Del. Joe Ellington

Maddy summaryHB 2643 requires the West Virginia Parkways Authority to stop collecting tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike once all bonds for the project are fully paid or a trust fund for repayment is established. This applies only after the Turnpike is certified as being in good condition by the state Highway Division. Within 90 days of the final bond payment, the Authority must discontinue all tolls and remove toll facilities. The bill directly affects drivers using the Turnpike and shifts maintenance responsibility to the state Highway Division.

Maddy summaryHB 2668 requires all public high school students in West Virginia to complete one unit of computer science instruction for graduation, beginning with the 2025-2026 ninth-grade class. This credit substitutes for one existing graduation requirement - such as a math, science, career education, or elective credit - without increasing the total number of required credits. Students may take the course as early as eighth grade, but credits earned before ninth grade cannot count toward graduation requirements. The bill applies to all public high schools and aligns with West Virginia’s existing graduation framework.

Maddy summaryThis bill authorizes West Virginia's Supreme Court to create rules allowing nonlawyers to practice law in limited, supervised roles - such as in child abuse/neglect and mental health cases - under a new "limited license legal practitioner" program. It establishes a task force (including bar association, law school, and judicial representatives) to design certification requirements, exams, practice scope, and costs for these practitioners. The task force must also recommend updates to professional conduct rules and complaint processes for this new role. The bill itself does not implement the program but enables the Court to develop it through this structured process.

Maddy summaryHB 2648 establishes minimum occupancy periods for tenants in mobile home parks and similar factory-built home communities in West Virginia. It requires landlords to provide "good cause" (such as unpaid rent or property damage) to terminate a tenancy, with a 12-month minimum for single-section homes and a 5-year minimum for multi-section homes. This directly affects tenants living in mobile homes, manufactured homes, or modular homes within rental communities, preventing sudden evictions without valid reasons. The bill also defines key terms like "good cause" and "factory-built home" to clarify tenant protections.

Maddy summaryHB 2644 creates a separate "State Road Construction Account" within West Virginia's highway budget to fund road projects in 10 specific counties: Raleigh, Fayette, Wyoming, Mercer, Kanawha, Greenbrier, Monroe, Summers, McDowell, and Nicholas. It ensures that funding from this new account does not reduce the counties' existing allocations from the general State Road Fund. The bill explicitly prohibits any modification of a county's regular highway funding due to receiving money from this dedicated account.

Maddy summaryHB 2439 allows regional jail wardens to require qualified inmates to maintain local cemeteries as part of their work program. It specifically permits inmates (excluding those convicted of sexual offenses or violent felonies) to perform cemetery upkeep, with requirements that public cemeteries must have local government approval and private cemeteries require landowner consent. The bill also provides liability protection for landowners and agencies involved in this work. This directly affects inmates in regional jails, local governments managing cemeteries, and cemetery landowners. The policy change modifies existing correctional work program rules to include cemetery maintenance as a permitted activity.

Maddy summaryHB 2142 amends West Virginia's Hope Scholarship Program to explicitly include microschool tuition and fees as qualifying expenses for scholarship accounts. This change directly affects parents using Hope Scholarships who enroll children in microschools - small, privately operated educational settings defined under state law. The bill adds "Tuition and fees at a microschool" as a new line item (Section 18-31-7(13)) to the list of approved expenses, which already covers public school services, tutoring, online programs, and other educational costs. The policy change does not alter eligibility for the scholarship but expands how funds may be used for education outside traditional public or private schools.

Maddy summaryHB 2522 lowers the eligibility age for annual retirement annuity adjustments under the West Virginia State Police Retirement System from 63 to 60 years. It directly affects current and future retirees who are 60 or older (previously only 63+), as well as surviving spouses receiving benefits under specified sections. The bill modifies Section 15-2A-7 to allow these individuals to receive an annual 1% adjustment to their retirement award, paid in equal monthly installments starting July 1 each year. The adjustment is not retroactive and supplements existing retirement benefits without changing the benefit amount itself. This change applies to retirees under Section 15-2A-6 and surviving spouses under Sections 15-2A-12 through 15-2A-14.

Maddy summaryHB 2507 would change West Virginia law to allow Tier 2 teachers (those who joined the retirement system after June 1988) to use their full accrued annual and sick leave to extend health insurance coverage after retirement, rather than the current half-credit system. Currently, Tier 1 teachers (who joined before July 1988) receive full credit for their leave, while Tier 2 teachers only get half. The bill would align treatment for both groups by eliminating the reduced credit for Tier 2 teachers. This directly affects current and future Tier 2 teachers by improving their post-retirement health insurance benefits.

Maddy summaryHB 2168 establishes a new personal income tax structure in West Virginia, effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024. It exempts the first $20,000 of taxable income from state income tax, meaning individuals earning $20,000 or less pay 0% tax on that portion. Income exceeding $20,000 is taxed at a flat 3% rate for all filers, including single, joint, and head-of-household returns (though married couples filing separately face the same $20,000 threshold). This replaces previous tax brackets under §11-21-4e and directly affects West Virginia residents with taxable income above the exemption level.