Latest news with #Hanshaw
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WV House passes FOIA bill with narrow vote. Bill next goes to the Senate.
The House of Delegates approved House Bill 3412 Wednesday with a vote of 58 to 42 on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. The bill would allow the Legislature to adopt its own rules for the disclosure of public documents. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography) The West Virginia House of Delegates has narrowly passed a bill that would allow the Legislature to set its own rules for disclosing public records. Delegates approved House Bill 3412 with a 58 to 42 vote Wednesday. The bill, sponsored by House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, would exempt the Legislature from requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, if it adopts its own rules. Some of the discussion included concerns over FOIA requests bogging down the Legislative staff's workload. A search of the Secretary of State's Office's FOIA database show that, so far this year, five FOIA requests have been made of the Senate and none had been made of the House of Delegates. Lawmakers who opposed the legislation included Del. Larry Kump, R-Berkeley, who said the bill was the subject of lots of feedback from his constituents. Some of the commentary was that lawmakers who support the bill should not campaign on transparency, and that the public has a right to know what delegates are doing. 'Perhaps the best way I can say it is, I do not like this bill,' Kump said. 'I do not like it. I do not like it at all. Foxes should not be guarding the hen house. I think this bill should fall.' The Freedom of Information Act allows journalists, researchers and members of the public to obtain access to lawmakers' emails, presentations and more that can shed light on how decisions are being made. The emails can reveal what lobbyists or special interest groups are involved in bill making. Some communications are exempt. Current state FOIA law does not differentiate between the state's court system, the executive branch and the Legislature, Hanshaw told lawmakers when the Rules Committee took up the bill. He told Rules Committee members individuals often use FOIA to access drafts of bills that are never introduced. Hanshaw wants the House to write rules that make it clear to the public what is and is not a public record. Ann Ali, deputy chief of staff and communications director for the House of Delegates, said previously that the intent of the bill is not to hide public records and that Hanshaw wants any legislative records currently available to the public to remain available to the public. The bill states that the Freedom of Information Act stays in effect unless the Legislature enacts its own rules, said Del. Clay Riley, who presented the bill Wednesday. Dels. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, and Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, raised concerns about what recourse people who request information but don't get it would have under a legislative rule. Under current law, the person could file a lawsuit for the information. Riley said he couldn't answer the 'hypothetical question,' because the rules have not been passed yet. Hansen said he had concerns about the bill. 'There are no guardrails on the rulemaking process other than the fact that we vote on it,' he said. 'We could pass a rule that's similar to what the current statute is. We could pass a rule that's very different and protects all of our records from public disclosure, and that's not right. We should play by the same rules as everybody else in government.' Riley disagreed with the assertion that the law is more transparent than legislative rules. He pointed to the House making available audio archives of committee meetings as examples of the House being transparent. 'Every vote, every committee meeting, is open to the public,' he said. 'You know, this is a process of where we have the ability to clarify in our rules of which we govern ourselves what is and what isn't, a legislative record. All executive branch documents are not like all legislative branch documents, and for that, Mr. Speaker, I urge passage.' The bill will next go to the Senate for consideration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
West Virginia House of Delegates considers changes to public records access
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, lead sponsor of House Bill 3412, explains to lawmakers how his bill would exempt the Legislature from requirements of the Freedom of Information Act Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Charleston, (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography) The West Virginia House of Delegates is considering a bill that would allow the Legislature to write its own rules for disclosing public records, but House Speaker Roger Hanshaw said the intent is not to hide records. Journalists, researchers and members of the public use the Freedom of Information Act to obtain access to lawmakers' emails, presentations and more that can shed light on how decisions are being made. The emails can reveal what lobbyists or special interest groups are involved in bill making. Some communications are exempt. House Bill 3412, sponsored by Hanshaw, R-Clay, would exempt the Legislature from requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, if it adopts its own rules. The House Rules Committee reviewed the measure Wednesday. Current state FOIA law does not differentiate between the state's court system, the executive branch and the legislature, Hanshaw said. He told committee members individuals often use FOIA to access drafts of bills that are never introduced. FOIA laws have existed since 1966. Hanshaw wants the House to write rules that make it clear to the public what is and is not a public record. 'One of the objections sought to be achieved by this particular piece of legislation is clarification of what is and isn't a legislative record that can actually be reachable by those who simply seek access to legislative records,' he said. Doug Skaff, interim director of the West Virginia Press Association, appeared before lawmakers to question if the bill would affect journalists' access to legislative records. 'We just want to make sure that these laws provide a legal basis and a framework that government records, meetings and all the doings within the public body of this Capitol is available to recognized media outlets in this state,' Skaff said. 'We think we owe it to the people of West Virginia to discuss and spread the information that happens under this dome.' Hanshaw said that he views the media as partners who disseminate the information about what happens at the Capitol. 'We think we have a pretty constructive relationship with our media partners right now … we realize that the press is not the only user of the Freedom of Information statute,' Hanshaw said. 'We would be supportive as long as it doesn't restrict the right of the media to do their job,' Skaff responded. Ann Ali, deputy chief of staff and communications director for the House of Delegates, said in an email that the intent of the bill is not to hide public records and that Hanshaw wants any legislative records currently available to the public to remain available to the public. 'However — the intent is also to exempt the Legislature from FOIA and to adopt open records rules the Legislature would follow, because there may be instances when FOIA doesn't fit the specifics of what the Legislature is or does,' she said. If the change is adopted, people would cite a rule rather than the Freedom of Information Act in a request for public documents, she said. While House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle has concern about the bill, he feels that it would still permit the media to access records for reporting. 'It appears it has to do more with people outside the state who might have ulterior motives. I do feel better [about it],' said Hornbuckle, D-Cabell. The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia also has concerns with the bill. 'First the Senate limited recording in the chamber. Then, the House did away with public hearings. Now they want to exempt the Legislature entirely from open records laws,' ACLU-WV Advocacy Director Rusty Williams said in a statement. 'They won't be satisfied until they're passing their harmful, extremist agenda entirely in private. Enough is enough. We have a right to know what our elected leaders are up to.' In order for the change to go into effect, the bill would first have to become law. Next, the House would have to create then adopt its own rules in order for the new FOIA rules to go into effect. Without a rule, the default would be the current FOIA statute, Hanshaw said. The Senate could adopt the rules to become regulations that apply to both bodies, according to Hanshaw. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Morrisey pushes school choice; lawmakers face ‘balancing act' as counties lose public schools
An empty class at Coral Glades High School, Tamarac, Florida. (Dan Forer | Getty Images) Gov. Patrick Morrisey campaigned on school choice, wanting to give West Virginian families freedom and funds to explore options outside of public school. In the poor and rural state, the majority of students will use their public schools, which offer free meals, special education services and other programs not always guaranteed in private schools and microschools or through homeschooling. 'For most West Virginians, school choice options don't really exist,' said House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay. 'I don't want us to lose sight of that … The idea that we're going to have widespread migration to other opportunities, I think it's unrealistic.' As the legislative session kicks off Wednesday, several Republicans — the party that holds a firm grasp in both chambers — are returning from districts losing public schools. School finances are in trouble, and local school superintendents say the Hope Scholarship, the state's education savings account program, is partly to blame for the funding woes that have shuttered dozens of community schools. 'If they take that school away, that little community will completely die. Nobody will want to move there,' said Del. D. R. Buck Jennings, R-Preston. His county will close two elementary schools after shuttered coal mines led to a local population decline. 'We've got to figure out a way of keeping these small schools open.' Hanshaw is the husband of a public school teacher, and Clay County, his rural district, will lose its only middle school at the end of the 2026-27 school year because of a lack of funding. 'The public school system is the workhorse of education in most of West Virginia,' he said. 'I think most West Virginians expect the Legislature to not lose sight of that and keep our focus on what's available to most West Virginia students.' In Clay County, dozens of students are using the Hope Scholarship, equating to $157,000 in state funding no longer available to the county as some school funding is tied to student enrollment, according to the county superintendent. The Hope Scholarship gives roughly $4,400 per student in taxpayer money to families to use for private school, homeschooling and more; Hanshaw said the House didn't have an appetite for increasing the amount. Morrisey hasn't yet called for specific legislation on the Hope Scholarship, but lawmakers will at least vote on funding the program. The program's eligibility opens up to all public, private and homeschool children beginning in the 2026-2027 school year. That could cost up to $300 million, according to several Republican lawmakers. For Hanshaw, the price tag has always been a concern. It led him to vote against the bill that created the Hope Scholarship program in 2021. 'I had concerns then about whether we could afford what we were proposing then, and I'm not sure we can afford it now,' Hanshaw said. 'I don't know how much more needs to be done on Hope Scholarship, frankly. I think we have done more than our finances warrant right now.' The budget is likely to be a focal point of the 60-day session. Morrisey says that former Gov. Jim Justice, now a U.S. Senator, left him with a projected $400 million deficit, while Hanshaw told reporters that he doesn't 'share the belief that we're in quite the same kind of budgetary situation that others have suggested we are.' HB2013 Rollcall 2021 Fifty-three public schools in West Virginia have closed in the previous five years, and counties this year have proposed or approved to close 25 schools in the next few years. The state's overall population decline is the biggest driver of closures, county superintendents said. In November, the state school board voted to close or consolidate six schools in Kanawha County as the district has lost thousands of students over the last few years. The county, which is the state's most populous, has the highest number of kids using the Hope Scholarship. Del. Andy Shamblin, R-Kanawha, teaches civics and history at Nitro High School. His fellow teachers and constituents talk to him a lot about the impact the Hope Scholarship is having on local school finances. 'It's definitely a balancing act for myself as a public school educator and someone who is very much a product of the public school system. It's always been a balance between the philosophical commitment that so many in the GOP have or school choice but recognizing the vast majority of our students are educated in the public school system,' he said. Kanawha County Schools Superintendent Tom Williams told state school board members in November that the county lost 5,000 students over the past 11 years, equating to a $30 million drop in funding. More than 1,200 students left to use the Hope Scholarship. The county's excess levy hasn't covered necessary costs, he said. 'It's devastating to some of these communities, especially rural communities, when they lose their community school,' said Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha. The eastern part of his county will consolidate four elementary schools into one new building. Shamblin said that, while he respects school choice, the public school finances weigh on him when he votes. 'To me one of the most important things we do is educate, and I think we need to focus a lot more on the public education system,' he said. 'I think we have a lot of challenges.' In Wood County, more than 300 students are using the Hope Scholarship this school year. The superintendent said the district didn't get $1 million in state funding because those children were no longer counted in the enrollment-based formula. Del. Dave Foggin, R-Wood, a public school teacher, supports the Hope Scholarship, saying that it benefits taxpayers who pay into the education system but don't want to use the public schools. 'I can't explain why they're leaving, but if you offer a good product people will buy it,' he said. 'If we as a state school system can offer a better product, we will have more people use that product.' He didn't want to comment on how he'd vote on any Hope-related legislation this year as he hadn't yet seen any bills. 'I also feel like with any other government program, there probably are some problems and some inefficiency but I still feel like as a whole the program is based on a good idea,' Foggin said. House members, including Hanshaw, Foggin and Shamblin, in May voted to give an additional $27 million to the Hope Scholarship from unused state dollars. Pushkin, along with some Republicans, voted against the measure. Pushkin, who serves on the House Education Committee, said that House Democrats plan to sponsor a measure that would ban the use of Hope funds on out-of-state schools. Last school year, while most of the money was spent in-state, the Hope Scholarship was used in 12 other states for schools and education services. According to a Hope Scholarship report, $210,311.41 was used for non-public school payments in Virginia. New Mexico received $7,115 from the program, which included the New Mexico Military Institute. 'Our biggest problem with the Hope Scholarship is the serious lack of oversight,' Pushkin said. Some lawmakers, including Senate Education Chair Amy Grady, R-Mason, have discussed revisiting the school aid formula in the wake of the state's population decline. Grady has also said lawmakers must help elementary teachers deal with disruptive and violent students if the state wants to retain its public school students. Jennings suggested cutting down the number of school days in an effort to put money back in school budgets. 'If we go to 160 days, that cuts down on how many people you have to have in administration and everything. We can take that money and use it to support the [schools],' he said. Morrisey has called for a teacher pay raise as West Virginia has an ongoing public school teacher shortage and low wages. Hanshaw supports the proposal, saying he has worked well with Morrisey ahead of the session. 'The governor called for pay raises in his inaugural address. We've tried to march down that pathway as judiciously as we can. I'd certainly support doing more there,' he said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
