Rep. Tom Clark

Maddy summaryHB 2369 amends West Virginia law to limit parents to one improvement period per child in abuse or neglect cases where a child is in foster care. It requires the state to seek termination of parental rights if a parent fails to complete this single improvement period, which is the final opportunity to address issues before rights can be terminated. The bill clarifies that courts may not grant additional improvement periods after the first one, directly affecting parents whose children have been removed due to abuse, neglect, or other specified circumstances. This change streamlines proceedings by removing repeated extensions, ensuring cases move toward resolution more promptly.

Maddy summaryHB 3143, the Workforce-Education Partnership Act, allows West Virginia business owners to contract employees to participate in vocational programs or high school classes while keeping them on payroll. Business owners receive a tax credit equal to 100% of the employee’s wages during participation, capped at $50,000 per business annually and $5 million statewide. The program requires written agreements between businesses and schools, ensures employees retain all benefits (including workers’ compensation), and prohibits replacing certified teachers in core subjects. It limits tax credits to one academic year per employee per tax year and mandates state approval for claims.

Maddy summaryHB 3127 adds a 50-cent fee to every new vehicle registration and registration renewal in West Virginia. This fee, collected by the DMV, will directly fund the Deputy Sheriff’s Retirement Fund. The bill amends existing law to redirect these registration fees - paid by all vehicle owners - to support retirement benefits for deputy sheriffs. It does not change registration requirements or create new taxes beyond the specified fee. The policy change is limited to reallocating this existing fee stream to a specific retirement fund.

Maddy summaryHB 3151, the Closed Captioning Act, requires public venues like restaurants, bars, hospitals, colleges, and government buildings to have at least half of their public-facing televisions display closed captions continuously during regular hours. It mandates that these venues prevent patrons from disabling captions and distribute captioned TVs so they are visible to all guests. Exceptions apply if no TVs are present or if available TVs cannot display captions. The bill defines "closed captioning" as on-screen text of audio content and takes effect upon passage. This law aims to improve accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in public spaces.

Maddy summaryHB 3140 requires West Virginia government agencies to create and maintain a public online database tracking all Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and outcomes. It directly affects public bodies (like state agencies) that handle FOIA requests, mandating they redact requesters' names and contact information from the database - except in specific cases like government officials' requests, public interest overrides, or explicit consent. The bill requires the Secretary of State to update all public FOIA databases within 90 days of enactment to comply with these redaction rules, and failure to redact personal details would trigger penalties under existing law. This changes how agencies currently manage FOIA request records by standardizing public access while protecting requester privacy.

Maddy summaryHB 3048 limits new permits for wind power facilities in West Virginia and requires that for each new wind project approved, the tax burden on existing and new coal-fired power plants must decrease proportionally. The bill directly affects wind energy developers (by restricting new projects) and coal power plant operators (by mandating tax offsets). Key provisions include capping wind power permits, defining wind turbines as pollution control facilities for tax purposes, and requiring that tax reductions for coal plants match the scale of new wind development. The bill cites coal as the only reliable power source during emergencies like storms, though this rationale does not create new emergency rules.

Maddy summaryHB 3101 mandates that public schools in West Virginia must begin the instructional term no earlier than the Tuesday after Labor Day and end no later than the Friday before Memorial Day, starting with the 2025-2026 school year. This bill directly affects all public school districts and county boards of education across the state by setting fixed calendar boundaries for the school year. The legislation specifies that the instructional term must include at least 180 separate instructional days, with defined minimum daily instructional minutes per grade level (e.g., 345 minutes for high school). It also includes provisions for handling weather-related closures through alternative instruction methods and adjusts noninstructional day allocations, but does not alter the required instructional time per day.

Maddy summaryHB 3118 permanently increases the percentage of real estate transfer tax retained by West Virginia counties from 65% (starting July 2024) to 100% beginning July 2025. This directly affects county clerks, who will use the full retained amount for specific purposes: 20% for general county funds, 5% for improving election administration, infrastructure, and security (per Secretary of State standards), and 5% for electronic recording infrastructure compliance. The bill modifies existing tax retention rules without changing the tax rate itself. It ensures counties have dedicated funding streams for election and clerk operations through a fixed allocation structure.

Maddy summaryHB 2968 ends West Virginia's Public Employees Insurance Association (PEIA) as a state-run healthcare plan and allows it to operate as a private insurance company. Instead of employer payments going to PEIA, the bill requires employers to pay $1,100 monthly directly into employees' Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for healthcare premiums or related costs. Employees can choose to use these HSA funds for any healthcare provider or continue using PEIA as a private insurer. The change takes effect on July 1, 2025.

Maddy summaryHB 2885 would allow West Virginia public employees who joined the retirement system on or after July 1, 2015, to use their unused sick leave toward retirement credit. Currently, these employees cannot apply unused sick leave to increase their retirement service time, unlike those who joined before that date. The bill removes this exclusion, permitting them to convert unused sick leave into retirement credit at the existing 2:1 ratio (two workdays for each sick day), without changing the current calculation method. This change directly affects newer state employees seeking to boost their retirement benefits through accrued sick time.