CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The countdown is underway to the Saturday night end of the 60-day regular legislative session. The House and Senate were busy Wednesday in committee meetings.
–The Senate Judiciary Committee sent a bill to the Senate floor that would allow for the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sundays at bars and restaurants beginning at 10:30 a.m. The committee did the same for certain kinds of wine on Sundays. The committee kept the ‘last call’ time for bars at the current 3 a.m.
–The House Finance Committee changed a Senate bill that would take $5 million from the Consumer Protection Fund in the state Attorney General’s Office and increased that to taking $12 million from the fund. The same committee passed its own $12 million bill earlier this week but it was placed on the inactive calendar in the House earlier Wednesday.
–The House Judiciary Committee kept a bill intact that would prohibit the state Crimes Victim’s Fund from paying for the clean-up of meth labs like it does now. Kanawha County Delegate Patrick Lane unsuccessfully tried to convince committee members to allow for property owners to continue submitting claims.
–The House Judiciary Committee passed the proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would set up the provisions of the Future Fund. The committee did amend the bill to allow the legislature to tap into the principal with two-thirds vote of each chamber.
–The House of Delegates passed a bill Wednesday that would change the titles of the campus leaders at WVU Tech and Potomac State from the current provost to campus presidents.