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CHARLESTON -- The leader of the House of Delegates wants to resume the special session of the West Virginia Legislature 10 days from now, but the leader of the state Senate said he is not ready to resume the session.
Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said in a statement Friday night that he was not informed the House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, wanted to resume the special session that was paused July 29 until he saw a press release from Hanshaw earlier that evening.
"I learned (Friday) evening via press release of the House's intention to resume the Third Extraordinary Session on Monday, September 12. To say I was shocked is an understatement," Blair said.
The statement from the House Speaker's office said Hanshaw would contact House members next week to call them back into session coinciding with September legislative interim meetings. Both the House and the state Senate adjourned the special session subject to call of Hanshaw and Blair after the two bodies could not come to an agreement on House Bill 302, the bill updating the state's abortion laws and creating a modernized ban with limited exceptions.
The Senate adopted amendments to the bill, including removing criminal provisions that would have seen medical professionals charged with felonies for conducting abortions outside the bill's narrow exceptions.
HB 302 would ban all abortions beginning at fertilization except for medical emergencies, a non-medically viable fetus, the instance of a pregnancy when a fetus develops outside the uterus, and in the instance of incest or sexual assault under certain circumstances.
The House refused to concur with the Senate amendments to the bill and moved for a five-member conference committee be appointed to hammer out differences between the Senate and House versions. However, because the Senate adjourned first, a conference committee was not able to be appointed. Discussions between the two bodies have occurred behind-the-scenes, but until the Senate resumes the session, takes up the House message, and appoints its conference members, a deal remains elusive.
A source in the House said Hanshaw's press release was only intended to make House members aware for planning purposes going into the three-day Labor Day weekend. Both Blair and Hanshaw were together Friday morning at the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce 86th Annual Meeting and Business Summit at the Greenbrier Resort at White Sulphur Springs.
"Communication is vital to ensuring government works in an efficient and productive manner," Blair said. "While there has been communication on modifications to House Bill 302 that would be acceptable to both chambers, to date no agreement has been reached."
Gov. Jim Justice called the special session, beginning July 25, for lawmakers to consider a proposal for a 10% personal income tax cut. Justice added abortion as a topic for the special session as lawmakers were first gaveling in. A circuit court ruling granted a preliminary injunction against West Virginia's old abortion ban from the 1800s that made it a felony to provide abortions.
The old law was never removed from states criminal code and was under an injunction of its own from a federal court after the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 granting women the right to an abortion. The old law came back to life after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe decision in June.
The special session continued for five days, with two of those days coinciding with July legislative interim meetings. The three additional days cost taxpayers more than $105,000. Blair said lawmakers need to find agreement on a potential abortion bill before resuming the special session.
"Make no mistake, I am in complete support of passing legislation to save as many unborn babies as possible," Blair said. "However, I will not cause further chaos and disruption to the process, or burden our taxpayers with unnecessary expenses, by calling Senators back into session without a concrete plan for producing a bill that has the votes to pass both chambers."
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com