By Gary Zuckett, WV CAG Co-Director
Monday, March 24, was the last day to introduce bills by the regular process in the Senate. Last week was the deadline in the House. That being said, committees can still ‘originate’ a bill at any subsequent meeting. Still, these deadlines get us ‘over the hump’ of having to wake up to a new barrage of proposed legislation every day, phew!
One other major deadline is also quickly approaching. ‘Crossover Day’ is next Wednesday, April 2. That’s the day when any bill not passed out of its house of origin and sent over to the other side is considered dead. So, counting backward, this Sunday is the last day to get a bill passed out of committee so that it can follow the rules, be read for three times on three separate days during a floor session and then passed over to the other side.
Referencing this Sunday’s deadline for getting bills out of committee, I predict that several committees that still have ‘must pass’ bills on their agendas will likely have Sunday afternoon or evening meetings on the 30th. Our 60-day legislative session is consecutive calendar days, not “business days,” so they can meet over weekends whenever they choose.
I have one more comment, and then I’ll spare you any more of this arcane and convoluted process used to pass laws. Leadership can work around the above rules by calling for a ⅔ vote to ‘suspend the rules’ for a particular bill. The old saying, ‘It’s not over till it’s over’ applies here…
Making Homelessness Illegal
Rather than addressing the root causes of our growing unhoused population, our lawmakers are advancing HB 2382, a public (homeless) camping ban. It has already passed the House and out of Senate committees onto the floor for passage there. This is another instance of state lawmakers overriding the ability of counties and cities to address issues at the local level.
That brings to mind the rewrite of the Home Rule laws (SB 579), which just passed to the House. In effect, SB 579 strips cities and counties of their ability to protect vulnerable residents. It targets not only local bans on the discredited practice of ‘conversion therapy’ but also local LGBTQ non-discrimination protections in housing, employment, and more. The ‘Big Brother’ lean of all these top-down bans again shows the hypocrisy of those who promote ‘smaller government’ and then pass this BS.
Don’t Let the People Speak!
In a classic ‘we told you so’ moment, the Mountain State Spotlight published an excellent piece examining the fallout from the new House of Delegates rules, which eliminated the traditional public hearings on bills that concern constituents. It outlines how frustrating it is to follow a bill through this new committee process and then show up at the exact time (never posted two days in advance as in the old rules) when the assigned committee decides to place the bill on its agenda.
The article highlighted both of the public hearings we’ve helped organize. However, pulling together people’s hearings for the avalanche of terrible bills would be a full-time job for several of us! “Try it out and see how it works,” they said when we complained. Well, it’s been tried and doesn’t work for the public. What it does is exclude the public from having their voices heard! Let your delegates know you want real public hearings back next year!