Legislature 2009: Day 45

• The Senate Education amended Gov. Joe Manchin's proposed $4,500 cap on PROMISE scholarships to add $250 to that limit, and "also allow larger awards in the future and without legislation, if revenues improve or recipients decline," The Associated Press reports. Other changes gives PROMISE $2 million more a year from the lottery and “'strongly encourage' the scholarship to tighten its academic criteria even further," AP, MetroNews and The Charleston Gazette report.

• The Division of Motor Vehicles' chief is backing a proposal to remove DUI license hearings from his agency to magistrate court, AP also reports. Commissioner Joe Miller told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was "appalled" at some of the abusive practices he found at DMV hearing upon taking his post in January.

• The House's minority Republicans held a press conference Thursday to decry "a lack of attention to their agenda" and "are slamming Democrats for dragging their feet on key bills," AP and The Register-Herald of Beckley report.

• The Charleston Daily Mail quotes senators who predict that the House-passed city pension/VFD benefits bill "is probably not something that's going to survive intact." Lawmakers and state officials question the bill's funding source, $15 million in annual state liquor tax proceeds that now benefit the general revenue budget.
  

• Sen. Erik Wells, D-Kanawha, lashed out at West Virginia's teachers unions during a Senate Finance Committee meeting, challenging their priorities, MetroNews and The Gazette report.

• The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington highlights a Senate-passed bill "that would increase penalties for individuals who help criminals after they've committed felony crimes." The proposal follows the attempted murder of a city police officer; investigators believe an accomplice dumped the gun used in the Ohio River, the newspaper reports.

• The Senate Judiciary Committee has proposed publicly financing the state Supreme Court election slated for 2010, Public Broadcasting reports (with audio).