Published: April 07, 2009 11:19 pm      

Bill seeks to lower inmate costs

CHARLESTON — Inmates in West Virginia’s regional jails might have to fork over $5 each time they check into the infirmary for a non-emergency visit.

Senators unanimously passed HB2404 without debate Tuesday, meaning the unaltered legislation goes to Gov. Joe Manchin.

In another move, the Senate passed a resolution seeking a year-long study of how to cope with the expensive and, at times, injurious matter of deer-motor vehicle collisions.

Judiciary Chairman Jeffrey Kessler, D-Marshall, noted the inmate bill grew out of a study during the interims session by the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority.

The idea is to help lower some of the costs incurred by inmates not seeking assistance for non-chronic or non-emergency trips to the doctor, Kessler said.

A report by the insurance commissioner last year found that one in 63 highway crashes in West Virginia entailed a run-in with a deer.

The problem of deer on highways prompted a study by the Division of Natural Resources on devices used in other states to signal motorists when the animals are near a highway.

But the DNR research was inconclusive as to which devices are proven effective.

Senate Natural Resources Chairman John Pat Fanning, D-McDowell, said he hopes the special interims study will be approved by Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan, and House Speaker Rick Thompson, D-Wayne.

“I think it will be good because it will help a lot of people see if there is an instrument out there, we can warn them of deer,” Fanning said.

“It would save people a lot of money down the road and insurance companies as well.”

Senators approved a number of minor bills, among them one that exempts land-based finfish aquaculture facilities from some sludge management rules.