Each year, the Legislative leadership chooses a few select issues for special committees to study in the intervening months between annual legislative sessions. In recent memory, some pretty big problems and questions have been tackled: medical malpractice insurance, workforce investment, coal mine blasting, equal pay for women. In many cases, these committees, which are part of the "interim" legislative process, develop suggested legislation to address particular problems. In other cases, they monitor ongoing issues, which may require a whole succession of legislation.
For the 2003 interim term, four new select committees have been appointed, inspired by resolutions adopted during the regular legislative session. They each have been assigned to address one of four topics: minority issues, the state's water supply, surface mining, and the West Virginia Turnpike and other controlled-access highways.
While these are issues of statewide interest and importance, the select study regarding the controlled-access highways will clearly draw particular interest in Southern West Virginia. The committee was created based on a Senate resolution calling for closer inspection of traffic-control procedures on such roads to "better provide for traveler safety, comfort and convenience during periods of traffic interruption."
The resolution notes that as a result of traffic interruptions, people are often frequently confined to their cars with perhaps no ability to safely exit the highway and without adequate information. This has been an issue of relevance for many years, but it has become more relevant since September 11. Because the potential for acts of domestic or foreign terrorism has increased significantly, the threat of being detained on a highway has increased.
Another study involves the state's water supply. The International Center for Investigative Journalism has documented a trend of increasing control of water supplies and systems by private interests over public interests or local authorities. West Virginia is the only one among surrounding states which has not established rules or a plan for maintaining the water supply. So this committee will examine, among other things, a preparation plan for droughts and strategies for improving and maintaining clean and safe water supplies.
An issue that was the center of rather heated debate among coal and environmental interests during the 2003 legislative session is the state's surface mining regulations. While coal industry representatives have said state surface mining regulations should be no more strict than federal requirements, some environmental advocates, as well as representatives of the state Department of Environmental Protection, disagree.
The West Virginia Coal Association is expected to identify issues of concern - regulations companies feel are too restrictive and therefore stymieing the industry. In turn, the state DEP will review those issues cited by the Coal Association and report back to the committee on its stance by Oct. 1. In addition, the DEP is expected to provide a monthly report to the interim committee regarding permits.
The last, but most certainly not the least, of the four select committees is one assigned to examine the high unemployment rate and other socioeconomic problems African-American citizens face.
The House resolution calling for this study, a resolution I co-sponsored, notes that the unemployment rate for African-American adults in West Virginia is nearly double the overall unemployment rate in West Virginia. Between 1995 and 1997, the average unemployment rate for African-American adults was 15 percent, while West Virginia's overall unemployment rate was 7.4 percent.
The high unemployment rate in particular affects "working age" black males, a factor that negatively affects the stability of African-American families. In fact, a majority of African-American households in West Virginia are headed by single women who receive state assistance or are minimum wage/low wage earners - working poor. West Virginia also apparently lacks entrepreneurial opportunities for black citizens as well, because African-American businesses comprise less than 1 percent of all West Virginia businesses.
The select interim committee will examine those economic issues, as well as other indicators in the areas of education, criminal justice, health, and family/social structures.
The topics these four select committees are assigned to study are diverse, and are issues that will be well served by the close examination and study of a small committee. Hopefully, these working groups will be able to acquire enough information to pinpoint areas that should be addressed through legislation, then work to prepare proposed bills for the 2004 legislative session.
I welcome and appreciate your input on these issues, or any other legislative matter. Please call me at (304)340-3106 or write to Delegate Virginia Mahan, 215-E, Capitol Complex, Charleston, WV 25305.