By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia House of Delegates approved sweeping changes to its legislative procedures soon after opening the 2025 regular legislative session Wednesday, controversially eliminating public hearings and rejecting proposals aimed at increasing public transparency.
The House approved House Resolution 1, legislation introduced by House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R Clay, that he contends would be a better process to collect meaningful citizen input and institute a more deliberative legislative process.
But that process within HR 1 got shortened Wednesday, with the House taking up and adopting a version of the legislation that slashed the number of days a bill or resolution is to be under consideration by a committee from three — as introduced in the original HR 1 — to two.
Through untallied voice votes, the Republican-supermajority House rejected proposed amendments from Democrats that would have preserved public hearings and loosened restrictions on what the public can see and do during House sessions and committee meetings.
