The 80th Legislature kicked off on Wednesday at noon with stability in the House and considerable drama in the State Senate as the leadership positions changed. The Senate re-elected Earl Ray Tomblin as Senate President so that he can continue to serve his constitutional duty as “Acting” Governor. Following lengthy debate Senator Jeff Kessler (D-Ohio) was elected “Acting” Senate President after the Senate rules were changed to recognize the position. Kessler appointed the leaders of the Senate with some key changes as John Unger (D-Berkeley) replaced Truman Chafin (D-Mingo) as Majority Leader and Roman Prezioso (D-Marion) became Finance Committee Chairman in place of Walt Helmick (D-Pocahontas). Cory Palumbo (D-Kanawha) was named Judiciary Committee Chairman while Herb Snyder (D-Jefferson) was named Chairman of the Government Organization Committee. Mike Green (D-Raleigh) will continue as Chairman of the Energy, Industry & Mining (EIM) Committee. Richard Bowning (D-Wyoming) will be Majority Whip as Dr. Ron Stollings (D-Boone) will lead the Health & Human Resources Committee and Bob Williams (D-Taylor) heads up the Agriculture Committee. Other changes and assignments will be reported in subsequent Coal Bits.
During the first three days of the Regular Session there were 599 separate bill introduced. The House of Delegates had 504 bills and the Senate received 95 new bills. The majority of these had been pre-filed (before the Session) and covered topics/issues that had not gotten attention in past Sessions.