photo by: W.Va. Legislative Photography

State Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, claimed Tuesday that the office of Gov. Patrick Morrisey was applying pressure to Senate Republican committee chairs to block all Democratic amendments to bills introduced on behalf of the Governor’s Office.

CHARLESTON — The leader of the two-member Democratic caucus in the 34-member West Virginia Senate alleged Tuesday that Republicans in the majority are succumbing to pressure from officials in Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s administration to not allow amendments to the governor’s bills.

State Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, addressed the Senate Tuesday morning during its floor session to raise the issue and threaten to move next Monday to have all bills up for consideration read in their entirety on the Senate floor.

“There’s a virus that’s spreading in this building and I’m going to stop it, and I’m going to stop it on Monday,” Woelfel said.

Woelfel claimed that during Tuesday morning’s meeting of the Senate Government Organization Committee, he pulled an amendment at the request of Chairwoman Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, to Senate Bill 458 – the Universal Professional and Occupational Licensing Act.

SB 458, introduced on behalf of Morrisey, would allow for universal licensing reciprocity in West Virginia for occupations and professions governed by Chapter 30 of State Code. The bill mandates that professional boards grant licenses to individuals who have been licensed in another state for at least a year under certain circumstances.

During testimony before the Senate Government Organization Committee Monday, West Virginia Board of Medicine Executive Director Mark Spangler raised concerns about the possibility the bill would require West Virginia to accept licenses from physicians from other states who were able to be licensed in their former states but who might not have completed their residency training.

In an update committee substitute recommended by the committee Tuesday, SB 458 would now require a person licensed to practice medicine, podiatric medicine or osteopathic medicine without clinical supervision in West Virginia after successfully completing a graduate medical education program be approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the American Osteopathic Association, or the Council on Podiatric Medical Education or Colleges on Podiatric Medicine.

“My understanding is that what is in the committee substitute as it’s been amended by the committee is substantively what I had moved for yesterday in my amendment,” Woelfel said in committee. “I understand that I didn’t get everything I wanted in the amendment. To me, it’s immaterial. This is not about me or my ego…Not to get off on a rant, but I am looking around and I’m the only Democrat here.”

Woelfel and state Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, are the only two Democratic members of the 34-member Senate, dropping from three members after former Wayne County state senator Bob Plymale declined to seek another four-year term and Republican state Sen. Scott Fuller, R-Wayne, took Plymale’s seat in November.

Republicans first took a majority in the Senate in 2015 after the 2014 general election saw a 17-17 split between Republicans and Democrats and a Democratic member — former Wyoming County state senator Daniel Hall — switching parties to give the majority to the GOP for the first time in more than 80 years.

“The campaign is over, everybody. It’s over. You won. Be a gracious winner,” Woelfel said on the Senate floor. “It doesn’t matter whether I’m a Democrat or the Senator from Marion is a Democrat, we have always been respected in this chamber. Our amendments have been respected. We win some. We lose some.”

Woelfel accused the Senate Republican supermajority of taking instructions from Morrisey or members of this administration — whose offices are one floor below the Senate Chamber — to limit amendments from the minority to the governor’s bills.

“This is a separate co-equal branch of government. I don’t think everybody got that memo,” Woelfel said. “We’re the West Virginia Senate. We’re not some errand boys and girls from people downstairs. We don’t need permission to vote on an amendment from somebody in some other part of the building. What is this? High school? Gimme a break.”

Speaking after Tuesday’s floor session, state Senate President Randy Smith denied that he or his committee chairs were taking orders from the Governor’s Office or purposely rejecting amendments from the Democratic minority on partisan grounds.

“I’m unaware of that,” said Smith, R-Tucker. “The governor has not spoken to me or any of his staff about that, so I don’t know where it came from. It’s not going to happen in this body. Everybody has the right to amend to bill. Now, I can’t tell people to vote for it or against it, because everybody has the same privilege in the Senate. I just talked to a couple of my committee chairs, and they said that no one has contacted them.”

A spokesperson for Morrisey also denied any involvement or pressure on Senate committee chairs to block Democratic amendments.

“The governor has never told the Legislature to vote against Democrat policies, although that’s probably sound advice,” said Drew Galang, assistant communication director for the Governor’s Office.

Woelfel said he will make good on his threat to have all bills — beginning with Monday’s floor session — read in full unless he is assured that the supermajority will consider the concerns on legislation by his two-member caucus. Any senator can make a motion to have a bill read in full instead of having it summarized by a committee chair. It’s a common parliamentary tactic used to slow down the legislative process or used as a form of protest.

“If we don’t work together, and if I have the perception that we’re going to have two classes of senators, the D’s and the R’s, then we’re going to read bills on Monday and we’re going to read bills every day. I’m going to need some assurances…that we’re going to have a government for all West Virginians and that the election is over. I’m not trying to embarrass anybody today, but I’m capable of that.”

Woelfel’s claims come after Del. Scot Heckert, R-Wood, claimed last week that the Governor’s Office had been pressuring GOP members of the House of Delegates to support one of Morrisey’s bills – House Bill 2007, repealing the state’s certificate of need program for health care facilities. The House Health Committee voted Feb. 24 not to recommend the bill in a 12-13 vote.

Speaking last Friday during a press conference, Morrisey said he was not going to be distracted by lawmakers working against his legislative agenda.

“We’re going to advance an agenda and we’re going to do it working with the vast majority of the Legislature that supports good changes,” Morrisey said. “We know that there could be sometimes disagreement on issues. I accept that.

“I work with people that I disagree with all the time,” Morrisey continued. “We’re not going to get distracted by people. People like that don’t have a role in the process, right? Because what you do is you make sure you work with the people who want to have the best policies for West Virginia.”