WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

SENATE JOURNAL

SEVENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION, 2007

SEVENTH DAY

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Charleston, W. Va., Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The Senate met at 11 a.m.
(Senator Tomblin, Mr. President, in the Chair.)

William Weed II, Charleston, West Virginia, proceeded in the playing of "Amazing Grace" and "The West Virginia Hills" on the bagpipes.
Pending the reading of the Journal of Monday, January 15, 2007,
On motion of Senator Sharpe, the Journal was approved and the further reading thereof dispensed with.
The Senate proceeded to the second order of business and the introduction of guests.
Senator Tomblin (Mr. President) presented the following communication and resolution from the Honorable Wally Thornhill, chair of the Citizens Legislative Compensation Commission, created by section thirty-three, article VI of the West Virginia Constitution, which was read by the Clerk:
WEST VIRGINIA CITIZENS

LEGISLATIVE COMPENSATION COMMISSION

January 15, 2007

The Honorable Earl Ray Tomblin
President, West Virginia Senate
State Capitol
Charleston, West Virginia
Dear President Tomblin:
I am pleased, on behalf of the Citizens Legislative Compensation Commission, to submit to you our resolution as adopted on January 9, 2007.
Sincerely,
Wally Thornhill,
Chair.
Resolution Submitting Recommendations with Respect to Compensation and Expense Allowances

Adopted January 9, 2007

Determination of compensation and expense allowances.
WHEREAS, The Citizens Legislative Compensation Commission met pursuant to the call of its chairperson in Charleston, West Virginia, on January 9, 2007; and
WHEREAS, The Citizens Legislative Compensation Commission is charged with the responsibility of submitting by resolution to the Legislature its determination of compensation and expense allowances for members of the Legislature; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Citizens Legislative Compensation Commission, at least four of the seven members of the Commission having concurred therein, that the compensation and expenses allowances of members of the Legislature are hereby determined as follows:
That each member of the Legislature shall receive as compensation for his or her services the sum of twenty thousand dollars per year effective with the legislative session beginning in January, 2007, and twenty-five thousand dollars per year effective with the legislative session beginning in January, 2009, plus such additional compensation as expressly provided.
Resolved further, That in addition to the basic and additional compensation provided, the Chairpersons of the Committees on Finance and Committees on the Judiciary of the respective houses and up to six additional persons from each house, to be named by the presiding officer, shall each receive an additional compensation of one hundred fifty dollars per day up to a maximum of thirty days for attending to legislative business when the Legislature is not in regular, extended or extraordinary session and interim committees are not meeting, along with accompanying per diem allowances and travel expense reimbursement.
Resolved further, That in addition to the basic and additional compensation provided, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Delegates shall each receive additional compensation of:
(1) One hundred fifty dollars per day for each day actually served during any regular, extension of regular or extraordinary session as presiding officer; including Saturdays and Sundays; and
(2) One hundred fifty dollars per day for attending to legislative business when the Legislature is not in regular, extension of regular or extraordinary session and interim committees are not meeting.
Resolved further, That in addition to the basic and additional compensation provided the majority leaders and minority leaders of the Senate and of the House of Delegates, each shall receive additional compensation of fifty dollars per day for each day actually served during any regular, extension of regular or during extraordinary session, including Saturdays and Sundays, as the selected legislative leaders of their respective political parties.
Resolved further, That each member of the Legislature who does not commute daily shall receive the sum of one hundred thirty-one dollars per day as per diem allowance in connection with any regular, extended, extraordinary session, interim assignment or for any member authorized by the presiding officer.
Resolved further, That each member of the Legislature who does commute daily shall receive the sum of fifty-five dollars per day as the per diem allowance and mileage as currently provided, if travel is by private automobile, or for actual transportation costs for direct route travel, if travel is by public carrier, or for any combination of the means of transportation actually used, plus the cost of necessary taxi or limousine service, tolls and parking fees in connection with the travel: Provided, That the total of this per diem allowance plus travel expense for a daily commuting member may not exceed one hundred thirty-one dollars per day.
Resolved further, That the compensation and expense allowances of members of the Legislature not specifically addressed in this resolution shall remain the same.
Witness the following signatures and seals:
WALLY THORNHILL, CHAIR(SEAL)
RAYMOND PROZZILLO(SEAL)
TOM GEORGE
(SEAL)

LINDA FLUHARTY
(SEAL)

PAUL MCKOWN
(SEAL)

JEFF ROKISKY
(SEAL)

The Senate proceeded to the fourth order of business.
Senator Foster, from the Committee on Pensions, submitted the following report, which was received:
Your Committee on Pensions has had under consideration
Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 13, Requesting Joint Committee on Government and Finance study defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution pension plans.
And reports the same back with the recommendation that it be adopted; but under the original double committee reference first be referred to the Committee on Rules.
Respectfully submitted,
Dan Foster,
Chair.
The resolution, under the original double committee reference, was then referred to the Committee on Rules.
The Senate proceeded to the sixth order of business.
On motions for leave, severally made, the following bills were introduced, read by their titles, and referred to the appropriate committees:
By Senators Hunter, Jenkins, Hall, Prezioso, Love and Wells:
Senate Bill No. 97-- A Bill to amend and reenact §11-21-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to calculation of West Virginia adjusted gross income for personal income tax purposes; and subtracting Social Security benefits from federal adjusted gross income to the extent included in federal gross income for federal income tax purposes.
 Referred to the Committee on Finance.
By Senators Bowman and Love:
Senate Bill No. 98--A Bill to amend and reenact §18-9A-7 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to allocating fifteen thousand dollars to each county to be used for transporting students to school-related activities within the state; requiring approval in advance from superintendent of schools for the county making the request; and forfeiture of unused funds.
Referred to the Committee on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.
By Senators Foster, Prezioso, Jenkins, Hall, Stollings, Oliverio, Wells and Unger:
Senate Bill No. 99--A Bill to amend and reenact §11-21-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the reduction of state income taxes for certain state and federal retirees by increasing the exemption on retirement income in calculating the federal gross income for state personal income tax purposes.
Referred to the Committee on Pensions; and then to the Committee on Finance.
By Senators Hunter and Unger:
Senate Bill No. 100-- A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-5-47, relating to requiring local school boards to reimburse school service personnel for mileage expended for the use of their own vehicle in the course of their employment at a rate consistent with the state mileage reimbursement rate.
 Referred to the Committee on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.
 Senators Kessler, Chafin, Fanning, Foster, Hunter, Jenkins, Minard, Oliverio, White, Barnes, Caruth, Deem, McKenzie , Hall, Yoder, Stollings and Wells offered the following resolution:
Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 14-- Urging the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to design and implement a process of data collection on children and families involved in divorce and child custody matters decided by the family law courts of this state.
Whereas, In 2001 the West Virginia Legislature enacted sweeping changes to child custody laws of the state; and
Whereas, Those changes were in large part reflective of the American Law Institute's model legislation developed to provide determinate and predictable outcomes that benefit children in the vast majority of cases without imposing standardized solutions that offend society's commitment to pluralism and parental autonomy; and
Whereas, Prior to the reforms initiated by the Legislature in 2001, the courts of West Virginia decided custody issues under the best-interests-of-the-child test, despite widespread recognition that the test made results difficult to predict, thus encouraging unnecessary litigation, the hiring of expensive experts and strategic or manipulative behavior by parents; and
Whereas, The approach enacted by the Legislature in 2001 requires post-separation allocations of residential responsibility to each parent that approximate the proportion of caretaking each parent assumed before the separation. In focusing on past caretaking patterns, this approach derives what is best for a particular child not from the experience of families in the aggregate, or from some state ideal of the divorced family, but from the experience of the individual child's own family; and
Whereas, In 2006, the Legislature resolved in House Concurrent Resolution No. 55 to review the comprehensive legislative changes in divorce and custody laws enacted in 2001 and determine whether additional reforms are necessary; and
Whereas, During the 2006 interim meetings, a subcommittee of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary undertook such a study of the state's current divorce and custody laws; and
Whereas, That study reviewed information prepared by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals regarding the number and types of family law cases decided by the courts in the previous year. Unfortunately, the data provides little or no information on the personal characteristics of parents, types of custody arrangements agreed upon by parents or imposed by the courts, family composition (e. g., age and sex of the children), the socio-economic status of the family and the amount of parental cooperation; and
Whereas, To truly determine whether additional legislative reforms are necessary and appropriate, additional data on the families participating in matters of child custody before the state's family courts is essential; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Legislature hereby urges the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to design and implement a process of data collection on children and families involved in divorce and child custody matters decided by the family law courts of this state; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Legislature hereby urges the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to develop and implement additional data collection tools for divorce and child custody cases decided by the family law courts of this state for the purpose of providing the Legislature with relevant information to be considered in determining whether further legislative changes to the state's divorce and custody laws are necessary and appropriate.
Which, under the rules, lies over one day.
Senators Prezioso, Stollings, Foster, Jenkins, Wells and Unger offered the following resolution:
Senate Resolution No. 5--Designating January 16, 2007, as "Health Decisions Day".
Whereas, Health care planning is a process, rather than a single decision, that helps people consider the kind of care they would want to receive in the event of serious illness or incapacitation, encourages them to discuss these issues with their loved ones and physicians and assists them in documenting their wishes in writing; and
Whereas, Advance directives give individuals the ability to document their wishes relating to health care decisions and to delegate a representative to speak for them should they become unable to speak for themselves; and
Whereas, It is vitally important for an individual to consider health care decisions that may arise in the future; and
Whereas, Introducing these issues in community settings can help people begin conversations about their health care wishes with a family member, close friend, physician or faith leader; and
Whereas, West Virginia has a number of local coalitions and organizations throughout the state that are working to involve individuals and families in health care planning through educational forums, discussion groups, speakers' bureaus and training; and
Whereas, West Virginia's Advance Care Planning Program, which has received national recognition as one of the most comprehensive advance care planning programs in the nation, is being utilized by health care facilities and senior citizens' centers throughout the state to help residents discuss and plan for their care at the end of life; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate:
That the Senate hereby designates January 16, 2007, as "Health Decisions Day"; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the West Virginia Center for End-of- Life Care.
 At the request of Senator Prezioso, unanimous consent being granted, the resolution was taken up for immediate consideration, reference to a committee dispensed with, and adopted.
Senators Unger, Prezioso, Jenkins, Love, Wells and Foster offered the following resolution:
Senate Resolution No. 6-- Designating January 16, 2007, as "West Virginia Transportation Day".
Whereas, West Virginia's transportation system empowers us to live productive lives, keeps our economy growing and strengthens our state's security; and
Whereas, Preserving and enhancing our transportation resources makes our infrastructure safer, promotes growth in business and industry, works to protect our nation and improves the quality of life for our citizens; and
Whereas, West Virginia is a very rural state with many of its women, elderly, veterans and persons with disabilities living in areas that are not served by mass transit; and
Whereas, Transportation is an integral part of a person's ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle; and
Whereas, The purpose of West Virginia Transportation Day is to increase the awareness of legislators, administrators, policymakers and the public of the transportation issues that are important to elderly individuals, people with disabilities and low-income residents, as well as the general public; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate:
That the Senate hereby designates January 16, 2007, as "West Virginia Transportation Day"; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to an appropriate organizer of "West Virginia Transportation Day".
At the request of Senator Unger, unanimous consent being granted, the resolution was taken up for immediate consideration, reference to a committee dispensed with, and adopted.
On motion of Senator Chafin, the Senate recessed for one minute.
Upon expiration of the recess, the Senate reconvened.
Pending announcement of meetings of standing committees of the Senate, including a minority party caucus,
On motion of Senator Chafin, the Senate adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, January 17, 2007, at 11 a.m.
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