As you may have seen, Governor Tomblin issued a letter (attached) in response to the request by Senate and House Leaders to expand his special session call. Of specific note to you is the section of the letter that reads:
“With respect to the DEP rules bundle and other non-budget related legislation, I do not believe it is prudent to place these items on the call until the Legislature has made demonstrable progress on the budget.”
On a somewhat related note, Delegate Patrick Lane caused two bills to be introduced in the House today, despite the constitutional requirement that only the governor can place agenda items on a call for a special session. While Delegate Lane’s actions seem to be inarguably unconstitutional, and these bills relate to racing interests and do not necessarily impact you, it will be interesting (and perhaps a little disheartening) to see how this all plays out.
