes law and Capito gave conflicting answers depending on how the question was worded.
Finally, Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, asked him more directly and Capito said the bill would probably trigger an immediate need for an extension since the emergency has lasted nearly a year.
It passed 97-0 and goes to the Senate.
Union dues
The House also passed HB 2009, dealing with withholding wages for political causes, on party lines.
It says an employer may not withhold or divert any portions of an employee’s wages or salary to contribute to a candidate, committee or political activity unless the employee gives written permission on a form to be prescribed by the secretary of state.
It also says it is an unfair labor practice for any union to use shop fees paid by a non-member to contribute to influencing an election or operating a political committee “unless affirmatively authorized.”
There was no debate and it passed 61-36. All local delegates voted with their party except Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, and Guy Ward, R-Marion, who voted no. Delegate Ed Evans, D-McDowell, said afterward he pushed the wrong button. He hit green instead of red and would have his intended vote recorded with the clerk.
COVID liability bill
SB 277 comes from the governor and is intended to protect from liability claims “any person, essential business, business, entity, health care facility, health care 3 provider, first responder, or volunteer for loss, damage, physical injury, or death arising from 4 COVID-19, COVID-19 care, or impacted care.”
So far, no liability cases have been filed in West Virginia, senators said.
Sen. Richard Lindsay, D-Kanawha, offered two failed amendments. One would exempt from immunity anyone “who acts with actual malice or a conscious, reckless, and outrageous indifference to the health, safety, and welfare of others.”
He said, “We should not be in position to protect bad actors.” Judiciary chair Charles Trump, R-Morgan, opposed it, saying “It will open the floodgates [to] gobs and gobs of litigation.”
His other amendment would have sunsetted the bill when the current state of emergency ends.
Trump opposed that one saying the pandemic may continue beyond the date the governor terminates the emergency and people may need protection throughout the course of the pandemic.
During debate on the bill, Lindsay and several other Democrats said they support the bill in principle but couldn’t vote for it with the blanket immunity it provides without Lindsay’s amendment. They offered some bad examples.
Sen. Mike Romano, D-Harrison, mentioned an office where one person in the room came down with COVID and had to be taken away by ambulance. But the employer didn’t allow his office mate to isolate, take time off work or get tested.
And Sen. Bill Ihlenfeld, D-Ohio, cited a bowling alley in his district where the owner doesn’t require staff or patrons to wear masks.
Majority Leader Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, supported the bill, talking about the learning curve. He cited how COVID treatment has evolved and therapies used at the beginning are not used anymore.
“I have to believe there is ultimate goodness in people,” he said. If you know someone is doing the wrong thing, don’t go there. Without the bill, small businesses that have survived so far may get tied up in litigation and fail.
And Trump cited a USA Today article from January that reported 1,005 COVID-related workplace related lawsuits were filed in 2020. “Is that what we want to unleash in West Virginia?”
The vote was 25-9 with two Democrats voting yes. All local senators voted with their party.
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