2024 Bill Descriptions
What is in Bill Descriptions? | |
Bills by LWVWV priority area:
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Bill Summaries – Strengthening Democracy – 2024
Legend: | Support | Oppose |
| Bill | Title | Status | Effective Date | LWVWV Position | Explanation | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HB 4350 | Relating to appointment of candidates after filing period | Approved by Governor 3/27/24 – House Journal | Effective January 1, 2025 | Oppose | Limits voters’ choices by doing away with political party appointments to fill ballot vacancies after the close of the candidate filing period. | Mountain State Spotlight |
| HB 4552 | To ensure party affiliation is consistent with candidate’s voter registration | Approved by Governor 3/27/24 – House Journal | Effective January 1, 2025 | Support | Quality control on party affiliations for candidates. | |
| HB 5298 | Relating to prohibiting a candidate who failed to secure the nomination of a political party in a primary election from seeking the same elected office as an affiliate with a different political party in the subsequent general election | Approved by Governor 3/27/24 – House Journal | Effective January 1, 2025 | Support | Prevents party-switching after a Primary election loss. | |
| SB 166 | Updating contested elections procedures | Approved by Governor 3/26/24 – House Journal | Effective January 1, 2025 | Support | For contested elections, shifts jurisdiction/decision making responsibility from local government authorities to the courts. Avoids conflicts of interest. | WV MetroNews (background, see “Governing bodies for elections counts”) |
| SB 623 | Requiring DMV to provide images of certain individuals to Secretary of State for voter identification purposes | Approved by Governor 3/26/24 – House Journal | Effective January 1, 2025 | Oppose | Requires the Division of Motor Vehicles to provide images of persons who register to vote at the DMV to the Secretary of State in addition to the other information they currently provide for any qualified registrant for voter ID purposes. | The State Journal |
| SB 624 | Cancelling voter registration records for individuals no longer WV residents | Approved by Governor 3/27/24 – House Journal | Effective January 1, 2025 | Oppose | Authorizes cancellation of voter registration for individuals who are no longer West Virginia residents, based on obtaining a driver’s license in another state. | The State Journal |
| SB 687 | Clarifying Legislative Auditor’s scope of authority | Approved by Governor 3/27/24 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (June 5, 2024) | Oppose | Reduces authority of state Auditor. | Mountain State Spotlight |
| SB 844 | Redesignating Educational Broadcasting Authority as Educational Broadcasting Commission | Approved by Governor 3/27/24 – House Journal | Effective from passage – (March 7, 2024) | Oppose | Weakens the power of the board that manages WV Public Broadcasting and gives current/future governors more direct control over WVPB’s programming, including news. | Weirton Daily Times |
Bill Summaries – Safeguarding Equal Rights – 2024
Legend: | Support | Oppose |
| Bill | Title | Status | Effective Date | LWVWV Position | Explanation | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HB 4233 | Non-binary not permitted on birth certificates | Approved by Governor 3/27/24 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (May 29, 2024) | Oppose | Even though WV birth certificates have only two options currently, this bill preemptively bans “non-binary” from being listed on a birth certificate. The process trans people must go through to get accurate and consistent IDs is already complicated and sometimes prohibitively expensive without this unnecessary law. | Mountain State Spotlight |
| HB 4874 | Relating to fatality and mortality review team | Approved by Governor 3/26/24 – House Journal | Effective from passage – (March 1, 2024) | Support | Updates the composition, authority and responsibilities of the Fatality and Mortality Review Team, which examines domestic violence deaths, deaths of children, infants and women who die in childbirth. | Mountain State Spotlight |
| HB 5520 | Relating to juvenile competency | Approved by Governor 3/27/24 – House Journal | Completed Legislation awaiting Governor’s signature | Oppose | Lowers the age of presumed competency for juvenile delinquency proceedings from 14 to 13. | WV Public Broadcasting (article not specific to this bill but has a good description/explanation) |
| SB 190 | Modifying definition of sexual contact | Approved by Governor 3/22/2024 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (June 6, 2024) | Support | Eliminates marriage as a defense for sexual assault by removing exceptions in state law for certain kinds of sexual abuse and contact when people are married or “living together as husband and wife regardless of the legal status of their relationship.” | West Virginia Watch |
| SB 280 | Allowing teachers in public schools to discuss scientific theories | Approved by Governor 3/22/2024 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (June 7, 2024) | Oppose | Would protect teachers who discuss “scientific theories,” including intelligent design with students in public schools. ID is not a scientific theory. |
Bill Summaries – Protecting Children & Families – 2024
Legend: | Support | Oppose |
| Bill | Title | Status | Effective Date | LWVWV Position | Explanation | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HB 4667 | Prohibiting syringe services programs from distributing listed smoking devices | Approved by Governor 3/22/2024 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (June 2, 2024) | Oppose | Prohibits harm reduction programs from distributing smoking devices, a medically sound option that eliminates nearly all the risks associated with intravenous drug use. | West Virginia Watch |
| HB 4933 | Relating to Medicaid dental coverage | Approved by Governor 3/26/24 – House Journal | Effective July 1, 2024 | Support | Would make dentures more accessible to Medicaid beneficiaries by increasing the cap on Medicaid dental coverage from $1,000 per year to $2,000 over two years. Would allow Medicaid beneficiaries to get both sets of dentures at the same time at a cost of about $600 each. | West Virginia Watch |
| HB 4951 | To facilitate the interstate practice of School Psychology in educational or school settings | Approved by Governor 3/26/24 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (June 7, 2024) | Support | Creates Interstate Compact for School Psychologists to facilitate the interstate practice of School Psychology in educational/school settings, to improve the availability of School Psychological Services to the public. Enables School Psychologists who qualify for receipt of an Equivalent License to practice in other Member States without first satisfying duplicative requirements. | |
| HB 4975 | Relating to establishing a foster parent information system | Approved by Governor 3/26/24 – House Journal | Effective from passage – (March 9, 2024) | Support | Establishes a “foster parent information system,” where foster parents, biological parents, Child Protective Services workers, guardians ad litem and others involved in a child’s case could share and keep a record of communications. | West Virginia Watch |
| HB 5162 | Establish a program to promote creation and expansion of registered apprenticeship programs | Approved by Governor 3/26/24 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (June 7, 2024) | Oppose | Creates a “Youth Apprenticeship Program,” allowing students 16 years or older to enroll in apprenticeship programs and receive secondary credit or other credentialing for the apprenticeship when the apprenticeship is approved by the local county board of education. The bill raised child labor concerns by providing unnecessary exemptions that allow minors to work in dangerous occupations and perform hazardous work. | West Virginia Watch |
| SB 200 | Budget Bill | Approved by Governor with deletions 3/14/2024- House Journal | Effective from passage – (March 9, 2024) | Oppose | This budget is not consistent with the LWVWV priority for a budget that covers essential services and protects our most vulnerable. | |
| SB 269 | Excluding test strips from definition of drug paraphernalia | Approved by Governor 2/2/2024 – House Journal | Effective from passage – (January 26, 2024) | Support | Excludes drug test strips from the definition of drug paraphernalia, and specifies that the possession, sale, and purchase of drug test strips is not prohibited within West Virginia. Test strips allow people who use drugs to take a small sample of a substance and test it for unknown drugs, which can prevent fatal overdoses and save lives. | West Virginia Watch |
| SB 475 | Relating to recovery residences | Approved by Governor 3/27/24 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (June 7, 2024) | Support | Improves oversight and promotes accountability for recovery residences operating in WV. Also provides additional protections for people in recovery residences by adding recovery residences to portions of code that prohibit patient brokering and human trafficking. Patient brokering, according to the state health department, is an illegal practice “used by some rehabilitation facilities” where a facility pays a third party to find patients or clients for a program. | West Virginia Watch |
| SB 768 | Providing exception for sharing of confidential child welfare records | Approved by Governor 3/26/24 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (June 6, 2024) | Support | Provides exception to confidentiality of child welfare records to allow the sharing of confidential information with law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. | |
| SB 820 | Requiring automatic enrollment of substance abuse disorder population into managed care | Approved by Governor 3/27/24 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (June 6, 2024) | Support | Requires Department of Human Services to create a program to improve quality of care rendered to the substance use disorder population by applying automatic enrollment into managed care. | |
| SB 841 | Setting amount of unemployment taxes and benefits | Became law without Governor’s signature – Senate Journal | Effective January 1, 2025 | Oppose | Weakens unemployment insurance benefits and penalizes workers who have lost their jobs. Harms our state’s economy and harms families. People will still have 26 weeks of benefits, but benefits and employer payments into the state’s unemployment trust fund are capped at current amounts. This means unemployment benefits won’t be adjusted to match increases in wages or inflation. Also creates new work search requirements. | WV MetroNews |
Bill Summaries – Creating a Sustainable Future – 2024
Legend: | Support | Oppose |
| Bill | Title | Status | Effective Date | LWVWV Position | Explanation | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SB 171 | Prohibiting county commissions from adopting authorization that exceeds state law regarding agriculture operations | Approved by Governor 2/23/2024 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (May 13, 2024) | Oppose | Further diminishes local control over land use by barring county commissions from passing ordinances or rules stricter than state law regarding agricultural operations, overriding local ordinances that have halted projects that posed health and safety risks. (Definition of “agricultural operation” is broadly defined by the state.) | Charleston Gazette-Mail |
| HB 5045 | Related to the administration of the West Virginia Water Pollution Control Act, and Underground Carbon Dioxide Sequestration and Storage | Approved by Governor 2/29/2024 – House Journal | Effective Ninety Days from Passage – (May 13, 2024) | Oppose | Aimed at helping the state obtain primacy enforcement authority over wells for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and enabling the build out of the Appalachian Regional “Clean” Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). Revises existing statutes to give the appearance of improving regulations without addressing any of the real problems associated with CCS. | Charleston Gazette-Mail |