The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

March 27, 2009

Big issues falling by wayside at session

By Mannix Porterfield

CHARLESTON — Controversy-laden legislation from the “one-man, one-woman” marriage amendment to the so-called bottle bill appears dead for this session.

Perhaps the most contentious one of them all, the proposed drug testing of folks on public assistance, failed to reach first base as well.

But its lead sponsor, Delegate Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, is still hoping to belt a home run before the gavel falls April 11 on the 60-day session.

Yet his success depends on a modus operandi that has worked only rarely in the past — bypassing committees and escorting legislation directly to the floor.

Another key item sent to the House’s graveyard was one to limit Medicaid funding for abortion to the only three conditions allowed under federal guidelines — rape, incest and a threat to the mother’s life.

That one was sponsored by Finance Chairman Harry Keith White, D-Mingo, whose committee never took it up.

Likewise, an effort to expand the rights of surface owners in dealing with mineral rights holders was cast off.

Blair hoped to impose random drug testing on anyone getting a welfare check, food stamps or unemployment benefits.

One positive test would have given the user two months to come clean, and if a second exam proved positive, all benefits would be cut off.

Blair’s bill never came before the judiciary committee, but the delegate, thrust in the national limelight with interviews on national news channels, is holding out hope for his “two strikes and you’re out” measure.

“I’ll do everything I can to bring this bill forward,” he said Friday.

“I’m having more of my colleagues behind the scenes tell me how they support the bill. Yet they’re not stepping up to the plate and helping me.”

Blair suggested a true test of his support could come when he attempts to discharge a committee to get his bill on the floor for a vote.

If that fails, the delegate indicated he could attempt to amend his bill into the unemployment compensation measure advanced on behalf of Gov. Joe Manchin.

“The game’s not done yet,” he added.

But time has run out on some other items.

Linda Frame, program director for West Virginia-Citizen Action Group, was at a loss to explain the failure of a bill that sought to impose a totally refundable 5-cent deposit on beverage containers.

The intent was to discourage consumers from tossing containers from vehicles, causing more litter on highways.

“We put together this effort year after year and get as far as we can get,” she said.

This time — the seventh trip, in fact — the bill survived a judiciary subcommittee on a 5-1 vote, but the full panel never put it on the agenda.

“I feel we got a lot of attention in the public this year,” Frame said.

Frame felt encouraged early on when Manchin met with her group and voiced his support.

“Are we discouraged?” she asked.

“Yes. Are we happy we got the victory in the subcommittee? Yes.”

House Minority Leader Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, wasn’t ready to throw in the towel on the proposed constitutional amendment on marriage.

Proponents contend an amendment is a stronger, less vulnerable part of law, and less likely to be successfully challenged as the State Code.

“I hope it’s not dead,” Armstead said. “I hope it still has a shot at moving. This year, or in the future, we’re going to continue to fight for it.”

Of all the issues before lawmakers this session, Armstead said the “one-man, one-woman” marriage concept was among the few with strong public input.

“If it does not pass this year, we have not followed the will of the people of West Virginia,” he added.

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