MORGANTOWN – Here is a sampling of bills introduced Thursday, Jan. 18. Local sponsors and cosponsors are noted.
- SB 488, to provide non-exclusive prosecutorial authority over public integrity cases to the attorney general. Sens. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, Randy Smith, R-Tucker, Jay Taylor, R-Taylor, co-sponsors.
- SB 489, to clarify that it is legal to carry a deadly weapon, firearm, or pepper spray specifically on the sidewalks and streets that directly border and surround the State Capitol Complex grounds.
- HB 4884, No healthcare provider must perform, assist, or participate in medical procedures, treatments, counseling, prescriptions or surgeries related to sex reassignment or gender identity transitioning, where to do so would be contrary to the person’s religious or conscientious objection.
- HB 4885, to prohibit persons from sitting, standing, kneeling, or laying down in the roadway for the purpose of blocking traffic. Delegate Amy Summers, R-Taylor, lead sponsor; Delegate Phil Mallow, R-Marion, co-sponsor.
- HB 4886, regarding spam calls, to impose a civil penalty for phone companies who knowingly allow telemarketing campaigns to use United States or West Virginia based phone numbers but provide no callback option using that phone number. Mallow, co-sponsor.
- HB 4893, to increase the minimum salary for teachers to $50,000.
- HB 4896, s to provide that a student who transfers schools is ineligible for interscholastic athletic events for a period of 365 days from the date of entry to the new school.
- HB 4898, to prohibit, as a condition for eligibility to foster or adopt, the requirement to affirm, accept or support any government policy regarding sexual orientation or gender identity that conflicts with the parent’s sincerely held religious or moral beliefs.
- HB 4904, to provide greater opportunities for power generation and cost savings to electric utility consumers by creating flexibility and diversity in the construction and financing of electric utility generating facilities. Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, lead sponsor.
- HB 4920, to create the West Virginia Anti-Swatting Act, to make swatting a felony, where swatting is defined as making a false report of an ongoing serious crime or emergency with the intention of causing a response from law enforcement or emergency services.
