Capital Eye Vol. 11 No. 5

We are now halfway through the 2018 legislative session. We started off last week with FirstEnergy filing a notice with the Public Service Commission that it will stop fighting to transfer ownership of the Pleasants Power Plant to its West Virginia utilities. This is a major win for the 530,000 Mon Power and Potomac Edison consumers in West Virginia! Learn more about this victory and what’s happening at the Capitol on redistricting, “co-tenancy,” and more in this week’s Capital Eye. 

From here on out it’s full speed ahead into the maelstrom of late evening committee meetings, early morning public hearings, and longer and longer floor sessions. Constant vigilance is required to monitor the legislative process. 

One thing that helps us get through this is YOU! All of you that make the calls, send the e-mails, and send in your financial support for our efforts on your behalf. We sincerely thank everyone who pitches in to keep up the fight!

Yours for Action,

Team WV CAG

Week 5: Halfway
We are now halfway through the 2018 legislative session. Soon cut-off days will be reached when bills can no longer be introduced (thankfully) and then ‘crossover day’ when bills have to be voted out of their house of origin or die. As these kick-in, its full speed ahead into the maelstrom of late evening committee meetings, early morning public hearings, and longer and longer floor sessions. One thing that helps us get through this is YOU! In this article: We Won't Blink; Abortion Amendment Passes Senate; Teachers' Pay; Paycheck Deception; Correctional Officers' Pay Bump?; All Things Environmental
Tagged: Healthcare, Inequality, Living wage, Pollution, Water, Workers

House Judiciary Sub-Committee Nixes Redistricting Commission in Favor of Status Quo
We've written a couple of times about a bill (HB 2383) under consideration by a House Judiciary Sub-Committee the would establish an independent redistricting commission to redraw the boundaries of West Virginia's legislative and congressional districts after the 2020 Census. When the subcommittee met for the final time with the goal of approving a final bill an amendment to take out the commission and continue to leave the process of drawing legislative and congressional district maps up to the legislature was adopted, undermining the original intent of the bill, and maintaining the status quo. Voters should be choosing their elected officials, not the other way around. Let your delegate(s) know you are disappointed with this development. Urge them to honor the original intent of the bill and appoint someone other than legislators to draw legislative district maps.
Tagged: Clean elections

Improved “Co-Tenancy” Bill Clears House Judiciary Committee
After Friday's public hearing on the "co-tenancy" bill (HB 4268), the House Judiciary Committee took up and passed an improved version of the bill that, most importantly, addresses the problems we raised regarding surface use and the need to require surface owner's consent. If version of HB 4268 that came out of the House Judiciary Committee passes, if the driller uses the statute to get the right to drill into the mineral tract beneath a surface owners' land or into any neighboring mineral tract, the driller will have to get the agreement of the surface owner to locate the well pad on their surface, regardless of whether the surface owner owns an interest in the minerals. Requiring the surface owners consent is very important, and a significant improvement that makes it worth supporting the bill. Why? Read more here.
Tagged: Energy, Fracking

FirstEnergy Ends Bid to Sell Pleasants Plant
In a notice filed Monday, Feb. 5, with the Public Service Commission of West Virginia, FirstEnergy Corp. stated that it will stop fighting to transfer ownership of the Pleasants Power Plant to Monongahela Power and Potomac Edison, FirstEnergy’s West Virginia utilities. This is a major win for the 530,000 Mon Power and Potomac Edison consumers in West Virginia. This deal was bad from the beginning and the extensive evidence presented at the PSC proceeding made clear that the proposed transfer would benefit FirstEnergy and hurt West Virginians struggling to survive in today’s economy.
Tagged: Energy, Energy efficiency