Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signs SB469, providing a funding mechanism for West Virginia’s $5 billion OPEB debt. (Photo/Steven Allen Adams)
By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed a bill making West Virginia the first state to deal with its multi-billion dollar retiree health [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin‘s substance abuse bill passed one committee today on the West Virginia Senate side, but still has two more committees to go through.
The Senate Health and Human Resources Committee passed SB437, Tomblin’s proposal that would create a regulatory framework in place to monitor [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — The lead sponsor of right-to-work legislation in the West Virginia Senate encouraged her fellow lawmakers to discuss the issue, while a union-employed senator said such legislation would be harmful to labor.
SB508, sponsored by state Sen. Karen Facemyer (R-Jackson) and introduced last Friday, would allow workers to [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee could move as quickly as next week on a bill designed to close a loophole allowing felons to run for public office or be appointed.
SB518 was one of 14 bills introduced in the West Virginia Senate today. The bill would close a [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — A bill making texting while driving a primary offense is now on its way to the West Virginia House of Delegates after passing the state Senate.
Senators passed SB211 unanimously today, after the penalties in the bill were changed. SB211 would make it a primary offense to [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — Another week has gone by, inching us closer to the halfway mark of the West Virginia Legislature’s 2012 general session. Feb. 9 will be the 30 day mark of the 60-day session.
As of today 1,608 bills have been introduced between the House of Delegates and the [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Senate put Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s public retiree health care funding proposal on the fast track to full passage by the Legislature later this week.
The state Senate suspended the rules requiring a bill be read on three separate days before passage and sent [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — This could be the year that West Virginia finally deals with its multi-billion dollar retiree health care debt.
A bill proposed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin during his State of the State address, SB 469, was introduced in the West Virginia Senate this morning and passed out [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — Unless the bill returns in another chamber, for the time being future county magistrates will not have to go to college.
The West Virginia Senate defeated a measure that would have required county magistrates to have a two-year college degree to be eligible to run for office. [...]

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog
CHARLESTON — Tax incentives to lure a natural gas manufacturing facility to West Virginia is set to go before the West Virginia Senate tomorrow.
The Senate Finance Committee passed HB 4086 today a day after the House of Delegates passed the legislation. The bill will go to the full [...]