State Sen. Erik Wells, D-Kanawha, led an uphill battle to push through a bill that would have created a charter school program in West Virginia.
After pressure from Gov. Joe Manchin to wait until a special session on education, Wells pulled the legislation on second reading. Negative pressure from the West Virginia Education Association (which helped [...]

With the House Budget Committee working on a reconciliation bill that will be far different than the bill released late Sunday night, W.Va. Gov. Joe Manchin has expressed reluctant support for the health insurance reform bill.
From Fox News:
…Two Republicans (Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Jim Douglas of Vermont) argued that the legislation is “unsatisfying” [...]

As a service to our readers, West Virginia Watchdog typically posts the complete documents. Today we bring to you the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.
The 2309-page bill was released Sunday evening by the House Budget Committee and is the biggest health insurance reform proposal yet. The U.S. Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care [...]

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On Jan. 11 I started off the 2010 West Virginia Legislative Session with a blog that went something like this:
I’ve heard it said that this year’s session could be a boring one, with the focus staying on budgeting issues. Then again, last year we had the Barbie Bill as well as a proposal [...]

Listen as members of the West Virginia House of Delegates debated for nearly an hour over a bill that would allow an abortion patient the option to see an ultrasound picture of the fetus.
Senate Bill 597 requires “women seeking abortion opportunity to see fetus ultrasound image.” The bill passed the West Virginia State Senate March [...]

A bill that could help industries which use large amounts of electricity was passed today by the West Virginia House of Delegates.
Senate Bill 656 would create “special rates for energy-intensive industrial electric power consumers.” These rates would be established by the Public Service Commission.
Industries wishing to take advantage of the special rates would need to [...]

A bill that would create a public campaign financing pilot program for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and was sent to the Senate floor.
House Bill 4130 creates a public campaign finance program for the 2012 election cycle which would be funded through attorney fees, special court fees and [...]

We’re constantly told how much a benefit the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been for putting people back to work, protecting current jobs, and creating economic growth. I hope when it’s all said and done it was worth it, because the first six months of the 2010 fiscal year are showing that all it’s [...]

We here at West Virginia Watchdog are appreciative of our friend Don Surber. Surber is a columnist with the Charleston Daily Mail, and the past two days he has been keeping track of bills in our West Virginia Legislature which could be considered a bit goofy.
On Tuesday he brought attention to House Bill 2061, sponsored [...]

Listen as State Sen. Erik Wells, D-Kanawha, pulls Senate Bill 686, which would have created a charter school program in West Virginia, from consideration by the West Virginia State Senate.

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Bob Morgenstern, Director for Organizing and Communications for the West Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, was asked for comment in regards [...]