CAPTIVE AUDIENCE (Update): The House voted 64-33 Monday to send the Senate a bill that "would bar employers from forcing employees to attend meetings meant to sway them on political matters," The Associated Press reports. The hotly debated measure drew coverage as well from The Charleston Gazette, The Register-Herald of Beckley, MetroNews (with audio) and Public Broadcasting (updated, with audio).
DRIVER'S LICENSES I: With lawmakers advancing a bill that would keep the state from joining the federal "REAL ID" program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is warning of consequences. "The most significant would be that driver’s licenses from non-complying states would not be valid identification for boarding an airplane anywhere in the U.S.," AP's Tom Breen reports.
DRIVER'S LICENSES II: The House has passed Gov. Joe Manchin's good-grades-to-drive bill that was amended to focus instead on attendance and behavior in schools. AP and The Gazette report.
DRUG TREATMENT: House Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue continues to urge his colleagues to devote more state resources to drug abuse prevent, treatment and rehabilitation. As the Charleston Daily Mail reports, the Wayne County Democrat took to the House floor to cite the role drugs played in the recent double murder-suicide that rocked Kanawha County. MetroNews also has a story.
JUDGES (update): The House now has a Senate-passed measure that would add three judges to the state's circuit court system, including one for Mercer County, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports.
LEGISLATIVE PAY: The House is poised to consider non-salary pay hikes for themselves and senators, while the Senate has amended a pending bill to slash lawmakers' health care premiums. AP has details. The Charleston Gazette focuses on the pay bill.
LOCAL PENSIONS: Both AP and the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington report on a pending bill that would offer revenue sources and other aid to woefully underfunded municipal police and fire pension plans. The Gazette gauges local reaction, while MetroNews has a story and talks to Marshall University economist/Huntington Councilman Cal Kent.
PROMISE: "Internships could soon be a requirement for all students who receive West Virginia’s PROMISE Scholarship," under a bill passed by the Senate, The Journal of Martinsburg reports.
SCHOOL UNIFORMS (Update): "At least 10 schools in West Virginia could be forcing students to dress in look-alike uniforms as a means of getting $10,000 to purchase playground and other equipment,"The Register-Herald reports, as "Before the Senate is a revived bill that would start the process to getting students across the state into uniforms."
TAXES: The Senate passed a phase-out of the business franchise tax, with coverage by AP, The Gazette and MetroNews (with audio).
26 February 2008
Session Shorts, Day 49
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5 comments:
The captive audience bill is all about handcuffing businesses to make union organizing easier. Why does the word union not even appear in the blog entry?
Other alcohol and drug rehab centers rely heavily upon group treatment, which has been the standard for many years. However, many find it impossible to recall and confront traumatic memories while in a Drug Rehabilitation Center with nothing but group meetings on which to rely. That is why so many alcohol rehabs and drug treatment centers fail to accomplish their goal. Only within a private, intimate, safe environment will one feel comfortable enough and safe enough to talk about their innermost fears, the shameful events of their lives and their most private concerns. In the privacy of one-to-one sessions with expert therapists the true addiction rehabilitation and healing takes place.
Has any info been given out about which schools will be doing the uniforms?
Teaching in a school with uniforms, I have to admit, it's a heck of a lot easier enforcing decent dress with uniforms than it was trying to measure inseams and strap widths and fight parents who send their kids to school looking like streetwalkers.
I don't know how I feel about school systems forcing it on their students, though... what's the backstory?
The captive audience bill is all about handcuffing businesses to make union organizing easier. Why does the word union not even appear in the blog entry?
Odd that the Wheeling Intelligencer- a conservative rag- describes the captive audience bill “…masquerades as a pro union measure. It would do nothing to safeguard the rights of union members however.”
Perhaps someone needs a bottle of “clear eyes”.
As a student in West Virginia, I'd be happy to wear a uniform. I think clothing distracts kids from their work and makes people feel out of place and outcast if they can't afford the latest trends.
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