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Monday, January 15, 2007
Sixth Day
The House of Delegates met at 11:00 a.m., and was called to order by the Speaker.
Prayer was offered and the House was led in recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Clerk proceeded to read the Journal of Friday, January 12, 2007, being the first order of
business, when the further reading thereof was dispensed with and the same approved.
Messages from the Executive
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson, presented the 2006 annual report of West Virginia Financial
Institutions for the period ending December 31, 2006, in accordance with the provisions of the code;
which was filed in the Clerk's Office.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson, presented the annual report of the Department of Health and
Human Resources through the Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health's Newborn Hearing
Screening Project, in accordance with section one, article twenty-two-a, chapter sixteen of the code;
which was filed in the Clerks Office.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson, presented the annual report of the Department of Health and
Human Resources through the Office of Maternal, Child and Family Health's Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program, in accordance with section seven, article thirty-three, chapter sixteen of
the code; which was filed in the Clerks Office.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson, presented the 2006 West Virginia Youth Services Annual
Report and Comprehensive Plan Update for the Department of Health and Human Resources, in
accordance with section seven-a, article five-b, chapter forty nine of the code; which was filed in the
Clerks Office.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson, presented the eighty-fifth annual report of the Municipal Bond
Commission for the period ending June 30, 2006, in accordance with section fifteen, article three,
chapter thirteen of the code; which was filed in the Clerk's Office.
Resolutions Introduced
On motions for leave, Joint Resolutions were introduced, read by their titles and severally
referred as follows:
By Delegate Caputo:
H. J. R. 2 - "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia,
amending section 1b, article X thereof, relating to homestead exemption increase; numbering and
designating such proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of
such proposed amendment"; to the Committee on Constitutional Revision then the Judiciary.
By Delegates Argento, Caputo, Longstreth, Yost, Stemple, Hrutkay, Martin, Eldridge,
Barker, DeLong and Miley:
H. J. R. 3 - "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia,
amending section one-b, article X thereof, relating to a homestead exemption increase; numbering
and designating the proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of
such proposed amendment"; to the Committee on Constitutional Revision then the Judiciary.
By Delegate Carmichael:
H. J. R. 4 - "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia,
amending article VI thereof by adding thereto a new section, designated section 57, relating to dedicating one percent of general revenue to the Division of Natural Resources to be used to fund
activities intended to promote and preserve the state's wildlife resources and to fund
law-enforcement activities involving the Division of Natural Resources; numbering and designating
such proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed
amendment"; to the Committee on Constitutional Revision then the Judiciary then Finance.
By Delegates Ennis, Hamilton, Romine, Azinger, Evans, White and Tucker:
H. J. R. 5 - "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia,
amending section three, article VI thereof, relating to increasing the terms of members of the House
of Delegates from two to four years; and increasing the terms of members of the State Senate from
four to six years; numbering and designating such proposed amendment; and providing a
summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed amendment"; to the Committee on
Constitutional Revision then the Judiciary.
Petitions
Delegates Overington, Blair, Duke, Rowan, Wysong, Doyle, Tabb, J. Miller and Cowles
presented a petition, signed by one thousand three hundred seventy-eight residents of the Eastern
Panhandle, in support of a constitutional amendment to increase the homestead exemption to fifty
percent of the value of the senior's home; which was referred to the Committee on the Constitutional
Revision.
Bills Introduced
On motions for leave, bills were introduced, read by their titles, and severally referred as
follows:
By Delegate Overington:
H. B. 2112 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §8A-12-1, §8A-12-2, §8A-12-3, §8A-12-5,
§8A-12-12, §8A-12-15, §8A-12-16 and §8A-12-17 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
all relating to the voluntary farmland preservation program generally; clarifying legislative purpose;
prohibiting county farmland preservation boards from purchasing land without the authority of the county commission; prohibiting use of fees for tourism purposes, historical preservation, or
maintenance or management by the county farmland preservation board"; to the Committee on
Political Subdivisions then Government Organization.
By Delegate Caputo:
H. B.2113 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §21A-1A-27 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended; and to amend and reenact §21A-6-10 and §21A-6-11 of said code, all relating to
changing the amount a person can earn while receiving unemployment compensation benefits,
without it changing the benefits received, from sixty dollars a week to forty percent of the person's
weekly benefit rate"; to the Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.
By Delegate Frederick:
H. B. 2114 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §18C-7-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, relating to the PROMISE scholarship generally; and providing that a student commuting
to classes from his or her home in this state to an accredited out-state-institution not more than fifty
miles from the boundary of this state may be eligible"; to the Committee on Education then Finance.
By Delegate Evans:
H. B. 2115 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding
thereto a new section, designated §16-5B-13a, relating to hospitals and similar institutions; and
requiring any facility that performs abortions to maintain a quality assurance program"; to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary.
By Delegate Browning:
H. B. 2116 - "A Bill to repeal §19-25-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended;
and to repeal §20-14-10 of said code, all relating to insurers asserting immunity on behalf of
landowners"; to the Committee on Banking and Insurance then the Judiciary.
By Delegate Tansill:
H. B. 2117 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated §16-2K-1, relating to requiring that physicians who perform abortions must have staff privileges at a hospital within fifteen minutes travel time of the facility
providing the abortion or that the facility have a working agreement between the facility and a
hospital within fifteen minutes travel time; and providing a penalty for noncompliance"; to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary.
By Delegates Perry, Browning and Hrutkay:
H. B. 2118 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §18-9A-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, relating to appropriation and award of funds to provide for safe schools through
alternative education programs for certain students"; to the Committee on Education then Finance.
By Delegates Manchin, Proudfoot and Walters:
H. B. 2119 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §8A-11-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, relating to municipal zoning generally; and prohibiting discrimination against the
location of factory-built housing by units of local government"; to the Committee on Political
Subdivisions then Government Organization.
By Delegates Boggs and Mahan:
H. B. 2120 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §8-10-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to prescribing minimum standards for municipal judges; requiring criminal
background checks of persons applying for municipal judgeships; excluding persons convicted of
certain offenses from serving as municipal judge; and requiring municipal judges receive continuing
legal training"; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegate Browning:
H. B. 2121 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §5-10B-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, relating to contributions to government employees deferred plans"; to the Committee
on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.
By Delegate Carmichael:
H. B. 2122 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §11-15-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to elimination of the sales tax on food not consumed on the premises"; to the Committee on Health and Human Resources then Finance.
By Delegate Carmichael:
H. B. 2123 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §11-15-3a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended; and to amend and reenact §11-17-3 of said code, all relating to eliminating the
consumer sales and service tax on food; increasing the cigarette excise tax to one dollar per pack;
and increasing the excise tax on non-cigarette tobacco products to fifteen percent"; to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources then Finance.
By Delegates Overington, Schadler, Blair, Porter and Barker:
H. B. 2124 - "A Bill to repeal §61-11-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended;
to repeal §62-3-15 of said code; to amend and reenact §61-2-2 of said code; to amend said code by
adding thereto seven new sections, designated §61-2-2a, §61-2-2b, §61-2-2c, §61-2-2d, §61-2-2e,
§61-2-2f and §61-2-2g; and to amend said code by adding thereto four new sections, designated §62-
7-4, §62-7-5, §62-7-6 and §62-7-6a, all relating to death penalty for first degree murder; procedures,
standards and findings applicable to imposition thereof in certain instances including aggravating
and mitigating circumstances; sentencing; providing for automatic review of the death penalty by
the Supreme Court of Appeals; providing for forensic deoxyribonucleic acid ('DNA') testing of
biological material in death penalty cases; providing for execution of the death sentence by lethal
injection; providing for delivery of sentence of death to officer retaining custody of person so
sentenced; providing for transmission of indictment, order of conviction, sentence and judgment
entered thereon to the warden of the state correctional facility; transfer of person sentenced to death
to the state correctional facility; execution; providing presence of certain persons be requested for
the execution; providing for certification that sentence of death has been executed; and providing
for disposition of the body "; to the Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.
By Delegates Beach, Argento, Stemple, Mahan and Browning:
H. B. 2125 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §18-2D-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, relating to recognizing the Appalachian Education Initiative promoting the role of art education in the public schools"; to the Committee on Education then Finance.
By Delegates Beach, Poling, M., Stemple, Proudfoot, Argento, Stalnaker and Williams:
H. B. 2126 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §22-15-22 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, relating to the regulation of land-based finfish aquaculture facilities; and exempting
them from certain sludge management requirements"; to the Committee on Agriculture and Natural
Resources then the Judiciary.
By Delegates Beach, Hamilton, Perry and Varner:
H. B. 2127 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §61-7-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to exempting magistrates from the licensing requirements for carrying a concealed
weapon"; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegate Hrutkay:
H. B. 2128 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding
thereto a new section, designated §18-5-15g, relating to requiring county boards of education to
establish the daily observance of a minute of silence in all county schools"; to the Committee on
Education then the Judiciary.
By Delegates Lane, Porter, Blair and Sumner:
H. B. 2129 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated §16-2K-1, relating to banning partial birth abortions in instances
when the unborn child is capable of survival if delivered"; to the Committee on Health and Human
Resources then the Judiciary.
By Delegate Swartzmiller:
H. B. 2130 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §7-14D-14 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, relating to eliminating any reduction in the benefit of a deputy sheriff who is disabled
on the job"; to the Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.
By Delegate Swartzmiller:
H. B. 2131 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §7-14D-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to doing away with multiplier method of calculating the accrued retirement
benefit of a deputy sheriff retirement system member and replacing it with a fixed percentage of final
average salary"; to the Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.
By Delegate Stemple:
H. B. 2132 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §24-1-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to providing a legislative finding that it may be in the best interests of public
utility consumers to allow public utilities to enter contracts which allow the payment of capital costs
of expansions or new construction of public utility facilities in exchange for reservations of capacity
in these new facilities"; to the Committee on Government Organization.
By Delegate Lane:
H. B. 2133 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §18C-7-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, relating to funding the PROMISE scholarship program"; to the Committee on
Education then Finance.
By Delegates Brown, Hatfield, Guthrie, Fleischauer and Hrutkay:
H. B. 2134 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated §16-2K-1, §16-2K-2 and §16-2K-3, all relating to emergency
contraception"; to the Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary.
By Delegate Schadler:
H. B. 2135 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §8-12-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended; and to amend and reenact §60-7-12 of said code, all relating to allowing municipalities
to regulate by ordinance the hours of sale and dispensing of nonintoxicating beer, wine and alcoholic
liquors by holders of a license to operate a private club; and providing that these ordinances do not
allow sales during periods of time prohibited by rules of the Alcohol Beverage Control
Commissioner"; to the Committee on Political Subdivisions then the Judiciary.
By Delegate Schoen:
H. B. 2136 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §48-11-101 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to support of children and providing that parents whose parental rights are
terminated continue to be responsible for support until the child is adopted, reaches age of majority
or is otherwise emancipated"; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegate Schoen:
H. B. 2137 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding
thereto a new section, designated §17-15-9, relating to making it unlawful to offer for sale or sell
products created, wholly or in part, by jail inmates and providing criminal penalty"; to the
Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegates Schoen and Blair:
H. B. 2138 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §18B-2A-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, relating to prohibiting abortions at state college or university medical facilities, except
when the abortion is necessary to save the life of the woman receiving the abortion"; to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources then the Judiciary.
By Delegates Talbott and Pino:
H. B. 2139 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding
thereto a new section, designated §46A-6F-115, relating to a no telephone solicitation contact (Do
Not Call) list being maintained by the Public Service Commission; providing that telephone
subscribers and telephone service consumers may pay a modest fee to be placed on the 'Do Not
Call' list; providing that the Public Service Commission create the 'No Call' list for sale to
telemarketers; and civil providing penalties violations"; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegate Rowan:
H. B. 2140 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §61-2-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to defining 'the deceased' for purposes of prescribing that a deceased victim
includes an unborn child under first and second degree murder"; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegate Pino:
H. B. 2141 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §52-1-8 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to raising the age at which a person may request to be excused from jury duty from
sixty-five to seventy"; to the Committee on the Judiciary .
By Delegates Wysong and Doyle:
H. B. 2142 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §5-16-13 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to public employees insurance generally; eliminating a gap in employment for
certain Alcohol Beverage Control Commission employees subject to a reduction in force and who
are reemployed; and specifying applicable periods of time"; to the Committee on Banking and
Insurance then Finance.
By Delegate Talbott:
H. B. 2143 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §20-2-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to unlawful hunting and fishing; and exempting retrieval of a dog after five
o'clock antemeridian from offense of hunting on Sunday"; to the Committee on Agriculture and
Natural Resources then the Judiciary.
By Delegate Tansill:
H. B. 2144 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §3-1-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to voter identification; and establishing a requirement that voters identify
themselves prior to casting a vote"; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegate Yost:
H. B. 2145 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §21-3C-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §21-3C-2a, all
relating to defining limited use residence elevators in public places; and establishing guidelines for
installing limited use residence elevators"; to the Committee on Government Organization.
By Delegates Wysong, Tabb and Doyle:
H. B. 2146 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §61-7-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to allowing law-enforcement officers from other states authorized to carry a
weapon in the performance of their duties, to carry weapons in West Virginia without a license when the other state allows law-enforcement officers from West Virginia to carry weapons in that state
without a license"; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegates Brown and Hatfield:
H. B. 2147 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §15-1B-26 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, relating to the Air National Guard generally; and providing that a firefighter who is a
member of the Air National Guard and who is medically disqualified from service in the Air
National Guard shall not be discharged as a firefighter if he or she is able to perform the essential
tasks of his or her employment and has been cleared to return to work by a physician"; to the
Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegates Overington, Carmichael and Sumner:
H. B. 2148 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §61-6-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to providing that all persons have the right to be free from violence without regard
to the motivation behind the violence"; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegates Overington, Rowan and Sumner:
H. B. 2149 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding
thereto a new section, designated §16-5-20a, relating to requiring the collection of statistics relative
to abortions performed in the state"; to the Committee on Health and Human Resources then
Finance.
By Delegate Browning:
H. B. 2150 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §23-2-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended; and to amend and reenact §30-13A-36 of said code, all relating to land surveyors
generally; and providing an exemption from workers' compensation and surveyor licensing
requirements for surveyors with more than thirty years of surveying experience with one employee
over the age of sixty-five; and providing retroactively an exemption from surveyor licensing
requirements for retired surveyors over the age of sixty-two with no employees"; to the Committee
on Industry and Labor, Economic Development and Small Business then the Judiciary.
House Calendar
First Reading
The following bills on first reading, coming up in regular order, were each read a first time
and ordered to second reading:
Com. Sub. for H. B. 2051, Including lasers as a method of proving the speed of vehicles,
And,
H. B. 2052, Providing that the term "impersonation" of a public official or employee includes
the act of operating a motor vehicle which falsely displays an official emblem or other marking.
Miscellaneous
Delegate Martin asked and obtained unanimous consent that the remarks of The Honorable
Arley Johnson regarding Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. be printed in the Appendix to the Journal.
At 12:05 p.m., the House of Delegates adjourned until 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, January 16,
2007.