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Updated: 11:54 PM Feb 11, 2010
Round Two for Several High Profile Bills
Lawmakers are off to a slow start this legislative session, but several hot button issues are back on the table for another try.
Posted: 11:54 PM Feb 11, 2010Reporter: Kallie Cart; Associated Press Email Address: kallie.cart@wsaz.com |
Courtesy: West Virginia Legislature
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7 Comments 
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Lawmakers are off to a slow start this legislative session, but several hot button issues are back on the table for another try.
At the half-way point only the school calendar bill has passed both the House and the Senate. Thirty-three bills have passed a single chamber, there were 51 at this point last year.
But several high profile issues are being pushed again this year.
A bill requiring insurance companies to cover Autism is working its way through legislative committees. A ban on texting while driving has also been re-introduced this year. Some republican lawmakers are again pushing for the drug-testing of welfare recipients.
On Thursday, the Senate introduced a school bus bill, which many refer to as "Haven's Law." The bill would increase the penalty for drivers who pass school buses while unloading children. Right now the penalty is $50.
Haven McCarthy's father and paternal grandmother fought for the bill last year. Haven was killed while getting off of her school bus in Lincoln County in 2007.
Delegate Kelli Sobonya, (R) Cabell County, introduced the bill in the house last year and it gained momentum, but it was never taken up in the Senate. Haven's family was devastated, but they are pushing the issue again this year.
The Senate's version of the bill increases the fine and requires jail time for repeat offenders.
The house bill additionally calls for a suspension of the driver's license and makes killing a child a felony.
"To go home at the end of the 60-day session and not have the school bus bill, that is unacceptable and inexcusable," Delegate Sobonya said.
"I think this bill has every reason to pass and no reason to fail," Democratic Senator Michael Oliverio of Monongalia County said. Senator Oliverio is a co-sponsor of the Senate bill.
Latest Comments
after 30 days only one bill has cleared the house and senate, you can sure tell it is a non-election year. maybe we need a bill to pay lawmakers for production not a straight salery.
Since they turned comments off for the racial profiling story I will post here.How can blacks be mad about police pulling them over when it almost always ends in an arrest?I got news for you,I work on the west side of Charleston,and when a car full of black guys gets pulled over around here 9 out of 10 times that car is getting towed and the occupants are in handcuffs.Even when black officers are doing the arrest.I think it's easier to scream racism than it is to look at the complete failure of generations of blacks to take responsibility for their parenting skills.Everyone from MTV all the way to local radio promotes the language and actions of today's black youth,and it's sad.Are you going to sit there and tell me that if you live in a predominately black area you don't know who sells drugs?You don't know that the kids your kids went to school with have turned to crime?Some may not know,but I bet most do,and choose not to do anything about it.If u want HPD to lay off, lend a hand.
We owe it to all of our children to see that Senate Bill #541 is passed. Its terrible when our babies can not load or unload from a school bus safely. Please help in our familys fight for safety for all WV children. No one should ever endure such tragedy.
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