By Samantha Cart
The West Virginia Legislature convened on January 10, 2018, to begin what would become a closely-watched and at times divisive session characterized by the first teacher strike since 1990.
All eyes were on the Mountain State’s 34 senators and 100 delegates as they waded through a packed docket of potential legislation. Despite the attention received due to the strike, a variety of the state’s most pressing issues were addressed and met with promising legislation. In addition, for the first time in 36 years the Legislature passed a balanced budget bill before the end of the regular 60-day session, avoiding one of the costly extended sessions West Virginians have come to expect.
Over the course of the 2018 session, many important bills that could potentially help West Virginians seeking employment, addiction recovery and treatment services and new business opportunities were discussed, amended and voted on. In our 2018 progress report, we take a look at 10 bills proposed to help West Virginia workers, entrepreneurs, families and business owners. These bills address ways to keep young entrepreneurs in the state, limit the amount of prescription pills prescribed, decrease redundant regulations from state and local agencies on the coal industry, reduce the number of West Virginians on welfare, move important oil and gas drilling projects forward and improve health care and raise wages for all state employees. While not all 10 bills made it to Governor Jim Justice’s desk for signing, they all address vital topics important to helping move the Mountain State forward.
SB 365
Young Entrepreneur Reinvestment Act
By Natalie Roper
Senate: 32-0; House: 94-5
The Young Entrepreneur Reinvestment Act was passed in 2016 with the purpose of waiving filing fees for anyone under the age of 30 establishing a business in West Virginia, including limited liability companies and for-profit and nonprofit corporations. The 2016 act had a sunset provision expiring the filing fee waivers in June 2018 without renewal legislation. During the 2018 legislative session, Senate Bill (SB) 365 was introduced to renew the act and remove the sunset provision so the program will not expire in the future.
Since the legislation was passed in 2016, 106 young entrepreneurs from 30 counties across the Mountain State have taken advantage of the fee waiver and started new businesses in the state thanks to the investment and incentive this program offers. The Young Entrepreneur Reinvestment Act is an important way for West Virginia to support the growth and development of the next generation of business owners. It is well-known that West Virginia loses too many young people to opportunities in other places, and attracting this entrepreneurial generation is key to the state’s future. This bill is one way to support young entrepreneurs who want to start and grow their businesses in West Virginia. While the $100 filing fee doesn’t sound like much, to young entrepreneurs starting out, every penny counts, and that is money that can be devoted to other things needed to get a business off the ground.
Thanks to the proven success of the Young Entrepreneur Reinvestment Act in its first two years, SB 365 received bipartisan support throughout the 2018 session. The bill was sponsored by Senators Ryan Weld, Ryan Ferns, John Unger, Robert Plymale, Stephen Baldwin, Sue Cline and Greg Boso and supported by the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office and Generation West Virginia for its role in encouraging and supporting business development in the state.
The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate. It was signed into law by Governor Jim Justice and will go into effect on June 5, 2018. Thanks to its passage, young entrepreneurs from across the state will be able to continue taking advantage of this program and starting businesses that will hopefully allow them to stay and thrive in the Mountain State.
SB 272, SB 273 AND SB 401
The Opioid Epidemic
By Chris Hall
In America, 2.1 million people suffer from substance use disorders related to prescription painkillers. While recognition of the problems caused by substance use disorders is relatively new to Washington, DC, and the coast-to-coast media, West Virginia has been fighting this epidemic locally for nearly two decades.
Between 2010-2017, there were more than 25 legislative and executive actions taken to reduce the impact of opioids in the Mountain State, but Governor Jim Justice and legislative leaders recognized additional action was needed during the 2018 legislative session. They offered three bills—Senate Bills (SB) 272, 273 and 401—to address various aspects of the opioid epidemic, all of which were signed into law on March 27, 2018.
SB 272
Senate: 32-0; House: 97-0
SB 272 provides the Office of Drug Control Policy the ability to establish a Community Overdose Response Demonstration Pilot Project. The project’s purpose is to encourage government agencies and community groups to work together in coordinating responses to drug overdoses and help educate families and the public on how to identify and react to an overdose.
The pilot program creates quick response teams that would visit victims within a week of a reported overdose. The teams would coordinate care and resources for overdose victims to ensure they receive addiction recovery assistance. Communities with a high frequency of drug overdoses compared with national averages are eligible for participation in the demonstration pilot project. The project’s creation was based on a quick response team created in Huntington, a city hit especially hard by the opioid epidemic. Since the bill’s passage, other organizations have announced their preparations to begin their own quick response teams.
SB 272 also requires all first responders to carry naloxone and be trained in its use. In addition, the bill requires health care providers and emergency responders to report additional overdose-related data.
SB 273
Senate: 33-0; House: 97-1
The most debated opioid response legislation introduced was SB 273, which was designed to allow West Virginia to join two-dozen other states in establishing limits on opioid prescriptions for acute pain. Patients receiving care at an emergency room or urgent care would be limited to four-day supplies of opioid medications. Other practitioners may only prescribe for seven days initially. Patients receiving prescriptions for longer than seven days would be required to execute a narcotics contract with their provider, and subsequent prescriptions would require patients to receive notices of associated risks and alternative treatment options. The bill also establishes a procedure allowing patients to provide a directive refusing the administration of opioids in medical emergencies.
SB 273 was the subject of hours of floor discussion in the House during the final days of the session when delegates rejected two amendments that would have imposed a 10-cent tax on pharmaceutical companies for every opioid prescription filled in the state and required disclosure of how many pain pills are shipped into the state. Ultimately, the amendment was defeated based on concerns that the taxes would be passed on to patients and could strain the Medicaid budget.
SB 401
Senate: 33-1; House: 90-7
Another opioid bill, SB 401, was proposed to require private health care insurers to cover up to 180 days of inpatient or outpatient substance abuse treatment without prior authorization. Lawmakers heard testimonies from patients waiting to be admitted into treatment facilities pending pre-authorizations from their insurance companies. Under this bill, insurance coverage of treatment and timely access to the coverage will increase.
These three bills individually will not solve West Virginia’s opioid epidemic, but they are three new and meaningful tools for the coordination of resources, a reduction in the supply of opioid prescriptions and the expansion of access to treatment. These actions by West Virginia’s leadership should produce long-term results in our state’s substance use disorder prevention, treatment and recovery efforts.
HB 4145
Pay Raise for Teachers and Public Employees
By Jessica Wintz-Adams
Senate: 34-0; House: 99-0
Following years of budget deficits and mid-year spending cuts, Governor Jim Justice revealed a turn-the-corner general revenue budget for 2018-2019 that included across-the-board pay raises for teachers, school service personnel and public employees at 1 percent per year spread over a five-year period.
The proposed 1 percent increases, along with concerns over increasing health care costs and premium increases under PEIA, became the catalyst for a work stoppage that defined the 2018 legislative session. The work stoppage began on Thursday, February 22, the day after Justice signed Senate Bill (SB) 267, which provided teachers, school service personnel and state police with a 2 percent salary increase that would begin in July 2018 and included a 1 percent pay hike for teachers in 2020 and 2021. Leadership for teachers’ unions said the raises wouldn’t cover cost of living increases, and the bill didn’t address other concerns related to public employee insurance programs, health care costs and payroll tax deduction legislation.
The strike appeared as though it would end a week later on February 27 when Justice was able to provide teachers and other education-related employees a 5 percent pay raise in the first year—provided state lawmakers approved House Bill (HB) 4145. This 5 percent pay raise would be covered by newly increased revenue numbers from the governor—up $58 million from initial estimates—but lawmakers, especially in the Senate, were skeptical of the increased revenue estimates. The proposed pay hike passed the House, but the Senate made additional changes that called for a 4 percent pay raise. That change was rejected by the House, and volleying over the percentage amount continued. The debate over salary increases and how to address PEIA and health care costs brought the bill to a standstill. With teachers and supporters filling the Capitol to capacity, many activities that take place to move the legislative calendar along did not happen.
The strike finally came to an end on March 6, just days before the legislative session ended. Justice signed a 5 percent
pay increase and initiated a PEIA taskforce to work on a permanent fix for the health insurance plan.
As a result of giving the 5 percent raise and freezing PEIA health care increases, the Legislature had to strip many of the governor’s proposed budget increases, including the elimination of the business inventory tax. The cuts were necessary since lawmakers elected not to use any of the additional $58 million in revenue estimates, and should revenue projects exceed expectations, lawmakers stated they would be able to do supplemental approbations for those agencies that lost budget increases.
Teachers, school service personnel and supporters were able to claim victory and have inspired similar movements in two other states across the country.
SB 626
Coal Mining
By Del. Jason Harshbarger
Senate: 33-0; House: 93-4
With the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 626, certain plans in West Virginia’s mining safety program will now be approved by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) instead of the state agency. SB 626, referred to as Relating Generally to Coal Mining, also adds additional safety requirements.
SB 626 was supported by the West Virginia Coal Association, which stated the bill allows a more streamlined process for coal mining operations and adds additional safety protocols.The bill came with some opposition from organizations saying it was fast-tracked and weakened the public notice process for surface mine permits.
Many House and Senate members were supportive of the bill, which reduced redundancies and overlap of governing agencies. Due to concerns from the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, an amendment was adopted in the House’s energy committee to ensure the notifications required by law would continue to appear in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality of the proposed permit area, provided it could be done electronically with the newspaper in lieu of actual print.
Revisions to other environmental sections included removing restrictions that applied only to the state certification of coal mining projects that require Clean Water Act dredge and fill permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Going forward, coal mines will operate under the same rules as any other earth-moving project such as highway construction or natural gas development.
In order to eliminate confusion between federal and state regulations and policies, one MSHA-approved plan may now be submitted to the director in lieu of separate state-approved plans for ventilation, seals, roof control, belt air, self-contained self-rescuer storage, tracking and communication and emergency shelters. This will also eliminate the need for having multiple plans in place to meet both agencies’ requirements.
Another section of the bill deals with revisions to the use of underground diesel generators. It permits mine operators to replace a filter or catalyst of the same make and model without contacting the Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training. It also permits the use of diesel generators in underground mines as long as the generator is vented directly to the return. At least one person must be present within sight and sound of the generator provided so that all current state rules and statutes relating to the use of diesel-powered equipment and electricity generation remain in force. The bill also provides alignment with MSHA requirements for diesel generator training, again reducing redundant state requirements.
Governor Jim Justice signed the bill into law on March 27, 2018, and it will be effective on June 6, 2018. The West Virginia Coal Association saw this bill as a way of successfully reducing duplicative plans and adding safety measures to protect Mountain State coal miners.
HB 4268
Co-tenancy
By Anne Blankenship
Senate: 23-11; House: 58-41
House Bill (HB) 4268, known as the Co-tenancy Modernization and Majority Protection Act, has passed after years of negotiations. This bill will place West Virginia on a level playing field with other major oil and natural gas-producing states.
To develop shale resources, oil and natural gas companies enter into leases with mineral owners to form development units made up of individual tracts. Until now, West Virginia was the only state in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays that prevented production when less than 100 percent of the mineral owners agreed for it to proceed.
While a very small percentage of mineral owners have been denying the majority of owners from royalty payments for years, now a super majority of 75 percent in each tract within a drilling unit can decide whether drilling can occur. Not only is this the highest threshold for co-tenancy in the country, but the law will also compensate the 25 percent of nonconsenting co-tenants as well as the highest-paid lessee in the same tract.
After passing the House and Senate, the bill went to Governor Jim Justice, who signed it into law on March 9, 2018.
HB 4001
SNAP Benefits
By Del. Joshua Higginbotham
Senate: 24-9; House: 73-23
West Virginia has one of the highest percentages of state population on government assistance in the country. House Bill (HB) 4001 aims to curb this negative trend by changing how citizens qualify for welfare.
The premise is simple: recipients must work or volunteer 20 hours per week in order to receive SNAP benefits, or food stamps. If a SNAP recipient is over the age of 50, is a veteran, has a disability or has a child, they are not required to work or volunteer. HB 4001 also updates the state code on how to handle welfare fraud and abuse cases.
Given that several states have enacted similar bills that saw significant savings and a drop in the number of people on public assistance, HB 4001 can lead to tremendous potential savings for West Virginia.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, West Virginia has seen the creation of nearly 10,000 new jobs over the last 12 months, and the state now has one of the fastest growing economies in the nation. It is time to get people back to work, and HB 4001 does exactly that.
HB 4001 was signed into law on March 27, 2018. Advocates expect this to be an economic boost for the region.
HB 4187
Firearms at Work
By Rachel Coffman
Senate: 32-1; House: 87-11
With the passage of House Bill (HB) 4187, known as the Business Liability Protection Act, West Virginia became one of 20 states prohibiting both public and private employers from establishing no firearm policies on employer-owned parking lots.
HB 4187 was heavily supported by the National Rifle Association and the West Virginia Citizens Defense League, which argued the bill allows more protection for employers. The bill was heavily opposed by many due to workplace safety concerns and intrusion on private property rights.
The business community and many delegates expressed concern about the constitutionality of requiring religious organizations to adhere to the bill’s provisions, while the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, West Virginia Business & Industry Council, West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, aviation institutions and other businesses suggested the state’s manufacturing facilities should be able to retain their current policies prohibiting firearms on-site due to hazardous and flammable materials that could pose a safety risk if ignited. Language to address both of these concerns was proposed but was not adopted.
The bill was signed into law on March 21, 2018.
HB 4345
Medical Cannabis
By Dr. Rahul Gupta
Senate: Passed; House: Died
Signed into law in 2017, Senate Bill (SB) 386, the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act, allows patients registered with a physician and the Department of Health and Human Resources to use medical cannabis and buy it from regulated dispensaries.
In 2018, the Legislature debated several changes to the act, including increasing the number of grower, processer and dispensary permits issued; authorizing the vertical integration of medical cannabis organizations; allowing medical cannabis to be grown outdoors by licensed growers; authorizing the possession and smoking of medical cannabis by approved persons; repealing the physician registration requirement; and authorizing medical cannabis sales in edible and plant-based forms.
House Bill (HB) 4345 amended SB 386 to include several recommendations from the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board. The most significant was a provision authorizing the state treasurer’s office to designate a credit union for medical cannabis banking functions. Without this amendment, many banking vendors are unwilling to handle permit fees generated by the program because the possession, sale and use of marijuana is still illegal under federal law. The Senate passed HB 4345, but the bill died in the House.
