As of Jan. 28, The House of Delegates has introduced a total of 1,046 bills in the House of Delegates. We have passed 24 House bills and two bills had completed the legislative process. February 15th is the last day to introduce bills in the House and the regular session ends at midnight March 12.

Before Thursday’s State of the State the House honored the life of former House Speaker Robert S. Kiss who died November 5th, 2021.

“I practice law at the same firm where Speaker Kiss was, and I found him to be an invaluable source of advice and counsel,” Hanshaw said. “His example, not just to me as a Speaker of the House of Delegates, but also to every member of the Legislature as we start each day together, to always think about those who will come after us, and to focus on how to make their economic and social conditions better.”

Two measures that are being considered in the House will pave the way for the Mountain State to begin utilizing that would pave the way for West Virginia to begin utilizing “rare earth elements.”

We have a great number of coal waste piles in West Virginia. These waste piles contain rare earth metals which play a role making electronic and automotive products. According to West Virginia University’s Water Research Institute cleaning acid mine drainage would be a rich source of rare earth elements.

House Bill 4003 establishes “a clear legal right of title to the chemical compounds, elements and substances derived from the treatment of acid mine drainage.” It sets well defined roes in cleanup and extraction the rare earth elements from the coal waste piles. This bill will be debated in Judiciary.

As an economic development incentive House Bill 4025 would provide a severance tax exemption of no longer than five years for the removal, production and sale of rare earth elements. This bill will be debated in House Finance.

House Bill 4252 easily passed the House Wednesday. This bill limits the maximum amount a person with Health Insurance would be required to pay for insulin to 35.00 per day for a 30-day supply. It also places a limit of 100.00 for a 30-day supply of diabetes supplies (blood glucose strips). Additionally, the limit for a glucose pump would be 250.00. The design is to reduce insulin costs to those who need the medication.

Matthew Rohrbach, Chairman of Health said, “This is an attempt to help our families with one of the main health problems in West Virginia.”