CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Friday will mark the conclusion of yet another week of legislation during ongoing sessions. The dreary close to the work week brought about a pair of bill amendments from the House of Delegates, as well as the postponement of action on three others.
House Bill 89, which requires hospitals to staff qualified personnel to perform sexual assault forensic exams, saw an amendment to the language of the bill. Specifically, the House Committee on Health and Human Resources added a definition for hospitals and included that an expert could be made available through telehealth for services.
Additionally, the bill requires training and proper qualifications for healthcare professionals by the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Commission.
House Bill 3215 pertaining to land use issues flexibility regarding timeliness in allowing the prompt addressal of applications by planning commissions. Addressed within the bill are difficulties with finding qualified members for public boards, and the bill modifies the frequency of planning commission meetings.
The jurisdiction of the planning commission is addressed in the bill, which also provides flexibility in qualifications for county boards of zoning appeals and modifies the frequency of board of zoning appeals meetings.
Two amendments to the bill were adopted – one changing the word “encourage” to “Guidelines for” in order to clarify that guidelines will be put in place, and the second reverting the language back to that of the introduced version of the bill.
Friday’s session of the House also saw action delayed on a number of bills including House Bill 2498, House Bill 3340, and House Bill 3408.
