Capital Eye Vol. 15 No. 6: Week Six of the WV Legislative Session

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It’s the SIXTH full week of the 2022 Legislative Session! Stay up-to-date on what’s happening under the dome by watching for our weekly Capital Eye e-blast and following us on Facebook and Twitter. Encourage your friends to stay-up-to-date, too, by signing up for our emails (you can also use this form to update your email interests).

Click on the articles below to see what’s been happening, and watch for the Legislative Forecast as a mid-week update later this week.

Bookmark our events page to keep track of upcoming events! Also, here are some additional actions you can take.

If you find this newsletter informative and valuable, please join us by becoming a supporting member of Citizen Action!

Your Contributions Important to ‘Life After Session’

This time of year we start joking about what life will be like after the craziness of the legislative session. This being an election year we’ll be transitioning to voter education, engagement, and all manner of support for getting better legislators behind the desks at the State Capitol. Your continued support and volunteering will be essential to getting this critical work done! Please take a minute to renew or become a supporting member of WV CAG! A big THANKS to all of YOU who have already done so!

TAKE ACTION:

Stop HB 4007 – Tell our WV legislators: No more tax cuts for the 1%, invest in us! HB 4007would shift a higher percentage of the tax burden onto lower-earning West Virginians with cuts in the personal income tax – our wealthiest West Virginians don’t need it.
Call your members of the House of Delegates and urge them to vote NO on HB 4785. West Virginians did not ask for their electoral power to be weakened and doing so now by jamming a bill through the legislature at the last minute can only erode public confidence in our state’s highest court.
Calls to the Senate Needed to Support Diabetes Bill – Take Action on HB 4252.
Help Create a Medicaid Buy-In for Working West Virginians
Stop Classroom Censorship in WV – Write, call, or email members of the House Judiciary Committee and tell them to oppose HB 4011!
Ensure WVDEP has Adequate Oil & Gas Inspectors to Protect Our Waters!
Support SB 488 – Tell legislators it’s time to end voter disenfranchisement.
Contact House Finance Committee Members to tell them No to the “Blame the Unemployed” bills SB 2 and 3!
Protect WV Workers & Their Families from Reckless Corporate Immunity When Workers Are Killed or Injured – stop SB 252/HB 4394!
Urge legislators to repeal restrictions on abortion!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

– Feb 22nd: Smart Justice Advocacy Day

– Feb 24th: Mid-Session Legislative Update at 7PM, hosted by WV Rivers Coalition

Mushroom Session
This session reminds me of an old saying “I feel like a mushroom because they keep me in the dark and feed me BS.” This is appropriate in so many ways as committees are sprouting (originating) lots of bills and short circuiting the normal process for introducing bills.
Tagged: Aboveground Storage Tanks, Energy, Fair Representation, Inequality, Surface Owner Rights, water quality, Workers

Legislative Forecast: Urgent Actions – Week Six
This mid-week update is focused on urgent actions to help move good bills and stop bad ones, as critical deadlines on the Legislative Calendar approach.
Tagged: Censorship, Discrimination, Fair Courts, Human Rights, Inequality, Voting Rights

Judicial Power Grab Would Weaken West Virginians’ Say-So on the Courts
In response to former Justice Evan Jenkins’s recent resignation from the State Supreme Court, members of the House of Delegates are moving quickly to strip West Virginians of their ability to have a say in who will fill the seat left vacant by Jenkins’s departure.
Tagged: Fair Courts, Fair Representation, Voting Rights

Smart Justice Advocacy Day is Almost Here
We hope to see you tomorrow (2.22.22) at 9 am when we kick off Smart Justice Advocacy Day at the WV State Capitol (Little Rotunda East).
Tagged: Civil Justice, Democracy, Inequality, Voting Rights

Meet Carey Jo
Hello to all the friends of CAG! I’m excited to be joining an organization that I’ve partnered with many times over the years, and whose work is so important.

WVNOW Legislative Action Alert 2.21.22
From Meredith Hartery, President of the WV Chapter National Organization for Women
Tagged: Discrimination, Economic Justice, Fair Pay, Fair Representation, Inequality, Kids and families, Workers

Jo’s Fight for Coverage During COVID
During the pandemic, "Jo" had to take unpaid leave from her job of 15 years, and lost her health insurance, in an effort to protect her family. She later found she qualified for Medicaid and discovered she could get services she couldn't afford with employer-based insurance.
Tagged: Health Insurance, Healthcare, Medicaid

Image cropped from original at brenebrown.com

Keeping your Activist Heart Happy: A Series – part 3
When many of us are called to activism, our passions push us to overextend, to burn our light brightly at the expense of the longevity of our efforts. Karen explores this connection between selflessness/sacrifice and activism, and how best to integrate self-care, for ourselves and the world.
Tagged: Resilient Activism

Health Care Eye on the Capitol
Last week, a family member asked me to stop by the pharmacy and get the new medication their doctor prescribed for their Type 2 diabetes. I was surprised that it was $55 after insurance...
Tagged: Diabetes, Health Insurance, Medicaid