ATVs (Update): The full Senate has received a bill endorsed Friday by its Finance Committee "that would ban all-terrain vehicles from paved roads ," and "give county and municipal authorities wide leeway in further regulating the use of the vehicles," The Associated Press reports.
BUCKS FOR BRAINS: The Senate Finance Committee has endorsed a version of Gov. Joe Manchin's proposed $50 million (corrected) research endowment for West Virginia and Marshall universities. MetroNews and the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington have articles.
CELL PHONES: The Register-Herald of Beckley reports that "for reasons not supplied, the House again Thursday stalled movement of a proposal to turn hand-held cell phone usage in traffic into a crime in West Virginia."
SPECIAL EDUCATION (Update): The Charleston Daily Mail finds that both "educators and parents seem pleased with two bills aimed at decreasing the number of times a special needs aide can transfer."
TAXES, Part I (Update): County officials and teacher groups tell the Daily Mail that a pending proposal targeting personal property taxes threaten to cost counties and cities "a sizeable chunk of their tax base." Supporters of the measure counter that it would require voters to amend the constitution, and only "to give lawmakers flexibility to make changes to the personal property system."
TAXES, Part II (Update): The Senate passed two of Manchin's tax proposals Friday, AP reports. One would drastically cut the property tax rate for eligible commercial and corporate aircraft. The other would allow week-long sales tax holidays for Energy Star-rated products. Manchin had left the proposal open-ended; the Senate amended that bill to limit it to the next three years.
TEACHER PENSIONS: The House has passed its version of Manchin's bid to allow voluntary transfers between the state's teacher retirement programs. As AP reports, the bill would require $78 million in state funds. The Charleston Gazette has the story, as does The Register-Herald. MetroNews has both a report and audio from Thursday's House floor debate.
22 February 2008
Session Shorts, Day 45 - Updated
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I'm still trying to figure out why my tax dollars should be used to bail out a few people who made poor choices with their retirement plans. I can guarantee you that if I made poor choices in my plan, the state would not bail me out.
Because they're state employees and you're not?
Because the state underfunded and nearly bankrupted the old program?
Because the state created a new plan without giving teacher's any investment guidance?
Neither the state nor my employer gives me investment advice for my 401k. Does that mean that if I make bad choices, someone should bail me out? What happened to personal responsibility?
As for underfunding and nearly bankrupting the "old program," isn't that the same old program the state will be paying for the teachers to buy back into?
Post a Comment