Clock ticking for Gov. Justice to take action on bills
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CHARLESTON - More than half of the 279 bills passed by the West Virginia Legislature at the end of the 2024 session are still sitting on the desk of Gov. Jim Justice as of Tuesday, with action required by the end of the day today.
According to the Legislature's website, 176 bills were awaiting Justice's signature or veto as of Tuesday morning. Bills can also become law without the governor's signature as well if he takes no action. The Legislature passed 279 bills during its 60-day session between Jan. 10 and March 9, with 63% of the bills passed still awaiting action from the Governor.
By Tuesday afternoon, Justice had signed 56 bills and vetoed one, bringing the total number of remaining bills requiring action to 119.
Speaking Tuesday afternoon during his weekly administration briefing from the State Capitol Building, Justice placed the blame for the delay on bills on the Legislature, which passed many of its bills in the last few days of the session, including Senate Bill 200, the budget bill.
"There is an awful lot of these bills that got down to us really late, and it takes time for our folks to get through all these bills," Justice said. "It's a process, and that's why we have through (Wednesday) and that's why the Legislature got to the very last day and we didn't have a budget and we didn't have a lot of things. We're trying to kick them out the best that we can."
The joint rules of the state Senate and House of Delegates require enrolled bills - bills that complete the legislative process by being voted on by both chambers - to be reviewed by the House and Senate clerks to correct any errors and signed by both clerks and the presiding officers in each chamber before being sent downstairs to the Governor's Office.
According to the West Virginia Constitution, the governor has five days, excluding Sundays, to act on bills during the legislative session. But when the session adjourns sine die on day 60, the Governor has 15 days, excluding Sundays, to act on bills. With the session ending at midnight on March 9, this year's deadline fell on Wednesday, March 27.
Only the budget bill and supplemental appropriations bills must be acted on within five days, regardless of when the governor receives those bills. There is also no deadline for when bills have to be in Justice's physical hands. According to the House Clerk's Office, all remaining bills were on the governor's desk by Thursday, March 21.
One of the bills that has not been acted on is House Bill 5105, eliminating vaccine requirements for school students attending statewide virtual public schools or future county-level virtual public charter schools except when those students are participating in activities supervised by the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission. The bill also expands vaccine exemptions to students attending private or parochial schools in the state, while allowing those schools to set their own vaccination requirements.
Pressure has been mounting on Justice to veto the bill. A group of 28 organizations representing pediatricians, family physicians, nurses, public health advocates, teachers' unions, hospital staff, pharmacists and supporters of immunizations wrote a letter to Justice March 15 raising concerns about weakening the state's strong student immunization program. Justice has also received pressure from groups, such West Virginians for Health Freedom, to sign the bill.
"I am very, very close to reaching a decision," Justice said. "I understand both sides. I think I understand it really well. Just give me until tomorrow. We're still reviewing certain things, but you'll definitely hear from me tomorrow and we'll get to my decision regarding this bill."
Justice said he vetoed House Bill 5528 Tuesday, relating to the renewable energy facilities program. The bill would remove certain caps on renewable energy generating facilities, allowing the generating capacity to increase in increments from 50 megawatts to 100 megawatts. The bill also removed a sunset date of Dec. 31, 2025, for the program.
HB 5528 made changes to Senate Bill 583, passed in 2020, which is designed to support economic development for solar projects targeting brownfields and other low-value sites. SB 583 allows each utility to develop 200 megawatts of solar generation, though the utilities are limited to only 50-megawatt increments to start. The bill also requires an 85% subscription rate and includes options for energy storage.
Justice said the bill he vetoed was supported by AEP. Prior to the briefing, he attended the West Virginia Coal Association's Annual Mining Symposium at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center. While he said he supports an all-of-the-above energy economy, Justice said HB 5528 could raise the cost of electric bills, though he did not explain how. AEP was unavailable for comment.
"I just vetoed a bill that was known as an AEP bill," Justice said. "AEP is a good company, at least I think, but really and truly what I think is going on from the higher-ups that are incentivized to try to shove coal to the background, I don't like that. Really and truly I don't like the fact that what we're doing is maybe something that's going to lead to a higher energy cost for our consumers in West Virginia, our households here. I don't like that either."