From an email... here's what the West Virginia Democratic Party is touting as the major legislative accomplishments this session.
The 2010 Legislative Session ended at 12:00am, Saturday, March 13. Listed below are some of the accomplishments of the Democratic-led Legislature:
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
- Intermediate Business Courts (HB 4352) - creates new courts, within the existing system, to handle disputes between businesses to reduce the caseload in existing courts
- South Charleston Tech Park (SB 611) - allows the Higher Education Policy Commission to relocate its offices in the old Union Carbide/Dow Tech Park; preserving the research facility for potential business development
- Energy rate flexibility (SB 656) - allows the PSC to negotiate more flexible rates and payment plans for energy-intensive industries to help attract manufacturing
- Local labor for construction jobs (HB 4359) - requires local workers (within 50 miles) be hired for construction projects costing over $500,000
RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT
- Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission (HB 4036) - creates a formal process to advise governors on appointments for judicial vacancies codifying existing practices
- State Vehicle Fleet Accountability (SB 219) - centralizes all of the state's vehicles under one office and established guidelines for their supervision to reduce cost
- State Supreme Court clean elections (HB 4130) - creates a pilot project for a publicly financed elections system for the 2012 State Supreme Court races so judicial candidates can be free from large-scale fundraising
- Elections Spending Disclosure (HB 4647) - increases the requirements for groups to disclose their political spending, giving the public more information about who is running ads
PUBLIC SAFETY
- Child Predator Unit (Budget bill) - increases the size of the State Police's child protection unit
- Dilapidated Buildings (HB 4034 & 4038) - increases cities' abilities to clean-up abandoned, vacant properties
- School Bus Safety (HB 4223) - increases penalties for traffic violations involving school buses and illicit drug offenses on school buses
EDUCATION
- School Building Authority (SB 229) - allows greater flexibility for the SBA to issue bonds, freeing more funding for school construction
- School Calendar Flexibility (HB 4040 & 4652) - allows counties more flexibility in designing their school calendar to ensure students get the full 180 days of instruction and creating local committees in each county to provide input
- High School Dropouts (HB 4593) - establishes several new measures to reduce the number of high school dropouts
My impression of this session is several bullets were dodged and, like many an election year, nothing much of note happened either.
