Published: January 28, 2008 10:16 pm      

Lawmakers handle several key issues

CHARLESTON — Plan on buying a new freezer, heat pump, ceiling fan or air conditioner?

How about a battery charger, boiler, furnace, ventilating fan, dishwasher, clothes washer or dehumidifier?

If so, and the appliance doesn’t run any higher than $2,500, you might be in for a tax break, courtesy of Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan.

Provided, that is, if his colleagues in the Legislature agree to the idea.

Tomblin is the lone sponsor of a special sales tax holiday for consumers who buy certain Energy Star appliances over a three-day period, beginning June 20.

Tomblin’s proposal specifies that the appliance must be for non-commercial home or personal use to qualify. And, the device must meet the energy efficient guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and federal Department of Energy, authorizing it to bear the Energy Star label.

The measure also would cover a room air cleaner, water cooler, compact fluorescent light bulb, light fixture, programmable thermostat, or refrigerator.

Another bill, an outgrowth of last year’s interims meetings, seeks to address constitutional issues surrounding West Virginia’s burgeoning wine-making industry.

“This tries to bring some fairness to farm wineries to let them practice their trade,” said Sen. Mike Oliverio, D-Monongalia, who headed a special judiciary subcommittee that worked on the proposal during interims.

“And it attempts to make access easier to people ordering wine,” Oliverio said.

Sen. Clark Barnes, R-Randolph, has offered his own wine bill, saying it is a more comprehensive effort than the bill that emerged from the interims study.

Senators unanimously passed bills aimed at striking outdated language in bills affecting the penitentiary code involving Huttonsville Correctional Center, Denmar State Hospital, and the Division of Corrections.

As Senate Judiciary Chairman Jeffrey Kessler, D-Marshall, explained it, the bills seek to repeal old language that alluded to the “director of public institutions,” a post that no longer exists.

All three measures were recommended by the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority.

“They are just meant to bring the code up to standard,” explained the panel’s co-chairman, Sen. Shirley Love, D-Fayette.

“They are just a change in code to give the administration proper authority under law without question.”

Another Senate bill approved stipulates circuit courts in West Virginia shall have jurisdiction of all legal matters where the amount in dispute exceeds $2,500. The existing cutoff is $300.

Moreover, the bill, authored solely by Kessler, says circuit courts will have original and general jurisdiction in habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto, prohibition, crimes and misdemeanors.

Circuit court also would have “original and general” jurisdiction in all cases in equity, including jurisdiction to remove any “cloud on the title” to real property, or “any part of a cloud” on any estate, right or interest in real property, ad to ascertain issues of title without requiring allegations or proof of actual possession of the real property.

— E-mail:

mannix@register-herald.com