West Virginia’s 60-day regular legislative session begins today. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
Today begins the state’s 60-day regular legislative session, somehow simultaneously the longest and shortest 60 days of the year. So much goes on, but so little happens.
It’s also going to look a lot different than the last eight years under former Gov. Jim Justice. Gov. Patrick Morrisey is now the state’s chief executive. Senate President Randy Smith is that chamber’s new leader. And Speaker Roger Hanshaw returns to that role in the House.
They will oversee countless legislation.
Since West Virginia does not limit the number of bills a lawmaker can introduce, there will be thousands of bills.
Thousands.
You will hear about absolutely terrible bills. You will hear about crazy bills. You will hear about bills that sound illegal because they probably are. But very few will actually go anywhere.
What will this year look like? My prediction for last year’s session wasn’t accurate, but I’ll still make an educated guess on what I expect to see.
More loosening of vaccine regulations
Gov. Morrisey has already signed an executive order to allow religious exemptions from vaccines for school-age children. Newly-appointed Senate Health Committee Chair Laura Wakim Chapman has said there will be other bills introduced for additional exemptions to the state’s childhood vaccination requirements.
As Lori Kersey reported last week, anti-vaccine sentiment has grown in the state. In 2023, there were 53 requests for medical exemptions. In 2022, there were 18 requests and in 2018 and 2019, there were only two requests each year for vaccine exemptions.
The question I’m not seeing asked is what religions object to vaccinations?
Well, actually, there are no major world religions that forbid getting vaccinated.
Religious authorities have “meticulously studied how vaccines are made and what is in them, and still have ruled that they do not violate Jewish, Islamic or Catholic law.”
The group who is leading the anti-vaxx movement is evangelical Christians.
Allowing “religious exemptions” for vaccines is a way someone can object without having to give any sort of tangible evidence. Is your doctor going to question your religion? No.
Republicans have tried to sell this as a parental rights issue. But what about the rights of parents with immunocompromised children who can’t be vaccinated?
School discipline
Teachers have said that they need support with student discipline, but no bills aimed to help ease their burden were passed during last year’s legislative session.
It’s possible some of those bills could return, but lawmakers also have some new ideas on tackling the issue — like banning artificial food dye.
Some lawmakers seem to think food coloring is the reason that kindergarteners are attacking their teachers.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, some studies have shown a link between dyes and increased hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder in children, and other studies have shown an improvement in kids’ behavior when dyes were eliminated from their foods. However, the clinic says more research is needed.
There is another factor that could have led to more discipline issues — the COVID-19 pandemic.
Post-pandemic, children frequently reported experiencing anxiety, depression, irritability and anger. Educators have said that student behavior is worse now than before the pandemic.
In some states, schools reacted by offering more mental health services for students. In others, like West Virginia, they just dealt out more suspensions.
Returning bills
There were several bills that didn’t quite make it to the finish line last year that are likely to return.
- The Crown Act, which would outlaw discrimination based on hair texture, has been introduced for several years now. Last year lawmakers tried to argue that other laws already provide protection from such discrimination. Others were concerned it would lead to costing the state money.
- “Meet Baby Olivia,” a video that shows the stages of a fetus and is produced by an anti-abortion activist group, has already popped up again in other state legislatures. The Senate approved the bill last year, but the House never took it up.
- The Women’s Bill of Rights, which is a deceptively named anti-transgender bill, failed to go up for a vote in the House in the last night of session last year.
- The library obscenities bill, which would open librarians to criminal penalties for showing “obscene” materials to minors, passed in the House but wasn’t taken up in the Senate.
While there are things that will be similar to last session, the new leadership is already at work. Smith, the Senate president, has already said communication between him, Hanshaw and Morrisey has been a “breath of fresh air.”
Tonight we’ll hear Morrisey’s priorities during his State of the State address. And unlike the mostly absent Justice, we’re likely to see Morrisey around the Capitol during the session actually working with lawmakers to get his bills passed. We’ll have to wait and see if those are the same priorities of West Virginians.
Get updates each morning on West Virginia’s legislative session.