CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A new battle erupted in the West Virginia state Senate on Tuesday over one of the least controversial practices of the Legislature: parliamentary procedure.
The upper chamber had its most contentious floor session this year after a rarely used parliamentary move resulted in Republicans reviving the charter schools bill, despite significant outcry from Democrats.
Sen. Mike Hall, R-Putnam, who chairs the Finance Committee, motioned to discharge Senate Bill 14 during Tuesday’s floor session.
The motion was done in order to bring back the much-discussed charter schools bill, which Democrats defeated on Monday. That’s when Sen. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, took advantage of the fact that Sens. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha; Jeff Mullins, R-Raleigh; and Chris Walters, R-Putnam, were all absent during a Senate Finance Committee meeting. Takubo was giving a deposition, Mullins spent the day in the hospital and Walters was visiting his 90-year-old grandmother who he said had a health scare recently.
Kessler successfully moved to postpone the bill indefinitely, which he said essentially ended hope for the legislation’s passage this year.
But Hall’s motion brought the subject not only back into discussion…
