Public Comments

I think we need this law due to the lives that have been taken.

• Clinically relevant dose-response studies are discouraged or rendered nonviable;
• Research protocols cannot reflect real-world medical use;
• Institutional review boards and universities are deterred from participation due to compliance and liability concerns.

• the Medical Cannabis Program has reached functional maturity;
• regulatory obstacles have been resolved;
• patient access, provider participation, and research infrastructure are operational at scale.

I feel this law needs to be put in place where another sweet life doesn’t get taken.

• Continuous service
• Local institutional knowledge
• Department-specific experience

• Article III, §10 of the West Virginia Constitution (Equal Protection and Due Process)
• Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Equal Protection Clause)

• W. Va. Code §7-1-1 (County commissions as governing bodies)
• W. Va. Code §7-7-7 (County compensation authority)

• Higher salary placement
• Increased overtime eligibility
• Accelerated retirement qualification

• Artificial inflation of service credit
• Accelerated vesting
• Increased unfunded pension liabilities

• Disciplinary records
• Performance evaluations
• Internal investigations

• Public safety outcomes
• Emergency response capacity
• Community policing effectiveness

• Article III, §10 of the West Virginia Constitution
• Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Vote no to Senate Bill 388. Spend your time elsewhere, on issues that will actually have a measurable effect on West Virginians. Requiring bibles in classrooms will do nothing for ensuring mountaineers have clean water, safe roads, access to reliable internet, access to good paying, career jobs, that public schools are properly funded, paying teachers what they deserve, for reducing the costs of childcare (did you know NM has free childcare for everyone in their state? Proves it can happen! Figure out what NM is doing!). Do something that is tangible for improving our lives! I couldn’t care less that my kids have access to a bible in a classroom. They have access to a bible at home which is where it should be. All I see in this bill, is that not only are teachers expected to be social workers, therapists, correctional officers, protect their students from mass shootings, pay for supplies for their students over and over again, but now they’re supposed to be preachers and priests as well? They’re supposed to answer questions about the Bible in their classroom? Well I’ll tell you, you can put whatever version of the Bible is closest to what you believe in the classrooms, but you can’t guarantee your child’s teacher is going to answer questions about it in the way you would. So maybe keep religion instruction where it’s meant to be and that’s in the home.

• Expanded ethics jurisdiction over systemic and institutional misconduct
• Independent review mechanisms
• Transparent findings on causation and responsibility
• Remedies focused on recovery rather than elimination of local governance

Please pass the bill for longer sentencing

LOVE THIS

Yes there should be a stronger law for DUI ..Longer time served for this offence. Then maybe  . They would think before getting in vichele impaired . Causing accidents.Death or badly hurt . A lot of the time the person driving impaired isn't hurt it's the inacent victim.

I agree with this bill. Something needs done about driving under the influence. Maybe they will think twice with harsher punishment.

1. West Virginia already operates below national protective standards. West Virginia has historically adopted less stringent enforcement and higher allowable parts-per-million (ppm) thresholds for certain pollutants compared to national benchmarks and peer states. This regulatory weakening has not reduced harm; instead, it has coincided with higher rates of respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, and pollution-linked health conditions relative to national averages.
2. Higher allowable ppm correlates with higher incidence rates. Public health and environmental data consistently show that increasing allowable pollutant concentrations does not eliminate harm — it increases exposure. Even small increases in ambient pollutant levels (including PM2.5, ozone precursors, and co-pollutants associated with combustion) are associated with measurable increases in emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and chronic disease burden. West Virginia’s outcomes already reflect this trend.
3. Deregulation compounds existing weaknesses. HB 5039 proposes repealing West Virginia’s Air Pollution Control framework (WV Code §22-5-1 et seq.) without replacing it with enforceable monitoring, permitting, or compliance mechanisms. Removing state-level oversight further weakens an already diluted system, increasing the likelihood of delayed detection, underreporting, and cumulative exposure.
4. Federal standards still apply, but costs shift to the state. Even if state statutes are repealed or weakened, federal Clean Air Act requirements remain enforceable through the EPA. However, when states reduce their own enforcement capacity, compliance failures are more likely — resulting in higher remediation costs, federal intervention, legal exposure, and loss of state control, all of which increase costs borne by taxpayers rather than regulated entities.
5. Documented costs rise when oversight is reduced. When pollution controls are weakened, costs do not disappear — they reappear as Medicaid expenditures, infrastructure remediation, emergency response costs, insurance premium increases, and long-term public health liabilities. These costs are consistently higher than the cost of prevention and enforcement.

1. Federal supremacy already exists; this bill is unnecessary and confusing. The U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause already makes the Constitution, federal laws, and treaties the supreme law of the land, binding on state judges.  HB 5036 restates a principle in “findings” but then uses sweeping language that can mislead the public into thinking WV can screen out legal authorities it dislikes.
2. §51-1B-2 is dangerously broad and could conflict with federal law. The bill bans WV adjudicative bodies from giving effect to any “law, rule, code, legal system, or legal doctrine” not enacted by Congress/WV Legislature/WV common law.  That framing raises immediate conflict questions for federally binding authorities explicitly covered by the Supremacy Clause (including treaties).  Even if supporters claim good intent, the text is broad enough to provoke expensive constitutional litigation.
3. It risks weaponizing “parallel legal system” rhetoric against religious and cultural minorities. The bill’s “parallel or alternative judicial system” language is undefined and paired with a new private lawsuit right and fee-shifting.  That combination encourages ideologically motivated suits and can chill lawful religious/cultural dispute resolution—even though §51-1B-7 gestures at private practice protections.  
4. It threatens established arbitration law and will trigger preemption fights. HB 5036 makes arbitration/mediation/private adjudication unenforceable under broad conditions and adds a voluntariness rule.  But the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) preempts state rules that single out or disfavor arbitration agreements.  Passing a bill that invites arbitration invalidation and fee-driven suits is a direct path to federal preemption litigation.
5. Family-law and “personal status” language is overreaching and destabilizing. §51-1B-6 bars recognition/enforcement of decisions affecting marriage, custody, support, inheritance, property rights, or personal status if based “in whole or in part” on a non-authorized system.  That “in whole or in part” standard is exceptionally broad and can create uncertainty for families, estates, and interstate/international matters—again inviting lawsuits and inconsistent outcomes.

1. No public-health evidence supports restricting medical services based on nearby health care facilities. Health systems routinely colocate complementary services to improve continuity of care. Proximity alone is not a recognized risk factor for patient harm, diversion, or crime when facilities are properly licensed and regulated.
2. Local approval requirements function as indirect barriers to care. Allowing county commissions or municipalities to approve or deny medical facilities substitutes political judgment for medical and regulatory standards. This creates inconsistent access across counties and disproportionately affects rural and low-income patients.
3. The bill recreates de facto Certificate-of-Need style barriers. Even where formal CON laws have been reduced, HB 5035 imposes location and approval hurdles that restrict market entry, reduce competition, and limit patient choice—outcomes historically associated with higher costs and reduced access.
4. Restrictions conflict with accepted principles of addiction treatment. Separating MAT services from other health care providers disrupts integrated care, increases transportation burdens, and is associated with higher missed-appointment and relapse risk.
5. Public safety goals can be achieved through enforcement, not access denial. Existing licensure, inspection, and enforcement mechanisms already address improper practices. Limiting lawful facilities does not address misconduct; it only reduces availability of legitimate care.

• Family mapping and indirect surveillance
• Error-prone genetic matching that can implicate innocent relatives
• Future expansion of government use without renewed consent
• Permanent tracking potential that cannot be “opted out of”

• DNA was collected for health purposes
• Stored long-term without meaningful consent
• Later accessed or shared for secondary uses
• Applied to individuals before any crime could possibly exist

• Genetic data collected for non-law-enforcement purposes
• Retained and stored without strict deletion limits
• Later accessed by government actors
• Potentially used to investigate crimes that predate the individual

• Government access
• Law-enforcement searches
• Permanent inclusion in investigative databases

• Warrantless genetic surveillance
• Government creation of population-wide identity files
• Suspicionless searches using biometric data
• Ethical abuses that disproportionately affect future generations

• Require warrant-only access for all government use
• Prohibit bulk or suspicionless collection
• Ban secondary and pre-birth investigative use
• Impose strict retention and deletion limits
• Reject the normalization of genetic identity files

1. No Individual Data Privacy Rights HB 5032 does not grant individuals rights to: Know what personal data is collected about them Delete personal data held by private entities Opt-out of sale or sharing of personal information • These are foundational privacy protections already implemented in other states.
2. No Limit on Data Collection or Use The bill focuses on transparency reporting by data centers but does not limit how companies or government agencies collect, share, or use personal information of West Virginia residents.
3. No Enforcement Mechanism for Individuals Without clear enforcement provisions (private right of action or state agency enforcement), individuals have no practical way to protect their own data or seek remedy for violations.
4. Narrow Scope on “Surveillance” Only The bill’s language centers on unconstitutional surveillance and federal misuse of data center infrastructure, but fails to address the everyday harms caused by data harvesting, commercialization, profiling, and opaque data practices by private companies.
5. Missed Opportunity for Comprehensive Privacy Framework Other states have adopted laws that give residents meaningful control over their personal information. West Virginia should not pass a placeholder statute that leaves residents with weaker protections than neighboring states.