CAPTIVE AUDIENCE DIES IN SENATE JUDICIARY

Thanks for all your calls, messages, visits and efforts.  They paid off and this article describes the current status.  This proves that business groups can unite and have a very positive result. Thanks again. Thanks for all your calls, messages, visits and efforts.  They paid off and this article describes the current status.  This proves that business groups can unite and have a very positive result. Thanks again.
 

Captive Audience Bill Fizzles in Senate Judiciary
The State Journal, March 6, 2008

Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee decides not to move it forward because of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that has the potential of affecting the law shortly after it would go into effect.

Story by Walt Williams

CHARLESTON -- A proposed law that would limit what employers could discuss with their employees in the workplace apparently is dead, with the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee saying he decided not move it forward because of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that has the potential of affecting the law shortly after it would go into effect.

That case, Chamber of Commerce v. Brown, concerns a California law barring companies that receive state grants from deterring union organizing. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is arguing that the National Labor Relations Act preempts the state law, and oral arguments on the case are scheduled for March 19.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Jeffrey Kessler, D-Marshall, said March 5 that he had spoken with union representatives in support of the bill about the case, and both sides came to the conclusion it was best to hold off action for now.

Kessler said he reached that determination because the bill is a "very contentious piece of legislation" that hasn't been addressed in any other state, and the court's eventual decision on the California case could impact the ability of employers to communicate with their employees.

"We thought it a better course of action, and labor basically agreed to back off this year to see how this case turns out and to see if it does impact either negatively or positively legislation that we would take a look at in the future," he said.

House Bill 4132 would prohibit employers from communicating their political views with employees who didn't want to hear them. It also would prevent workers from being required to attend compulsory meetings to listen to their employers' political opinions.

It cleared the House of Delegates by a 64-33 vote on Feb. 26 and had been awaiting action in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Kessler said he wasn't sure whether lawmakers would take up the issue again between sessions. The Supreme Court likely won't issue a decision on the California case until near the end of the year, he noted.

Labor organizations such as the West Virginia AFL-CIO have been very vocal in their support of the bill. Business groups such as the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce have been just as vocal in their opposition.

Most recently, Dennis Cuneo, a Washington, D.C., attorney who represented Toyota and Hino Trucks in their projects and expansions in West Virginia, wrote to a letter to senators to express his "deep concern" about HB 4132.

"I may not be an expert in many areas, but I do know site selection and economic development," he wrote. "In my opinion, passage of HB 4132 will have a significant adverse impact on West Virginia's ability to attract new business."

Kessler said he probably received 100 e-mails from opponents telling him not to put the bill on the committee agenda and just as many asking him to pass it.
"There were advocates on both sides who felt very strongly about it," he said. "It's something, I think, that just needs to be looked at in the context of this court ruling that's anticipated, and if it does impact where we are going, then we will be able to draft legislation that's on point."