Proposed Amendment Banning Gay Marriage Dies in WV Senate

by: Wabi-Sabi

Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 18:20:55 PM EST

As discussed earlier, Republicans in the House of Delegates tried to force a vote on the issue this week, but their procedural motion was defeated before the issue reached the floor.  On Thursday, supporters of the amendment held a rally at the Capitol in an effort to urge State Senators to adopt the Joint Resolution.

However, after discussing the issue in Democrtic Caucuses, Sen. Jeffrey Kessler, Chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, stated he does not plan to put the bill on his committee's busy agenda prior to the deadline next Wednesday for bills to pass from their House of origin.

Kessler noted that West Virginia already has a DOMA law defining marriage as between a man and a woman and questioned the urgency of the issue in light of more pressing issues such as unemployment and the economy.

As the Register-Herald reports:

"There doesn't seem to be any march to the courthouse by any gay couples to try to get married in this state," Kessler said afterward.

"It doesn't seem to be a problem. It appears to be more of a manufactured problem or crisis than it is to be one of actuality."

Kessler said he is yet to see anyone turned down at the courthouse seeking a marriage license, or even any homosexuals asking for one.

"I just don't see it being worthy of the limited time we have left to fight that battle,"

Kessler also commented, "I've always been very skeptical of making discriminatory behavior constitutional," Kessler said. "The Constitution, as I view it, protects the rights of the minority."  (emphasis added)

Congratulations to Senator Kessler and other State Senators for having the courage to stand up against discrimination and focus the Legislature on more important issues affecting the lives of West Virginians.

WV House of Delegates Passes Sales Tax Holiday for Guns

by: Wabi-Sabi

Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 00:03:30 AM EST

At a time when West Virginia is struggling to balance its budget and cutting appropriations for essential components of our social safety net, lawmakers have chosen to give a tax cut to gun owners.

Delegate Scott Varner (D-Marshall), who was one of 11 co-sponsors of the bill, commented to WTRF-TV that "The idea is to get them in to purchase the firearm and, along with that, you get all the ancillary benefits."

One can't help but wonder if some of those "ancillary benefits" will be more gun related crime and accidental shootings in West Virginia and beyond.

Unfortunately, the bill passed with only 2 nay votes. Delegates Brown and Doyle deserve great credit for having the courage to stand up to the NRA.

Gun control advocates are not the only critics of the legislation. The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C., has characterized gun sales tax holidays as "good politics, but terrible policy".

In a post on their blog, the Tax Foundation comments:

"They [gun sales tax holidays] are a political gimmick. But lawmakers should not be allowed to play politics with the tax code.

Let's be clear here: the issue is not gun rights. If applying the sales tax to guns is anti-Second Amendment, then taxing mp3 players is anti-music and taxing paper clips is anti-paper clip."

Similar guns sales tax holidays have been enacted in Louisiana and South Carolina and are under consideration in Mississippi and Oklahoma.

The bill now goes to the WV State Senate where it will likely be referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Sen. Jeffrey Kessler (D), who like Del. Varner, represents Marshall County.  

Coincidentally, Sen. Kessler made headlines earlier this month for another gun-related bill, Senate Bill 515.  Kessler introduced what he called "the Bloomberg Bill" in an effort to curtail out-of-state sting operations, which are being conducted across the country by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, aimed at preventing guns from being used in crimes in New York.

Kessler commented that such operations amount to illegal entrapment, which encourages otherwise law-abiding citizens to break the law. SB 515, which has now passed the WV Senate and is pending in the WV House of Delegates, would make it a felony for someone who is not a law enforcement officer to knowingly solicit a gun dealer to sell a gun or ammunition under circumstances which the person knows would violate the law.

-- Post edited to reflect amended title of the bill, which excludes ammunition purchases from the sales tax holiday.