Brad McElhinny

House legislation is a path to long-deferred maintenance for state Culture Center - WV MetroNews Legislation establishes a dedicated Cultural Center Improvements Revenue Debt Service Fund.

Delegates passed a bill meant to give West Virginia’s Culture Center long-delayed tender loving care.

House passes bill changing Hope Scholarship to quarterly funding - WV MetroNews With this scaled back bill, the program moves to a quarterly deposit schedule: August 15, Oct. 15, Jan. 15 and April 15.

The House of Delegates passed a bill moving the funding schedule for the Hope Scholarship to quarterly, rather than twice a year.

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Legislation cutting severance taxes on met coal in tough markets passes House - WV MetroNews Current law has a 5% severance tax on the gross value of metallurgical coal.

Delegates passed a bill incrementally lowering metallurgical coal severance taxes.

The tax cut is being considered as metallurgical coal typically used in steel making faces challenging market forces.

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Delegates pass legislation that would change school funding framework, but not for another three years - WV MetroNews Financial support for West Virginia's public schools has been a recurring theme of this year's legislative session, although additional dollars are not coming right away.

The House of Delegates passed legislation that will change funding for local school systems, although it wouldn’t kick in until three years from now.

House passes bill aimed at regulating cryptocurrency kiosks - WV MetroNews H. B. 5353 is intended to better regulate the kinds of kiosks often found in convenience stores and gas stations allowing users to buy or sell cryptocurrencies using cash or debit cards.

The House of Delegates passed legislation meant to better regulate the kinds of cryptocurrency kiosks that have been popping up in storefronts.

'Raylee's Law,' a policy to slow homeschool transfers in child abuse cases, hits a wall against deadline - WV MetroNews The bill is a proposal to place a hold on removing students from public schools to homeschool environments if there is a pending child abuse or neglect investigation.

One of the most passion fueled bills of the legislative session never got to a passage vote.

Senate moves to limit 'adult cabaret' while debating what that even is - WV MetroNews The bill defines adult cabaret performances as events featuring topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, appealing to prurient interests.

What is adult cabaret? Who is a go-go dancer?

On key deadline House passes big plank of its 'Jobs First' agenda - WV MetroNews House Bill 4001 is an initiative called TEAM-WV, meant to create a competitive, statewide nonprofit to drive a cohesive strategy for site development, partnerships and business growth.

The House of Delegates on a key deadline date, passed a centerpiece of its “Jobs First — Opportunity Everywhere” agenda.

Ahead of vote on financing, delegates tour a Culture Center in need of love and repair - WV MetroNews House Bill 5685 proposes a financial plan to fund major improvements.

The Culture Center, a jewel of West Virginia arts and history, has seen better days.

Machine gun legislation gets jammed up in West Virginia Senate - WV MetroNews 'Unfortunately, time has run out in West Virginia for this year,' said the bill's lead sponsor, Senator Chris Rose, R-Monongalia.

A machine gun bill that popped into the legislative session had a rapid unscheduled disassembly.

House Finance starts talking about tax cut bill but a vote will come later - WV MetroNews Delegate Vernon Criss, chairman of the committee, was clear in remarks during the meeting and then afterward that the committee would vote on the bill later, Thursday, and that could include…

The House Finance Committee started discussing the proposed tax cut favored by the governor, but there has been no resolution yet.

Judge puts federal and state officials on notice over indefinite jailings after immigration sweeps - WV MetroNews The judge threatened contempt proceedings and sanctions if the government continues to ignore the binding legal rulings in future cases.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin ripped federal and state officials for continuing the mandatory, indefinite jailing of noncitizens arrested West Virginia, concluding the practice violates Fifth Amendment due process rights.

Machine gun legislation rat-tat-tat-tat-tats through West Virginia Senate - WV MetroNews Legislation would establish a new Office of Public Defense managed by the State Police to oversee the sale and distribution of machine guns to eligible residents.

Up against a deadline, senators rolled out legislation meant to make machine guns more readily available in West Virginia.

Policy to prevent homeschool transfers in child abuse cases gets a last-second push at the Legislature - WV MetroNews 'Raylee’s Law' is named for an 8-year-old girl who died of abuse and neglect in 2018 after she was withdrawn from school, eliminating contact with educators under mandatory reporting requirements.

Nearing a deadline to move bills from one chamber to another, a proposal to place a hold on removing students from public schools to homeschool environments if there is a pending child abuse or neglect investigation sent ripples through everything.

Legislation would change school funding framework, but not for another three years - WV MetroNews Under the most recent version of the bill,  the current school funding aid formula would be used for the coming three academic years, until 2029.

The House of Delegates will consider legislation that will change funding for local school systems, although it wouldn’t kick in until three years from now.

In man's immigration arrest, federal officials also cited 2009 marijuana rap. The problem? He was 4 years old - WV MetroNews In a series of cases focused on the basis of arrests and incarcerations, judges are also calling out sloppiness.

The judge noted that federal authorities had attached documentation of a 2009 conviction for marijuana possession.

That did not add up, the judge wrote. “The Petitioner,” she wrote, "was four years old in 2009.”

Stretch run in Senate: legislation covering disrobing in opposite sex locker rooms and 'adult cabaret' - WV MetroNews One includes undressing in the opposite sex's locker room within the crime of indecent exposure. The other criminalizes adult cabaret performances on public property or where minors could view them.

West Virginia senators will be considering issues of who’s wearing what in locker rooms and the legality of “adult cabaret.”

Up on deadline, legislation cutting severance taxes on met coal jumps to House floor - WV MetroNews The tax cut is being considered as metallurgical coal typically used in steel making faces challenging market forces.

Delegates bopped a last-second bill incrementally lowering metallurgical coal severance taxes to the House floor.

The tax cut is being considered as metallurgical coal typically used in steel making faces challenging market forces.

Delegate Larry Kump, master of various catch phrases, has died - WV MetroNews Kump, a Republican, served in the House from 2010 to 2014, again from 2018 to 2020 and finally 2022 to the present. He had announced plans to run again in the coming electoral cycle.

Delegate Larry Kump of Berkeley County has died, state officials announced. Kump was 78 years old.

Senators debate bill about coal-fired power plant capacity and then pass it overwhelmingly - WV MetroNews The main point of contention is a goal for coal-fired power plants would need to be operating at 69% capacity.

Senators debated for about an hour Friday before finally voting overwhelmingly for legislation focused on coal-fired power plant capacity and how costs for rate payers could be affected.

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Senate will consider bills on football safety, support for women's sports - WV MetroNews The Cohen Craddock Student Athlete Safety Act was discussed and advanced by the Senate Finance Committee.

A sports safety bill named after a middle school football player who died after a football-related head injury during a practice will be considered by the full state Senate.

U.S. DOJ says it's suing to get West Virginia voter info like names, birth dates and ID numbers - WV MetroNews This has been an ongoing issue since West Virginia’s Secretary of State, Kris Warner has twice said no, citing state law and personal voter information.

West Virginia said ‘no’ to turning over sensitive information to U.S. Department of Justice, and now DOJ says it is suing to get state voters’ information like birth dates, residential addresses, drivers license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

Governor announces a developer for big West Virginia data center spot - WV MetroNews Morrisey valued the West Virginia project at $4 billion, a thousand construction jobs and an estimated 125 ongoing jobs.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced development of a big data center, which he called a high impact intelligence center, in West Virginia.

“Can you feel the buzz?” Morrisey asked

A very scaled back Hope Scholarship bill advances to House floor - WV MetroNews When a new version was unveiled, the bill had been changed to only focus on changing the scholarship cash flow from two times a year to quarterly.

A lingering and controversial bill originally meant to reform aspects of the Hope Scholarship for children being educated outside the public school system wound up being whittled to bare bones.

The House bakes its version of the budget bill and adds some spice - WV MetroNews The budget bill now goes to the state Senate, where significant differences remain.

After a couple of hours of debate, the House of Delegates approved its version of a budget bill, although there’s yet another whiparound ahead as it goes back to the Senate for more changes.

Delegates look at bill to change school funding, but governor is cool to extra spending on that right now - WV MetroNews Gov. Patrick Morrisey, speaking at a press conference today, expressed financial caution about additional state support for schools.

Delegates are considering a bill that could revamp state financial support for public schools, but Gov. Patrick Morrisey again expressed caution about that kind of spending priority right now.

Governor says he wants to collaborate on budget, says his administration's approach is sound - WV MetroNews The governor highlighted his willingness to work with lawmakers during a press conference today at the state Capitol.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey says he’s ready to collaborate with the Legislature on a budget, but he believes his administration’s approach has been the most fiscally sound so far.

'Bring Them Home' fund focusing on out-of-state placements takes another step - WV MetroNews West Virginia children are typically sent to out-of-state placements because of a shortage of available local foster homes or specialized facilities that can meet their specific behavioral, medical…

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill intended to address Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s goal of bringing foster children who have been placed in out-of-state treatment facilities back to West Virginia.

ICE officers violate Constitution when making arrests while masked, writes federal judge in West Virginia - WV MetroNews Judge Joseph Goodwin's order was filed in one of a series of cases in the Southern District with people seized in immigration sweeps contesting the basis of their arrests and subsequent incarceration.

A federal judge from West Virginia concluded that when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers use masks and unmarked cars for arrests, it breaches the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, removing accountability and undermining due process.

Senate passes bill that would convert school days to hours - WV MetroNews The bill would change the minimum public school 180 instructional day requirement into a minimum 900 instructional hour requirement.

Senate passes bill to change the minimum public school 180 instructional day requirement into a minimum 900 instructional hour requirement.