MORGANTOWN – The House of Delegates on Wed opened its first day of the 2022 legislative session with prayer for Gov. Jim Justice. Across the Capitol, the Senate closed its opening assembly with a moment of silence for Justice.
The governor announced just before midnight Tuesday that he’d tested positive for COVID-19 and was isolating at home. He canceled his in-person State of the State Address that was set for Wednesday evening and made some planned economic development announcements via press release instead of live stream from the Capitol.
Legislators also offered thoughts and prayers for Justice’s family, his medical team, and the residents and families across the state dealing with COVID.
Wednesday opened the second session of the 85th Legislature; and for the House, it is the last with just 67 districts. The 2023 session will be the first with 100 single-member districts.
During its noon floor session, the House cruised through its routine first-day business and recessed until 5 p.m.
It was an unusual first day in the Senate. Last week, Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said the members has agreed to quickly pass on Day 1 a number of bills that had received overwhelming support last year but died in the House for lack of time.
And that’s what happened. Senators suspended their three-day reading rule to take up 18 bills. Nearly all had passed unanimously last year and nearly all passed unanimously this year. They will all head to the House.
One of them, SB 172, proposes a pay raise for elected county officials. If passed into law, it would take effect July 1.
Both houses returned at 5 p.m. for an afternoon session. The Senate received the governor’s budget message and budge bill, SB 250, and adjourned for the day.
The House received Justice’s abbreviated State of the State Address, just five pages (see related story), which was read aloud by the House clerk and received brief applause. The House also received the budget bill, HB 4023, and adjourned for the day.
Tweet David Beard @dbeardtdp Email dbeard@dominionpost.com
