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Welcome to The Legislature Today.

I'm Maria Young.

Today is the 45th day of the session.

And deadlines are coming fast.

Bills must be out of their respective committees by Sunday to be able to meet Crossover Day next Wednesday.

The West Virginia Legislature is still working its way through next fiscal year's budget.

The House of Delegates Wednesday advanced an amended version of Senate Bill 250, the upper chamber's budget.

While the amendment maintains across the board, pay raises averaging 3% for state employees and a 3% increase in their PEIA employer share.

House Finance Chair Vernon Chris, a Republican from Wood County, noted changes including funding Medicaid through the general revenue instead of the surplus and an alternative funding structure for the hope scholarship program.

Governor Patrick Morrisey wants the body to follow the lead from his proposed budget, most notably a 5% personal income tax cut, and has asked lawmakers to come up with another 5% tax cut as well.

The Senate's version included the full 10% cut, but Chris said on the House floor this week that any cuts to taxes will have to come in a bill separate from the budget, which would be an appropriations bill Before the Senate Judiciary Committee began consideration of a host of child welfare bills this week, they first heard from people impacted by that system.

And so, I wanted you, the people of West Virginia, to come in and have the opportunity to have your voices heard.

The listening session was hosted by committee chairman Senator Tom Willis, a Republican from Berkeley County.

And as we go through the bills this week on CPS and child welfare, what you share with us this morning is going to help us create better policy for the state and for the welfare of our West Virginia children and West Virginia families moving forward.

Speakers came to the Capitol from as far away as McDowell County, braving the icy roads and the weekend's wintry weather to tell their stories.

First up was Patricia Caperton from Kanawha County.

We are here because we have experienced firsthand the damage that can occur when a system meant to protect children loses its way.

Our granddaughter is currently, at this time, right now in an appointment receiving psychiatric care for PTSD following five years in the system.

while she was under state supervision.

She was sexually assaulted in multiple placements including emergency placements, long term care and foster care in West Virginia At age 18, she was released from care with significant unresolved trauma.

Next up was Sherman McKinney, a former law enforcement officer who said his own troubles with Child Protective Services stemmed from the mother of his children, who he said was an addict.

Many of the CPS requirements, he told the committee, made no sense.

They made me put a fire escape plan on the wall before they would let my baby come home.

And then I asked him, do you think if there's a fire, my four month old baby will get out of her crib, crawl down here and look up at that plan to see how to get out of the house.

I was 51 years old.

They sent a 19 year old girl to teach me how to be a good parent who was childless.

They came in at one point in time, and we're going to remove my daughter and son from my home, because at age five, I let my daughter use the microwave oven.

Tonya Shrewsberry said she has been dealing with CPS in Mercer County for five years, and described a callous attitude.

There have been, I know of two kids that have committed suicide and my oldest son was one of them.

They don't care about where the kids are going, how the kids are feeling.

It's out of sight, out of mind.

My first CPS, he didn't care.

He said that they had visit my home, They had never visited my home.

The guardian never spoke one word to me.

He told me to to pack my son's stuff.

The very first time I met her.

That he was never coming home.

Other speakers were professionals tied to the system, like former state Senator Mark Drennan, who now works with the National Youth Advocate Program.

We have 6000 children in custody in the state of West Virginia.

At times, 15 to 25 of those are sleeping in hotels because there's nowhere for them to go.

We have 401 kids being served and out of state placements across the country.

We have lost approximately 150 residential treatment beds over the last five years.

We want lasting change, We need a different structure.

And that's where community based care, or CBC comes in.

Across the country, states are rethinking how child welfare works.

They're creating regional partnerships with community based organizations responsible for the full continuum of care.

Speakers suggested a wide range of possible solutions from more transparency, greater legislative oversight.

The main thing is you got to stop taking kids.

More training and staffing and, No more children in hotels.

A number of the issues raised and the recommendations made at Monday's hearing have been under consideration and discussion by the Senate Judiciary Committee all week.

But some of those possible solutions are tied to funding that's not currently reflected in the budget.

The budget is still in process.

We're still in the negotiations with the House.

So we expect it will come back and, we'll see 2 or 3 different iterations, I'm sure, from the Senate and the House before we get to the finish line in the next three weeks.

So I think that, some of the things that we're talking about this week, hopefully I would like to see reflected in the budget, and then also, some of the community based partnerships that we're talking about, May take some pressure off the CPS budget.

Bills approved by the committee will next to the full Senate for consideration there.

Bills that passed the committee this week are likely to show up on the Senate floor next week.

Have you ever wondered what legislative pages do?

Our student story tonight is a little different.

Saja Huggi and Lily Rhodes had the day of from school and volunteered to be pages.

And they bring us this story.

Welcome back.

I'm Saja Huggi.

And I'm Lily Rhodes.

We recently attended a legislative session.

as pages in West Virginia's state Capitol.

Being a page means you get to assist delegates or senators by fulfilling their requests.

When we first arrived, we had to walk to the public entrance from the east side to get into the building.

Since you cannot enter from the front.

It was pretty chilly outside.

The day we went to the walk felt longer than expected.

Once inside, we passed through security, which we couldn't get footage of because we had to put our belongings in bins to get them checked.

After security, we kind of got lost trying to find our way to our page program checking.

But after some assistance, we finally made our way towards the East Wing where the house chambers are located.

Following the check in, we were given time before trying to explore the rest of the second floor.

On the day we paged, they were hosting Arts Day.

which is one of many activities hosted during legislative sessions.

Returning back to the lobby where we checked in to have page training.

The training was pretty straightforward, but the system would seem complicated for those who have never done it before.

One thing that surprised us is that there are specific places where we could and cannot walk.

We were able to walk through possible scenarios to get used to it.

And with the free time given.

After training, we conducted interviews with delegates asking some lighthearted questions.

Delegate Tristan Leavitt.

Delegate Hollis Lewis.

Delegate Pritt.

All right, so we have a few questions to ask, and I'll start with the first one.

So what was your favorite subject in high school, and did you ever imagine you would be a part of the legislature?

I mean, my favorite subject was probably history or something like that, but my favorite thing that I did in high school was debate.

I've always loved history, and so it's something I always studied on my own.

I really liked learning about it.

My favorite subject in high school was civics and history.

So this was sort of the path that I was eventually going to go to.

Now working as the state legislator.

I didn't know that, but I knew I wanted to do something in politics.

If you could create a new official state food for West Virginia other than the pepperoni roll, what would it be?

I might do a hotdog with chili on it and no relish.

And no offense to another delegate here who's a very big fan of relish, but it's just not right with that.

It's ingrained Okay.

I mean, I don't even think about it now.

Hey, I like that fast response.

Now, that's a fairly simple question.

It's definitely going to be a hot dog.

So it's the West Virginia hot dogs and specifically West Virginia hot dogs.

Light chili.

Light onions.

Mustard.

No.

Ketchup.

Coleslaw.

I love the details.

This is the second time we've heard of hot dogs.

So pretty popular today.

Before floor session, we were given the opportunity to take a picture with our With our sponsored delegate.

Once session began, we took turns assisting delegates When it was your turn.

You would be shown which legislator to go to based off the seating chart.

The most common request we were given was waters but coffee Came in close second.

After floor session we broke down our day.

I thought it was fun.

I found it enjoyable to see the bills being discussed and getting to see the delegates say what they liked and didn't like, and even sometimes they would disagree with some of the things in the bell, but then still vote to support it.

Overall.

One of the things I kind of found the most fascinating was how they have a system here, and it feels extremely formal.

And it's not just like debating.

It's the majority of these laws that they're speaking about and that they're voting on actually affect the state laws and you as a person.

So I would highly suggest coming here and experiencing all of this.

One thing that did surprise me was when you look at how fast bills move, you see, oh, it takes a bill from here to one week to actually get voted on, to get read in the legislature here at the Capitol.

But when we attended this session, everyone was very fast on these bills.

They introduced it.

They read it the first time they had voted on it.

Just today, there were at least three more or more bills that were voted on.

Actually, it was more, five or more.

But yeah, it was it was a really good experience.

I don't know if I'd say surprises this early, but just the way that the system works, I didn't really understand before where they could like vote or like yea or nay like from their seats and they're able to like stand up and communicate with each other and they have like everything they need on their desk.

And then the page program is part of that system, so they don't have to take it up and leave because they have people volunteering and like running and getting stuff for them.

Okay, so final thoughts for me are everyone's first.

I was intimidated by coming as a page here because, you know, big state legislature, all of these delegates sitting in one room, you're also going to be sitting in the room, all of these cameras around.

But it's not that stressful.

Every single delegate I had spoke to who had asked something from me, they were all really kind.

One had even given me this pen like they give out pins here and there.

So they're really, really nice to talk to and they're very helpful here.

I was saying same thing.

Everyone is really everyone I interacted with was very friendly.

I think it was a good experience.

And if you're interested in being civically engaged or learning about laws then I would definitely recommend it.

Anything else?

For The Legislature Today I'm Saja Huggi.

and I'm Lily Rhodes.

West Virginians gathered at the Capitol Thursday for Affordability Day to urge lawmakers to take action on rising electric bills.

They were promoting legislation called the ratepayers Bill of rights.

Delegate Jeff Eldridge, a Republican from Lincoln County, joined West Virginians for Energy Freedom to talk about House Bill 5648 that outlines the rights ratepayers have when it comes to their utility bills.

He called it the MAMAW Act.

We're gonna call it the MAMAW Act.

Okay?

I think that's good.

It's the "Managing Energy Affordability by Maintaining Assistance and Weatherization Act.

The ratepayer Bill of rights says every West Virginian has the right to fair and reasonable rates, reliable and fair service, transparent and accurate billing, fair disconnection protections, energy assistance and efficiency, access to renewable energy, dispute resolution and public participation.

And I feel the struggles of every West Virginian out there.

And I hear about it.

And hopefully they will see that I'm over here trying to help them.

Electricity rates have doubled in the last 15 years in West Virginia, according to Emmett Pepper from West Virginians for Energy Freedom.

This is a top concern, as we've seen from, folks around West Virginia, particularly, Republican voters in this state.

It's a top issue tied with the economy.

And so there is no issue that is more important.

But unfortunately, there is no issue that has had less action, in this legislative session.

There have been no bills that have passed, at least in their current form that they've passed in.

that would do much at all for anyone's electric bills.

The bill is currently in the House energy and Public Works Committee.

It has to leave committee by Sunday to get three full days of hearings in the House of delegates.

To learn more about the ratepayer Bill of rights and the situation with energy bills in the state, Eric Douglas sat down with Emmett Pepper, the policy director for Energy Efficient West Virginia.

Welcome to the legislature.

Today's interview portion.

We're in the studio today.

I'm here talking with, Emmett Pepper.

I'm sorry.

Emmett, tell me exactly what your title is.

Titles get a little confusing sometimes.

Yeah.

Well, today I'm, I'm here on behalf of energy efficient West Virginia.

We're part of a coalition called West Virginians for Energy Freedom.

And I'm policy director.

Okay, so.

But that's what I wanted to talk about.

That's what we wanted to talk about today, is, you know, the big buzzword in DC is affordability.

And we're all struggling with it.

You know, the grocery store is more expensive.

But a big one around here especially is the cost of utility bills.

So, you know, there's there's something called the Ratepayer Bill of Bights that you're, you're working on.

But let's kind of talk about the situation in general.

First, electric bills in West Virginia, as I recall, we used to be famous for having one of the cheapest electric rates in the nation.

That's not the truth anymore.

Now we're we're above average.

And maybe in the middle of the pack, but it definitely above average now.

And we've had in recent years some of the fastest growing electric bills in the country.

And, you know, our bills have gone up I've doubled in the past 15 years.

So it's, it's it's, it's not just a buzzword in DC.

It's it's around people's kitchen tables and, and, and they're budgeting discussions with our families.

Well, I know obviously, the last few weeks we've had these Arctic cold snaps and everything else, and I don't think anybody's looking forward to seeing their electric bills this month.

I think they're starting to come in now.

And it is.

There is some serious sticker shock if folks can sign up for the, average monthly payments, that's a good idea to do it.

It's a better idea to do it last month.

But, if you get it, get it going because it's, it really can make a big difference so that you don't have those big spikes.

So what's caused this?

Why are we in this situation?

You know, it's it's there's a lot of things.

I mean, one of the things is that we are overinvested in one type of energy, coal fired power plants.

And, you know, they have there's a lot of volatility with electric markets.

And so if we're if we're if we have to use all one of the same kind of power, when that power gets more expensive and the other power gets less expensive, we're still using the expensive stuff.

And so, you know, unfortunately, our power plants have not been very cost competitive.

And so, it's we haven't been able to, to benefit from that previously, as you mentioned, you know, our our power plants were very competitive.

But they're not right now.

And so it's, it's causing our bills to go up.

You know, I, earlier this week, I heard one of the legislators talking about coal, and he was, you know, wanted to support coal and, in his committee, but I noticed he didn't actually mention natural gas.

He, you know, that's really been the biggest thing that hurt coal is the explosion of, poor choice of words.

But the the the amount of natural gas that we're producing right now.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, I said you know, that's what our coalition, the West Virginians for Energy Freedom is about is, look, we should just be doing what's best for ratepayers, not who has the best lobbyist, not who gives the most campaign contributions.

We should be doing, prioritizing and focusing on how do we protect ratepayers.

And that's what our repair Bill of rights is all about, is putting regular West Virginians first, not the, you know, the people who have lobbyists.

So.

So tell me more about that.

Tell me what what's in the ratepayers Bill of rights?

Yeah, we have a lot in, that we a lot of protections in there and a lot of, policies designed to increase our freedom in terms of energy.

So things like making it, you know, easier for people to keep their power on.

So restricting shutoffs when it's the hottest times of the year, coldest times of the year, there's an existing thing right now where there's reduced rates for certain times a year for low income customers.

And so, you know, expanding that to also the hot months because we are seeing, you know, some very hot months, even though we've Kinda forgotten about those.

Or maybe we wish we had them right now, in the cold months.

But, so things like that, ratepayer protections.

We also have stuff in there about making sure there's a lot more transparency for, this process.

It can be complicated.

And this, and so making it just easier having, public hearings in the locations where people are affected, having, information in people's bills about rate increases, I think they are doing some of that.

Some of the utilities on their own just we should there should be something they're required to do.

And then I think the third kind of pillar of things is that we have, provisions in there to make it.

So if people want to do something on their own to reduce their energy costs, we should have incentives in in place to do that, make it easier for people to, you know, have what, what's called Plug-In Solar.

It's a very small.

solar system some people call it balcony solar or it's just very small, just that you use inside your house.

It's not enough to, to go onto the grid or anything, but, it's just something that is currently isn't legal in any state except for Utah.

And so it would be it's a it's a new thing that's kind of been rolled out across the country.

There's dozens of states that are considering that right now, stuff like that.

Yeah.

It's interesting.

I've never heard of that.

Yeah, yeah.

And so and there's also something called, community energy where people can, subscribe to small producers of energy in their community.

If it's not possible to produce it on your own.

And there's also some incentives for batteries.

Reliability is a big problem in West Virginia.

We have some of the least reliable electricity in the country.

You might not guess that from hearing people talk about "Oh, we got to have, you know, we got to have more, these kind of power plants that's going to help reliability."

We have some very, the power plants aren't the issue.

It's our power lines.

And so having some incentives for battery make it easier for people to have battery backup in a way that's going to actually help all ratepayers.

That's a win win.

So this is a piece of legislation.

What's the bill?

House Bill 5648.

5648.

So where does it stand?

Do you know?

It's currently waiting, being put on the agenda for the House Energy Committee Okay.

So, yeah.

So it's not gotten a hearing yet.

It's not moved out of committee yet.

All right.

Not not yeah.

We hope we hope it will be, soon because it has to soon.

Yeah, yeah, we're almost to crossover day, right.

That's right.

And I think things have to be out of committee by this weekend.

All right.

So, what can what can people do?

What?

You know, I mean, I think, you know, a lot of the company, the big industries that have big lobbyists and have people there every single day and have, a lot more campaign contributions to give, they are, their voices are heard very well.

And so the thing that we have, though, is that we have a lot of support for better protections on our utilities.

It's very clear we did some polling and it's one of the top.

It is the top issue tied with jobs for Republican voters.

And so, you know, if that describes you and you agree that this is an important issue, you got to talk to your legislators because they do what you know.

They know they have to get reelected this fall.

Well, it is an election year.

So, yeah.

And and I don't think this issue is going away nationally either.

I think, there's a lot of people going to keep talking about this.

Yeah.

And some of the bills are being introduced.

It's going to get worse.

I know, yeah.

I know earlier in the session, several legislators were talking about a real focus on economic development and, you know, bringing in new businesses but also supporting small businesses.

And they passed, SB1 already, the that's intended to give some more financial support to, to small businesses, smaller businesses in the state.

But it seems like this is an underlying issue.

You know, if you if you want to attract people to the state, they're going to want, you know, good electric rates, good schools, you know, the kind of the basics first.

Absolutely.

And you mentioned small businesses.

I mean, that's something, you know, if you're running a small business, I have a small business, you know, you're trying to focus on the doing the thing that you're doing as the business and not it's hard to have time to look at how do I reduce, you know, costs on electric.

And that seems very complicated.

And that's one of the things we wanted the, legislature and, and the PSC to look into is is there an opportunity or a need for there to be a small business advocate for, to focus on advocating for small businesses at the Public Service Commission when we're looking at utility rates because they don't really have any one of the big businesses, they have people in in the cases.

But, the small but that's, you know, that's just one of the things that we think we should at least look at.

Talk about the, the public Service Commission, the PSC, a little bit.

They I know there was a bill.

I don't recall where it stands, but, to make the PSC an elected position rather than, an appointed position by the governor.

But that's, that's who ultimately decides what our electric rates are going to be.

Well, I mean, I think in terms of electing versus not I mean, you know, to me, the thing that needs to happen is the the laws that are in place that have to talk about how our utilities should be regulated, that's that's what's important.

And not, you know, how people are selected, whether it's the governor selects them as they currently do or they're elected.

I think the most important thing is that there is there are strong laws in place that have protections for ratepayers.

And, you know, we have a lot of these laws are very old from the 70s.

And so, you know, it's time to, you know, kind of look at that again and see if we can have some better protections for folks.

So we've got a couple of weeks left in the session.

What do you hope to see happen?

I really hope that in the next couple days here, We see the Ratepayer Bill of Rights taken up.

I haven't seen any and I maybe I've missed it, but I haven't seen anything that has been passed by either house that would actually help people with their utility bills.

And that is a top issue.

That's interesting.

But I think you're right.

I don't I can't think of anything that's, that's, that's moved, along those lines either.

So kind of the last couple of minutes here.

What what what are your final thoughts?

What do we need to do to, to make this state more economically viable and electrically viable and that sort of thing?

Yeah.

I mean, I think we need to be diversifying our energy, sources.

I think that, that's something that a lot of businesses want before moving here.

I mean, I think it's a good thing to help to to help the economy.

That's why we need that for sure.

But we also need to have the protections in place, for regular West Virginians.

And, you know, look, if people want to do something about it, there are things that you can do right now, you know, becoming more energy efficient, producing some of your own power, those sorts of things.

The West Virginia Energy Freedom Coalition is, is a great way to kind of like, get plugged in, so to speak, about these, for ways to do that.

And you, you mentioned earlier something about the, the, the balcony solar.

But I know there's some issues with even communities setting up solar programs.

And is it can I as a householder, just set up my own solar program or what.

You can certainly.

I mean, so there's there is, the ability to have solar panels on your homes.

But for, for instance, I live in a place, we have a lot of tile roofs.

I have a slate roof.

It's really difficult.

Basically impossible and not cost effective to have solar on a roof like that.

So it would be nice to be able to subscribe if somebody wanted to have a solar or.

Or even if it was gas, if it was going to be cheaper, you know, a small, production facility nearby at a community center or church or something so that people could sign up and save money on their bills.

But, that's not legal right now in West Virginia.

Interesting.

All right, sir, I appreciate you coming in today.

Good talking to you.

And I hope you're right that, we'll find a way to make electric bills cheaper in the state.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

That was Emmett Pepper from Energy Efficient West Virginia, speaking with Eric Douglas about electricity bills in the state.

And that's it for tonight.

Thank you for joining us.

We've got just two more weeks to go, and the pressure is on as legislators work to get bills over the finish line.

Catch the legislature today, Fridays at 6 p.m.

And the last night of session on March 14th.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting brings you the Final Hours from 8 p.m.

until closing gavel at midnight.

We cover the session in our daily radio news program, West Virginia Morning, and on our news site at wvpublic.org.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting also has a new podcast, of all of our radio stories throughout the week called The Legislature This Week.

It drops at 5 a.m.

Saturday morning so you can listen with your Saturday morning coffee.

We also broadcast the daily floor sessions of both the House and the Senate on the West Virginia Channel.

I'm Maria Young.

Good evening and we'll see you again here next week.

Support for the legislature today is provided by.

West Virginia University.

Serving our state with pride, impact, and purpose through education, health care, and discovery.

Let's go visit wvu.edu.