Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days, your daily guide to the West Virginia Legislature.
It’s Friday, February 2, 2024 — Day 24 of the regular session. It’s also Groundhog Day, which means everyone is watching the Harold Ramis-directed classic movie starring a well-caffeinated Bill Murray who keeps reliving what starts out as the worst day of his life over and over and over again.
At least Murray’s character Phil Connors has plenty of coffee … and sugar. If only we did, too.
By the way, Sen. Joe Manchin released a statement yesterday with the headline reading “MANCHIN SAVES GROUNDHOG DAY IN WEST VIRGINIA.” He said he spoke with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tim Vilsack after federal officials on Wednesday forced the closure of the West Virginia Wildlife Center in a dispute over a secondary fence, putting the annual weather prediction from West Virginia’s own groundhog, French Creek Freddie, in jeopardy.
Gov. Jim Justice’s own statement announcing that Freddie won a reprieve fails to mention Manchin.
Politics.
The upshot is members of the public will be allowed to be on hand when Freddie looks for his shadow this morning. The event will be live-streamed at 9:50 a.m.
Thinking about what to wear at the Capitol today? Put on something red. Today is GO RED DAY — a national campaign to raise awareness of heart disease and stroke among women. Members of the American Heart Association will be on hand and you can get your blood pressure checked.
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Today’s Agenda:
The big thing today is the public hearing in the House Chamber. Environmentalists are marshaling their forces to show opposition to H. B. 5018 — the bill that would limit how data gathered by community air monitoring programs can be used. It’s an industry-backed bill that was advanced to the House floor through the Energy and Manufacturing Committee. The West Virginia Environmental Council warns it could have a “chilling effect” on citizen efforts to improve air quality in their communities.
The public hearing starts at 9 a.m. but if you want to speak, show up a half-hour early to register. The hearing will be live-streamed here.
After the public gets a chance to speak for or against the bill, it will be on second reading, the amendment stage, when delegates start their floor session.
Here’s the House’s complete agenda for the 11 a.m. floor session. Several bills are at the passage stage including, H. B. 4292 - a measure that would hold oil and gas companies accountable for failing to pay royalties on what they produce through conventional, vertical wells. The Charleston Gazette-Mail’s Mike Tony has been following this bill.
The Senate is going with its customary Friday floor session start time of 9 a.m. Here’s the Senate Calendar for today. There are three bills on third reading, but true crime lovers (including my wife) may be more excited by what’s on second reading.
The committee substitute for S. B. 539 would require the West Virginia Fusion Center to create a cold case database. The bill spells out the information that each law enforcement agency in the state as well as investigators with the State Fire Marshal must contribute. Here’s your one stop shop, Law and Order fans. DUN DUN!
Workforce is the only Senate commitee meeting on the schedule. The panel is to meet after the floor session — at 10 a.m. The only bill on its agenda is the committee substitute for S.B. 562 - expanding employment and training requirements necessary for SNAP Benefits.
Here’s the full House committee schedule:
60 Days links: We’re helping to get eyeballs on the work that the reporters at the state Capitol and elsewhere do every day. 60 Days has generated some 360 link clicks since the beginning of the legislative session. It’s a small but important thing to do to. Your decision to read what’s on the other side of a link we provide helps support journalism in West Virginia.
The presidents of the state’s two largest universities, West Virginia and Marshall, were at the Capitol this week, updating lawmakers on the state of their school’s finances, with WVU still dealing with the divisive layoffs and painful cutbacks. Amelia Ferrell Knisely of West Virginia Watch reports on what they had to say, particularly when it comes to health care costs through PEIA.
The state Department of Homeland Security’s new inspector general has told lawmakers that he’s inspecting each of West Virginia’s 23 jails and prisons. Henry Culvyhouse has been covering the troubled system of lockups for Mountain State Spotlight.
The financial issues that face Gov. Jim Justice’s family companies are no secret. But despite countless court cases brought by creditors, Justice remains a wildly popular politician as he heads into the GOP primary for a U.S. Senate seat. The Wall Street Journal’s Julie Steinberg and Kris Maher have the story. Hat tip to our NPR newscast colleague Jack Speer for putting this one on our radar.
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