MORGANTOWN – The state Senate approved the bill to outline penalties for teachers strikes and walkouts in a party-line vote on Monday.
With more unanimity, Senators also approved a bill that allows hunters and fishing enthusiasts to donate to WVU’s rifle team.
SB 11 is the strike bill. It says county boards may not permit employees who participate in strikes or work stoppages to use accrued and equivalent instructional time to cancel days lost. Also, delivery of instruction through alternative methods does not apply and may not be used to cancel days lost.
The state Board of Education may not grant waivers to county boards for not meeting the 200 day minimum employment term or the 180 day instructional term if noncompliance results from a work stoppage or strike.
If an employee remains employed by a county board despite participating in an activity that the state BOE determines to be grounds for termination, the county board must withhold that person’s pay for each day of participation. However, those days would be made up at the end of the year and the person would be paid for that time.
When work stoppages or strikes close schools, the schools may not hold extracurricular activities that day.
Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, made his first floor speech as a senator. He said Monday’s date, Feb. 22, was the anniversary of the Boone County teacher walkout that launched the 2018 strike that flooded the Capitol with red-shirted protesters.
“We’re passing a piece of anti-labor legislation on that day, three years later,” he said, and wondered if it was a coincidence. “What this bill does, it takes away local control.”
Caputo was one of the many senators who received calls about the 2018 walkout, and the school employees’ call for raises and fully funding PEIA. “They supported that strike 110%.”
This bill, he said, is mean spirited, “and I think it’s in retaliation for people standing up for what they believe in.”
Sen. Richard Lindsay, D-Kanawha, said it’s clear this bill is a reaction to the walkouts of 2018 and 2019. It won’t do anything to keep teachers here or draw more to the state. “I think that this legislation is misdirected, it’s unnecessary, it’s nothing more than retribution.”
Fiance chair Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said, “This bill is about the children in West Virginia.” Work stoppages keep kids out of school and they suffer for it, he said, adding that between the two strikes and the pandemic there are seniors who haven’t had a full year of school.
And when the county superintendents decided to close the schools so teachers could get paid, the teachers suffered no consequences for actions that the state Supreme Court had already declared illegal, he said.
This bill, he said, requires superintendents to take action and not cave to the unions.
The vote was 21-12, with one Republican voting no. All local senators voted with their party. It goes to the House.
Rifle team bill
SB 66 will allow anyone applying electronically for a hunting or fishing license to designate a donation in any amount for WVU’s rifle team. The money would go into a special Division of Natural Resources account that could also accept other donations and accrue interest.
DNR would be required to transfer the money at least annually to the WVU Foundation Rifle Team Account, with permission to retain 5% for administrative expenses.
It passed 33-0 and heads to the House. The same bill, as SB 160, passed last year but died in House Finance. SB 11 has bipartisan sponsorship; Sen. Dave Sypolt, R-Preston, is lead sponsor.
Other measures
Senators unanimously adopted, via voice vote, SR 6. The bipartisan resolution says members who have been diagnosed with COVID-19, have been exposed to COVID or have been determined by a physician to be at a higher risk for developing serious complications from COVID-19 may designate the majority leader or the minority leader to be their proxy and to vote on their behalf.
SB 69 is a vanity license plate bill. It allows interested drivers to buy a plate that reads “Choose Life” in support of adoption. Sens. Bobo Beach, D-Monongalia, and Caputo questioned Transportation chair Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, and learned the Division of Highways wouldn’t gear up to produce a plate until it received 250 applications.
They learned organizations can request production of a special plate if the organization gathers 100 applications, but none is requesting this plate.
The vote was 31-2, with Beach and Caputo voting no. It goes to the House.
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