With just 30 minutes of notice from the governor, the West Virginia Legislature gavelled in Sunday for a special session where both chambers suspended rules to advance a number of bills to third reading with almost no discussion.
While Gov. Jim Justice spent the early afternoon at the controversial LIV golf tournament at his Greenbrier Resort, he issued the call for the Special Session around 3:30 p.m. Sunday. The proclamation detailed 44 proposed bills, all of which were considered by both chambers Sunday evening.
In the Senate, members voted unanimously to suspend rules for 27 of those bills, which were also unanimously approved and communicated to the House. They also removed the committee referrals for their remaining bills. Senator Patrick Martin, R-Lewis, was absent for Sunday’s floor session. Comparatively, the House suspended rules for eight pieces of legislation that will now move to the Senate. Seventeen members of the House of Delegates were absent Sunday evening.
Spokespersons for the House and Senate, Ann Ali and Jacque Bland, told West Virginia Watch that Republican members saw legislation draft proposals Friday night ahead of voting. The Republicans hold a supermajority in both bodies, with only 11 democrats in the House and three in the Senate. Eight of the bills passed in the House were corrections or clarifications to previous pieces of legislation considered by the House in previous sessions, according to Ali.
The suspension of constitutional rules was a driving force in the Senate on day one of the regular 60-day legislative session in January. The body suspended constitutional rules and passed a number of bills, including a measure splitting up the behemoth state health department and another limiting the length of a governor-declared state of emergencies. Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, defended the fast-tracking, saying that the move was an effort to work efficiently on lawmakers’ priorities.
Justice’s call for the special session this week, in part, was to clarify the state’s new personal property tax cut. Both the Senate and House responded by suspending constitutional rules to pass bills clarifying 2024 personal property tax payments made in full prior to Jan. 1, 2024 are eligible for tax credits.
Both chambers also suspended constitutional rules to swiftly pass an agreement with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and update child support rules. The latter bill corrected numerical errors in a similar piece of legislation passed earlier this year, and updated the child support form to show that student loan payments could be deducted from gross income while calculating the child support payment amount.
Lawmakers in both chambers also suspended rules and voted to designate Summersville Lake as a state park. The bill, which was a priority for the governor in the special session, is the first state park designation since 1990. If approved, the designation will be funded by last year’s surplus money and additional funds are not likely to be needed.
WV will soon be opening its 36th @WVStateParks, Summersville Lake State Park. The northern shore of our state’s largest lake in Nicholas County will be transformed into a premiere outdoor adventure park in one of West Virginia’s most iconic spots.https://t.co/NEfw7bRR1z pic.twitter.com/fHo3Pr27bG
— Governor Jim Justice (@WVGovernor) August 6, 2023
The 177-acre park is located in Nicholas County.
“The opportunity to add another State Park is a testament to the major impact that our investments in tourism and in our parks is having in West Virginia … I can’t wait to see people from far and wide enjoying Summersville Lake State Park very soon,” Justice said in a news release ahead of the vote.
The special session call included increasing salaries for correctional officers, Justice said, and dealing with other issues with the state’s over-crowded jail system. The correctional officer vacancy rate sits around 33%, and the governor sent National Guard soldiers to alleviate staffing shortages. Lawmakers failed earlier this year to pass a bill that would have provided a $10,000 locality pay adjustment for correctional officers across the state in an effort to increase and retain staffing.
Lawmakers will continue to meet for legislative interims this week alongside the special session.
House members will deal with a number of proposed supplemental appropriations bills for numerous state agencies in its Finance Committee meeting at 8 a.m. Monday. As of 9 p.m. Sunday, no committee meetings were scheduled for the special session in the Senate.
This article is republished courtesy of West Virginia Watch. West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence.
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