MORGANTOWN — The Senate and House passed a couple handfuls of bills on Monday, among them one for child cyber safety, one for highway safety and one concerning carbon sequestration to pave the way for economic development projects. SB 466 creates the Safety While Accessing Technology ...
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $3,229,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the City of Ripley and the City of Mannington. The funding will support wastewater treatment plant improvements and water meter upgrades in Jackson and Marion counties. These federal awards are two of the Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) requests Manchin secured on behalf of West Virginia through the Fiscal Year 2023 funding bill. “I’m pleased the EPA is investing more than $3.2 million in upgrading water and wastewater ...
West Virginia’s non-uniformed corrections workers would receive pay raises under a bill advanced by the House Jails and Prisons Committee. As committee discussion noted, uniformed corrections officers received pay raises as an outcome of a special legislative session in August. The bill currently moving would provide pay raises for their non-uniformed colleagues. HB 4734 is also referred to the House Finance Committee, and there has not yet been an assessment of the cost. Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency in August 2022 because of the many vacancies in West ...
KINGWOOD — Preston County Parks and Recreation is seeking $9,900 from the Preston County Commission to be used for labor to repair a portion of the Northern Rail Trail that washed out at Snider Crossing during a storm. A representative for PCPaRC said the group still has funding from a federal highway grant but that money can only be used for material to fix the problem. Councilman Hunter Thomas suggested members of PCPaRC get two or three more comparative estimates for labor to see if they can get a lower bid. “You look at that and we’ll see if we can find the funds. ...
The House Energy Committee had a vigorous discussion and then advanced a bill that would define standards for community programs to monitor and analyze information about air quality. Aspects of HB 5018 that drew criticism would place limits on how that air quality information is used. Although the bill says the secretary of West Virginia’s environmental agency may consider air monitoring data gathered under specific standards to determine whether further investigation is necessary to protect communities, the legislation goes on to say the secretary may not use only the original ...
The House of Delegates has established a Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence and it advanced its first bill. House Bill 5161 doesn’t exactly deal with artificial intelligence but it does seek to take advantage of technological advances. The bill would create a “digital wallet” for residents whose jobs require various licenses, to keep all of the owner’s certifications or licensure in one place. The process would flow through the Secretary of State’s Office’s one-stop business portal. The individual would have responsibility for organizing their credentials and ...
