Del. Joe Statler

Maddy summaryHB 2154 requires the West Virginia Division of Highways to develop performance standards and track progress on key operations by October 2025. It mandates measuring project completion on time/budget, responsiveness to public comments, and the condition of roads and bridges. The agency must implement a public-facing management system by January 2026 to monitor these metrics and report annually to the Joint Committee on Infrastructure. This bill directly affects the Division of Highways' internal operations and reporting practices, with no direct impact on citizens or businesses.

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 2106 requires health insurance companies to reimburse ambulance agencies for two specific services: treating patients on-site (instead of transporting them) or transporting patients to lower-acuity facilities (like urgent care centers or behavioral health clinics) when coordinated with a physician or behavioral health specialist via telehealth or medical command. This applies to patients with medical or behavioral health complaints where care is managed through remote consultation. Insurers must cover these services at the same reimbursement rate as emergency room transports, excluding hospitals, dialysis centers, or residential settings. The bill directly affects ambulance agencies, insurers, and patients who receive care through these alternative pathways instead of standard emergency room visits.

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.

Maddy summaryHB 2108 requires West Virginia's Commissioner of Highways to create a transparent formula for distributing road funds (both state and federal) among the state's 10 road maintenance districts and counties. The formula must consider specific, measurable factors including county population (from U.S. Census data), population growth projections, total lane miles, vehicle traffic volume, heavy truck traffic, and bridge count/condition. Before finalizing the formula, the Commissioner must collect public feedback through a 6-week comment period using multimedia outreach and make all comments publicly accessible online. The proposed formula must then be submitted to the Legislature for approval as a legislative rule during the 2026 session, ensuring counties and districts have a standardized method for fund allocation.

Maddy summaryHB 2438 amends West Virginia law to remove the gender restriction in the state convict road force program, making all state inmates - regardless of sex - eligible to work on state road construction and maintenance projects. The bill changes existing law (§17-5-1) that previously limited eligibility to "all male persons convicted of a felony" by removing that language. This directly affects all incarcerated individuals serving felony sentences who may be assigned to road work under the supervision of the state Highway Commissioner. The key provision updates the statutory language to ensure gender-neutral eligibility for this labor program.

Maddy summaryHB 2109 amends West Virginia's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Retirement System to increase retirement benefits for EMS workers. It changes the calculation of "accrued benefit" to provide 2.75% per year for the first 20 years of service (up from 2.6%), with a new maximum benefit of 90% of final salary (up from 67%). The bill specifically affects EMS personnel, including 911 operators, with different benefit formulas based on whether they repaid past contributions for transferred service. These changes apply to all covered EMS workers under the system, adjusting both the rate of benefit accrual and the maximum payout.

Maddy summaryHB 2107 requires West Virginia state agencies to purchase certain commodities and services from nonprofit workshops (nonprofit organizations employing people with disabilities) without competitive bidding, provided the goods meet fair market price and quality standards. This directly affects state spending units purchasing commodities or services exceeding $25,000 annually. The bill mandates that the state purchasing director consult with the Committee on the Purchase of Commodities and Services from the Handicapped when making these decisions and requires hiring a dedicated staff member to coordinate these purchases, with funding included in the annual budget. The policy aims to prioritize state procurement from these nonprofit workshops while maintaining cost and quality standards.