Public Comments

To the Members of the House Judiciary Committee,

I am writing to voice my strong opposition to HB 4433. This bill is a direct attack on vulnerable people and a complete distraction from the real issues our state is facing.

I find it shameful that while we were promised a session focused on jobs and the cost of living, the committee is instead spending time on a bill that protects human traffickers. By blocking undocumented victims from seeking restitution, you are essentially telling traffickers that they can exploit people with zero financial consequences. Restitution isn't a "perk"—it is a basic requirement of justice.

Furthermore, the attempt to criminalize anyone who helps an undocumented person is dangerous. We should be encouraging people to look out for their neighbors, not threatening them with harsh sentences for basic acts of humanity. This kind of fear-mongering doesn't make our communities safer; it just makes them more divided.

Please stop targeting vulnerable people to score political points. I urge you to vote NO on HB 4433 and get back to the work you actually promised to do for our economy and our families.

Anyone who is a victim of human trafficking in this country deserves recourse and justice regardless of citizenship! How cruel to think otherwise.

I am writing to urge your support for legislation that modernizes and improves provider credentialing processes with health insurance payors.

Inefficient and inconsistent credentialing creates unnecessary delays in patient access to care, administrative burden for providers, and higher system-wide costs. Providers often wait months to become credentialed or re-credentialed, even when their qualifications are unchanged, preventing patients from receiving timely services and discouraging participation in insurance networks.

Legislation that streamlines credentialing - such as standardizing credentialing requirements, setting enforceable timelines, and reducing administrative burdens - would improve access to care. These reforms would especially benefit underserved communities, where provider shortages are already acute.

I respectfully ask you to support policies that promote a more efficient, consistent, and provider-friendly credentialing system. Doing so will help ensure patients receive timely care and allow clinicians to focus on what matters most: delivering high-quality healthcare.

• This bill is unnecessary and out of touch with the real issues West Virginians are facing. HB 4433 doesn’t address affordability, healthcare, or community safety and it creates more problems instead.

I believe this new bill goes against what American stands for. Helping people in need (even people who are not American citizens) is something I love about American. I feel like as a country we are moving away from being kind and helpful to those in need. Stop being mean.

All people have God given dignity.  Each person is worthy of respect.  Do not criminalize providing basic human needs.

I know that more than likely this will never be read.  The clan that is our legislature worship a pedophile president who has already been charged with numerous crimes and pens bogus drafts of laws such as this to deflect and ignore that.  Stop attacking our neighbors.  Stop acting as if immigrants are not paying taxes when you absolutely know that this is part of WEST Virginia’s economy. Stop acting as if this is something we want.  People cannot live or pay electric bills or childcare and you are focused on being evil instead of  actually helping.   Shame on all of you.  I want for you what you want for every vulnerable member of our state.

I oppose House Bill 4041 not only as a West Virginian, but as someone who has lived the consequences of punitive, inflexible responses to crisis.

My brother was autistic, developmentally delayed, and schizoaffective. During a mental health crisis, he had what can only be described as a toddler-sized meltdown in a grown man’s body. We did what families are told to do; we sought law enforcement assistance because we needed help.

In that crisis, my brother bit an officer. For that, he spent eight months in jail.

He did not understand why he was there. He believed he was in jail because he hadn’t taken the trash out. That is how disconnected he was from reality. Jail did not stabilize him. It did not treat him. It did not protect him or the public. It isolated him, traumatized him, and severed him from his family.

When he was eventually released, there was no coordinated reentry, no meaningful support, and no contact with us.

He was later murdered.

I share this because HB 4041 would make outcomes like this more likely, not less. Mandatory sentencing strips away discretion in moments where discernment matters most, especially in encounters involving disability, mental illness, or crisis. A mandatory 25-year sentence for assault leaves no room to distinguish between malicious intent and a medical or psychiatric emergency.

Violence against law enforcement is serious. Officers deserve safety and support. But punishment without proportionality, treatment, or context does not create safety, it creates tragedy.

West Virginians value fairness, restraint, and accountability. We believe in protecting both public servants and vulnerable people. Laws that respond to crisis with only punishment fail everyone involved.

I urge lawmakers to oppose HB 4041 and instead invest in policies that prioritize de-escalation, mental health response, judicial discretion, and true public safety so no other family has to learn, the hardest way possible, what happens when compassion is removed from the system.