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Crossover Day: West Virginia House works through long list of bills

House Speaker Roger Hanshaw and House Clerk Steve Harrison manage the floor session Wednesday during the House of Delegates floor session. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — With nearly 10 days before the 2024 legislative session comes to an end, the West Virginia House of Delegates powered through bills to meet Wednesday’s Crossover Day deadline.

According to the joint rules of the House and state Senate, Crossover Day is the day when each chamber must pass its remaining bills and send them across the hall to the opposite chamber in order to be fully considered and complete legislation before midnight on Saturday, March 9, when the 60-day session comes to an end.

The House gaveled in Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. and powered through a nearly 55-bill floor agenda well into Wednesday afternoon, sending the bills to the Senate.

The first big debate of the day surrounded House Bill 4313, creating a Parents Bill of Rights. The bill passed the House in a 83-14 vote The bill codifies several rights for parents against interference by the state or local governments.

Rights included in HB 4313 are the right to direct the education and care of their children, the right to direct their moral and religious upbringing, the right to school choice, the right to review all records pertaining to their child, and the right to make health care decisions unless otherwise prohibited by law. The bill provides parents and guardians with the ability to bring lawsuits against the state, local governments, school systems, and other institutions if they believe these rights have been violated.

Members of the House Democratic caucus opposed the bill, pointing out what they believe to be the hypocrisy of providing rights to parents, while using other bills to limit parental rights.

“This bill will provide some rights for parents as long as they agree with the majority party, as long as those parents agree with the majority religion and the types of bills this legislation is passing,” said Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia.

“It says the right to make health care decisions unless otherwise prohibited by law,” said House Minority Leader Pro Tempore Kayla Young, D-Kanawha. “I trust parents and I don’t think we should be making decisions for parents.”

Later Wednesday, the House debated a bill that would tie the hands of parents seeking care for children with severe gender dysphoria. House Bill 5297, prohibiting the use of pubertal modulating and hormonal therapy for severe gender dysphoria from prohibited practices, passed the House in a 88-11 vote.

HB 5297 would remove the guardrails included in a bill passed by the Legislature last year to prohibit surgical gender affirming care and limiting the use of medication gender affirming care to adolescents who have been diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria by multiple physicians in order to address psychological issues and prevent self-harm and as long as the medication is limited to the lowest doses necessary.

House Health and Human Resources Committee Chairwoman Amy Summers, R-Taylor, said that despite the bill prohibiting the use of pubertal modulating and hormonal therapy, children could still be treated by psychiatric professionals for gender dysphoria and could still be treated with medication and hormones, but only so far as the medication does not cause the child to transition.

“Psychiatric care is not prohibited in this bill,” said Summers, a registered nurse. “The only thing in this bill that is prohibited is irreversible gender reassignment surgery for minors or prescribing gender-altering medication for the purpose of assisting a minor with gender transition. There is no prohibition to treating someone with severe gender dysphoria unless you would get to the point that you’d be giving them supra-physiological doses of hormones.”

But members of the House Democratic caucus argued that by removing the guardrail provision language would make doctors reluctant to offer care for gender dysphoria in children, leading to increased rates of depression and suicide attempts.

“As I read this, there is no doubt in my mind that we are taking out the legitimate exceptions that were in the bill last year for psychiatric disorders leading to self-harm of the patient,” said Del. Larry Rowe, D-Kanawha.

House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, reminded the Republican majority that the House approved a concurrent resolution to put to the voters the choice to add an amendment to the state Constitution banning euthanasia and assisted suicide in the state.

“One can argue that (HB 5297) could be considered legislative assisted suicide,” Hornbuckle said. “This rolls back protecting children from potential suicide.”

The House passed two pay raise bills for classifications of public employees. House Bill 4734 would provide a bonus of $6,000 for non-uniformed employees of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation with more than three years of employment, and a $3,000 sign-on bonus for new DCR non-uniformed staff. Non-uniformed DCR received a one-time bonus last year in a special session. The bill passed unanimously.

“This is our body saying ‘we heard you last year and we’ll make good on our promise,'” said House Jails and Prisons Committee Chairman David Kelly, R-Tyler. “These folks are heroes.”

“I don’t think $3,000 is enough, but I think it is a start,” Del. Ty Nestor, R-Randolph, the lead sponsor of HB 4734. “With the passage of this bill, you’re not just going to give monies that are due and have been earned by members … you’re also going to thank them for how they conducted themselves and their bravery for staying with their jobs.”

House Bill 4883, providing a 5% pay raise for teachers, school service personnel, and West Virginia State Police employees, also passed unanimously. Pay raises for other state employees paid through the general revenue budget are included in the two budget bills pending before the House and Senate.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com

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