CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia lawmakers will be in Charleston for interim committee meetings beginning Monday with a special legislative session also expected.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and staff were working to finalize the agenda over the weekend.
It’s likely the agenda will include a fix to the minimum wage bill members of the House and Senate passed earlier this year. Tomblin signed the bill into law April 1that increases the hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.75 by 2016, but admitted at the bill signing there were “unintended consequences” regarding overtime exemptions.
“What we’ve always operated under are the federal exemptions for seasonal employees, for hospitals, for nursing homes and there’s a problem there,” Tomblin told reporters at the state capitol earlier Tuesday. “There’s a lot of problems with our (municipal) fire departments and police departments. It’s going to cost the cities hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The overtime language in the new law trumps the federal exemptions. He pledged then the fix would be part of the special session.
“I will call the Legislature into extraordinary session during the May interims, beginning May 19, 2014, to address the issues of great concern to businesses large and small—including the fiscal challenges expected to affect our local governments. President Kessler and Speaker Miley have both committed to working with me to achieve this ultimate goal.”
Other items on the special session will include the restoration of funding to the Courtesy Patrol program that was left out of the new state budget. Tomblin has also approved restoration of some cuts he made in children and family programs but supporters want him to do more.
There is also a group of lawmakers who want the governor to allow lawmakers to reconsider the fetal pain bill that he vetoed earlier this year. Tomblin said the pro-life supported bill had legal problems. It would have made abortions illegal after 20 weeks.