Friday, March 18, 2011
EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...3-19-'11
Friday, state lawmakers passed a $4 billion general fund budget that includes millions of dollars for pay raises teachers and other state workers. The bill is only part of the state’s larger $11 billion-plus budget that will take effect July 1st, but it is the part lawmakers have the most control over. Much of the remaining money in the budget comes from non-discretionary federal funds. Among its provisions is $68 million for pay raises for teachers, state police and other government employees and $100 million set aside to help the state’s casinos compete with out-of-state rivals. The budget bill cleared the House by a 72 to 23 vote, and the Senate passed the same bill by a 27-to-1 vote less than an hour later.
- Lincoln County Commissioners have unanimously passed a resolution urging Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin to sign House Bill 2505 which bans the sale and possession of synthetic drugs. The legislature passed the bill during their last session. Lincoln County Sheriff Jerry Bowman says he believes the public doesn't realize the danger of synthetic drugs.
- Bayer CropScience announced Friday that it will not restart the transitional production of methyl isocyanate, or MIC, at its Institute site Kanawha County this year. Bayer officials say the company will begin the process of decommissioning the unit, and 220 people at Institute and another 80 at Woodbine, Georgia, will lose their jobs as a result. Following a 2010 agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Bayer had agreed to phase out production of its Temik brand insecticide after the 2012 crop year. About 17 present and former Kanawha County residents had sued Bayer to prevent the restart of the MIC unit. U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin had issued a temporary restraining order preventing the startup and had scheduled a March 21st hearing to consider a permanent injunction.
The West Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear a lawsuit challenging whether Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan, is legally entitled to draw the salary of governor while acting in that capacity. New Martinsville lawyer H. John Rogers, on behalf of a group identified as The Christian Patriotic Front, has filed a petition which argues it is unconstitutional for Tomblin to draw the $150,000 salary of governor, since the state constitution provides that he is merely to act as governor when gubernatorial action is necessary to keep the ship of state afloat. Rogers argues that Tomblin cannot draw the salary of governor, occupy the Governor's Office in the Capitol or live in the Governor's Mansion without an act of the Legislature expressly authorizing him to do so, and his job as Senate president is the only salary to which he is legally entitled.
- West Virginia lawmakers have fixed 13 bills vetoed because of technical errors. The seven House and six Senate bills include one increasing ethics disclosure requirement for public officials. Another offers water utility rate relief for low-income seniors. One provides short-term loans for unemployment benefits. The other creates the Cabinet Department of Veterans' Assistance. Other bills address court and mining-related fees, specialty license plates, and access to cemeteries on private land. Measures regulating optometrists, social workers, medical aides, health programs and water quality standards also were corrected.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:20 PM 
