hdj2008-01-11-03

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Friday, January 11, 2008
THIRD DAY
[Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson, in the Chair]

The House of Delegates met at 11:00 a.m., and was called to order by the Honorable Richard Thompson, Speaker.
Prayer was offered and the House was led in recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Clerk proceeded to read the Journal of Thursday, January 10, 2008, being the first order of business, when the further reading thereof was dispensed with and the same approved.
Committee Reports
On motions for leave, resolutions were introduced (Originating in the Committee on Rules and reported with the recommendation that they each be adopted), which were read by their title as follows:
By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson:
H. R. 3 - "Amending House Rule 91a, setting the last day for bill introduction at the forty-first day of the session."
Resolved by the House of Delegates:
That House Rule 91a be amended to read as follows:
Time Limit on Introduction
91a. No House joint resolution and no House bill, other than a House supplementary appropriation bill or a House bill originating in a House standing or select committee, shall be introduced in the House after the ~~forty-fifth~~ forty-first day of a regular session unless permission to introduce the joint resolution or bill be given by a House resolution, setting out the title to the joint resolution or bill and adopted by a two-thirds vote of the House members present. The ~~forty-fifth~~ forty-first day of the regular session held in the year ~~one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven~~ two thousand nine and every fourth year thereafter shall be computed from and include the second Wednesday of February of such years. When permission is requested to introduce a joint resolution or bill under provisions of this rule, quadruplicate copies of the joint resolution or bill shall accompany the resolution or bill when introduced.
By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson:
H. R. 4 - "Creating a Select Committee on Senior Citizen Issues."
Resolved by the House of Delegates:
That for the remainder of the 78th Legislature, there is hereby created a Select Committee on Senior Citizen Issues, consisting of not more than fifteen members of the House of Delegates, to be appointed by the Speaker. Notwithstanding the provisions of any House Rule to the contrary, the Select Committee hereby created shall have jurisdiction of any and all legislative proposals to propose, revise and recodify the statutory provisions relating to all issues relevant to senior citizens as determined by the Speaker.
The rules of the House governing Standing Committees shall govern the actions and proceedings of this Select Committee insofar as applicable.
By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson:
H. R. 5 - "Authorizing the Committee on Rules to arrange a Special Calendar and providing for making public the vote on certain questions in connection with the preparation thereof." Resolved by the House of Delegates:
That beginning on Thursday, February 7, 2008, and for the remainder of this regular session of the Legislature, the Committee on Rules is hereby authorized to arrange a Special Calendar as provided by House Rule 70. Daily after the eighth order of business shall have been passed, the Special Calendar shall be called, and until this calendar is disposed of each day, no item of business on the regular House Calendar shall be considered or take precedence over any item of business on the Special Calendar, except by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting.
No bill or resolution shall be placed upon the Special Calendar except by the Committee on Rules. In making up the Calendar, the Committee on Rules may hear any Delegate or other person in behalf of any resolution or bill he may desire placed upon such calendar and the committee shall give due consideration to the merits of bills and resolutions pending in the House of Delegates, and take cognizance of measures which affect the public interest generally; and be it
Further Resolved, That the committee shall cause to be kept a record of all roll call votes on all questions pertaining to preparation of the Special Calendar and removing the same therefrom. This record of votes shall show those voting in the affirmative or those voting in the negative, whichever shall be the smaller number, and those absent and not voting. These vote records shall be prepared and following the adjournment of each meeting made available to House members and to the public.
By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson:
H. R. 6 - "Authorizing printing and distribution of Acts of the Legislature and Journals of the House of Delegates."
Resolved by the House of Delegates:
That under authority of section thirteen, article one, chapter four of the Code of West Virginia, the Clerk of the House of Delegates is hereby authorized to have printed not to exceed 500 copies of the Acts of the 2008 Regular Session of the Legislature, bound in buckram, or equivalent binding to be determined by the Clerk, and to include therein the Acts of any extraordinary session which may not have been printed.
The Clerk of the House shall provide copies of said Acts for distribution as provided by section six, article eight, chapter fifty-one of the code insofar as such distribution is practicable.
The Clerk of the House of Delegates is also authorized to publish not to exceed 250 copies of the Journal of the House of Delegates for the second regular session of the 78th Legislature and to include therein the unpublished Journals of any extraordinary sessions. In addition, there shall be printed twelve official copies of any Journal published, properly bound and designated. A copy of the Journal and five copies of said Acts shall be furnished to each member of the Legislature, upon request of each such member. The Clerk shall retain sufficient copies of the buckram bound Acts to supply legislative offices and the remaining copies shall be retained by the Clerk, for sale by his department.
For the work required in indexing, printing and distributing said Acts and in the publication of said Journal of the House of Delegates and for completing other work of the session, the Speaker is hereby authorized to appoint such persons as he may deem necessary to perform technical, clerical, stenographic, custodial and other services required by the House of Delegates.
The Speaker shall certify a list of persons entitled to compensation under authority of this resolution to the Clerk of the House of Delegates, and the Clerk shall draw his requisition in favor of such persons at per diems or at monthly salaries, which shall be paid from the Per Diem of Officers and Employees Fund or the Contingent Fund of the House of Delegates.
At the request of Delegate DeLong, and by unanimous consent, the resolutions (H. R. 3, H. R. 4, H. R. 5 and H. R. 6) were each taken up for immediate consideration and adopted.
Resolution Introduced
Delegates Burdiss and Browning offered the following resolution, which was read by its title and referred to the Committee on Rules:
H. C. R. 5 - "Requesting the Division of Highways name the bridge numbered 0.01 and located at Route 54/4 in the City of Mullens, the 'Oscar Robert England Bridge'."
Whereas, Oscar Robert England was instrumental in the early development of the infrastructure of the City of Mullens that is still in use today; and
Whereas, Oscar Robert England served as street commissioner for the City of Mullens for over twenty years; and
Whereas, Oscar Robert England's family, friends, neighbors and the community where he worked and lived and that he loved and served, all agree that it would be a great and deserving honor to name this bridge in Mr. England's honor; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Legislature hereby requests the Division of Highways to name the bridge numbered 0.01 and located on Route 54/4 in the City of Mullens, Wyoming County, West Virginia the "Oscar Robert England Bridge;" and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Division of Highways is hereby requested to erect appropriate signage at the entryway of each end of the bridge; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates forward a certified copy of this resolution to the Commissioner of Highways and to the Wyoming County Commission.
Delegate Talbott offered the following resolution, which was read by its title and referred to the Committee on Rules:
H. C. R. 6 - "Requesting the Division of Highways name the bridge numbered 51-20-20.27 (4114) on Route 20 in Webster Springs, Webster County, the 'Kenny Ray Hamrick Memorial Bridge'."
Whereas, Kenny Ray Hamrick, a life-long resident of Webster Springs, operated several successful businesses, including Hamrick's Texaco and Restaurant, and served as a city councilman as well; and
Whereas, Kenny Ray Hamrick served his country faithfully and courageously in World War II, earning two purple hearts and two bronze stars for uncommon and exceptional acts of valor; and
Whereas, Kenny Ray Hamrick was a generous and charitable citizen of Webster Springs, frequently offering people who were down on their luck free meals at his restaurant while extending them credit for gasoline at his filling station; and
Whereas, It is fitting that this bridge be named for Kenny Ray Hamrick to honor his generosity and compassion; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Legislature hereby requests the Division of Highways to name bridge number 51-20- 20.27 (4114) on Route 20 in Webster Springs, Webster County, the "Kenny Ray Hamrick Memorial Bridge"; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Division of Highways is requested to have made and be placed signs identifying the bridge as the "Kenny Ray Hamrick Memorial Bridge"; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House forward a copy of this resolution to the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Kenny Ray Hamrick's son, Kevin R. Hamrick.
Bills Introduced
On motions for leave, bills were introduced, read by their titles, and severally referred as follows:
By Delegates Fleischauer, Marshall, Beach and Shook:
H. B. 4028 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §5A-3B-1 and §5A-3B-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to authorizing counties and municipalities to enter into contracts for energy-savings contracts"; to the Committee on Political Subdivisions then the Judiciary
By Delegate Border:
H. B. 4029 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §5-10-15c, relating to public employees receiving credit toward their West Virginia public employee retirement benefits for service in the Peace Corps"; to the Committee on Pensions and Retirement then Finance.
By Delegates Caputo, Hamilton, D. Poling and M. Poling:
H. B. 4030 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §21-3-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to requiring that workplace fatalities be reported to the Division of Labor"; to the Committee on Industry and Labor, Economic Development and Small Business then the Judiciary.
By Delegates Talbott, Caputo, Hrutkay and DeLong:
H. B. 4031 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated §3-1D-1, relating to the agreement among states to elect the president by national popular vote"; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
By Delegates White and Kominar:
H. B. 4032 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §21-5-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to payment of wages through a direct deposit system utilizing an automated teller machine card or other means of electronic transfer"; to the Committee on Industry and Labor, Economic Development and Small Business then Finance.
By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson, and Delegate Armstead
[By Request of the Executive]:
H. B. 4033 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §18C-7-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to authorizing the West Virginia PROMISE Scholarship Board to recommend a legislative rule to the Higher Education Policy Commission for promulgation requiring repayment of the PROMISE scholarship award under certain circumstances"; to the Committee on Education then Finance.
By Delegate Browning:
H. B. 4034 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §5-5-3a, relating to a lump sum payment to an employee for annual leave days in excess of those that can be carried over from year-to-year"; to the Committee on Finance.
By Delegates Higgins and Guthrie:
H. B. 4035 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §11-21-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to exempting social security benefits from West Virginia personal income tax for taxpayers whose federal adjusted gross income is less than fifty thousand dollars"; to the Committee on Finance.
By Delegate Morgan:
H. B. 4036 - "A Bill to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §30-34-6a; and to amend and reenact §30-34-9 of said code, all relating to the respiratory care board"; to the Committee on Government Organization.
By Delegates DeLong, White, Gall, Rowan, Stephens and Moye:
H. B. 4037 - "A Bill to amend and reenact §11-21-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to reducing state income tax liability for certain retired public employees; increasing the amount of retirement income received from certain state and federal retirement systems that is excluded from the calculation of income subject to state personal income taxes from two thousand dollars to twenty thousand dollars; and establishing an effective date for the increased exclusion"; to the Committee on Finance.
At 11:19 a.m., the House of Delegates adjourned until 11:00 a.m., Monday, January 14, 2008.