Four Priorities for 2021 WV Legislative Session
by Richard Urban
- Protect our constitutional freedoms from encroachment by government mandates.
Reform the Governor’s emergency powers authority, requiring the legislature to authorize extensions after 60 days. HB 2003 does this, but lacks clear language indicating that it applies to the current decrees of Governor Justice, not just future ones. It passed the House and is currently in the Senate, submitted to the Government Organization committee, chaired by Senator Maynard but they have not acted on it since receiving it February 22nd.
HB 2014 specifies that emergency funds received from the Federal Government over $150 million must be appropriated by the legislature. It has passed the House and is currently in the Senate, submitted to the Finance committee chaired by Senator Eric Tarr.
Action Steps: Contact our Senators to express support for both bills, and to request an amendment clarifying that HB 2003 applies to mandates currently in place.
Also contact the chair of the respective committees to request that the bill be put on the agenda and passed out of the committee. - Protect the integrity of elections in West Virginia. Eliminate early voting. All voting will be on Election Day. Mail in voting should not be allowed at all, unless a citizen lives outside of the United States. That is what the great majority of other countries do. See this analysis of other countries: For those living outside the county, a Photo ID must be submitted with the request for a ballot. Eliminate using electronic voting machines. Use paper ballots. Do not use Clarity voting or any other third party reporting system. All counting and reporting must remain in the state.
In case of a challenge of the election results, failure to follow rules will automatically invalidate any contested election and a new election must be called i.e. if observers are not allowed to view ballot processing, or if ballots are destroyed or voting machine audit records erased. Use paper ballots to speed up voting and eliminate fraud. Tabulate votes, when not done manually, using two machines from different manufacturers. Results must match. Results will be recorded by each county and records will be retained on local servers and backed up by physical records of ballot counts. No third-party processing of election results is allowed.
Action step: Contact our legislators and let them know that you oppose HB 2814, sponsored by Jefferson County’s own Shepherdstown delegate, John Doyle. Tell our legislators that you want actual election reform that insures the integrity of our elections based on the above points.
3. Protect personal and religious freedom by eliminating vaccine mandates in West Virginia. This includes not allowing employers to mandate vaccines. See this fact sheet.
Action step. Contact our legislators and let them know that you support SB 406 and SB 2881, which both remove the dangerous and unnecessary Hepatitus B vaccine from the vaccination schedule. We have gone literally decades without any progress on this issue. This is a modest step in the right direction
Also let them know that you support HB 2728 to clarify that the commissioner of Public Health cannot add any immunizations not specifically authorized by the legislature and HB 2783 that allows a physician to write a medical exemption and eliminates the state Immunization Officer. See all of the health freedom bills here. Join the West Virginians for health freedom local group on Telegram to keep updated.
Action Step: Contact House Education Chair Ellington to ask that HB 2728 be put on the agenda and why it is important to you.
Contact House Health Chair Pack to tell him why you support HB 2783 and HB 2881 and ask that they both be put on the agenda.
4. Fund a road that exits to the south from Shannondale.
Action Steps: Contact our legislators to ask and demand that such a road be funded, as it is a safety issue.
Contact Information:
Delegate Paul Espinosa (Shannondale): Capitol: (304) 340-3310 Cell: (304) 268-4266 paul.espinosa@wvhouse.gov
Delegate Wayne Clark (Charles Town) Capitol: (304) 340-3366 Cell: (703) 786-7114 wayne.clark@wvhouse.gov wclark@pga.com
Delegate John Doyle (Shepherdstown) Capitol: (304) 340-3248 Hm: (304) 876-1648 johndoyle@wvhouse.gov rjohndoyle@comcast.net
Delegate Joe Ellington (House Education Chair) joe.ellington@wvhouse.gov (304) 340-3265
Delegate Jeff Pack (House Health Chair) jeffrey.pack@wvhouse.gov jeffrey.pack@wvhouse.gov
(304) 340-3269
Senator John Unger (Shepherdstown) Capitol: (304) 357-7933 Cell: (304) 389-1866 john.unger@wvsenate.gov pastorunger@gmail.com
Senator Patricia Rucker (Shannondale) Capitol: (304) 357-7957 Cell: (304) 279-1619
patricia.rucker@wvsenate.gov ruckerforwv@gmail.com
Senator Mark Maynard-Chair of Government Organization Committee Capitol: (304)357-7808
Cell: (304) 360-6272 Mark.Maynard@wvsenate.gov
Senator Eric Tarr-Chari of Finance Committee Capitol: (304) 357-7901 eric.tarr@wvsenate.gov