The Legislature Today

Things are starting to move to the floor, as the 40th day of the Regular Session approaches. Since we are two-thirds of the way through the session, this is to be expected. Big deadlines are closing in and I find myself scrambling for time to make sure the important issues are handled correctly.

March 23 is the last day for bills to be introduced, which explains one reason why this week has been so busy. This is the very last minute to introduce bills in e\the Senate or the House. The next important date I would like to bring to your attention is March 29, the last day that bills can be discussed in their committee in their house of origin.

Once a bill is introduced, it is immediately advanced to a committee like Education or Agriculture. Once the bill is put on the agenda the committee considers, amends and forwards the bill to another committee, like Finance or Judiciary, for more consideration. By the 29th, those bills will have to advance out of committee. It is an important cutoff date because it forces the most important bills to move forward to the floor.

I was one of the original sponsors of Senate Bill 403, one of only three bills to have completed legislation, which makes supplemental appropriation from the State Road Fund to the Department of Transportation and was effective as soon as it was passed. It passed on March 11 and has since been reported to the Governor.

Currently, there are many bills going through the committee process that I have cosponsored. Senate Bill 142 is currently waiting to make the agenda in the Finance Committee, after first being introduced to the Economic Development Committee. This would amend the Tourism Development Act of 2004 to add two new credits, one for small scale tourism development projects and one for tourism facilities development projects.

Another bill that I have recently sponsored is Senate Bill 624. It would protect small property owners from increased natural resources valuation and taxes if they have coal on their property but are not mining it. I sponsored this bill because many of our citizens are in this situation currently. If a person is not mining coal that happens to be on their property, then it is not fair to tax them for it.

There has been a lot of discussion on the future of the Community and Technical College at West Virginia University Institute of Technology recently. For instance, the Education Committee has recently discussed Senate Bill 536, which would effectively merge or consolidate WVU Tech with the Community and Technical College at West Virginia State University. While I am happy to hear that the Legislature is invested in the future of WVU Tech, I believe that the school should be afforded more time to stabilize after recent changes to the structure of the administration and another change of that sort would not be beneficial to the growth of the institution.

You can find more information about the bills I have sponsored and others by going to the Legislature’s Web site, which is www.legis.state.wv.us. You can also contact me anytime with your questions or comments about current issues at (304) 357-7906 or randy.white@wvsenate.gov.