By Charles Young, WV News
CHARLESTON (WV News) — Democrats in the state Senate have formally raised concerns over a bill passed in the final hours of this year’s regular session of the Legislature.
In a letter to Gov. Patrick Morrisey and Senate leaders, the Senate Minority Caucus requested that Senate Bill 474, Ending Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs, not become law.
The letter, signed by the Senate’s two Democrats, Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, and Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, points to a “series of procedural irregularities” they allege to have occurred last Saturday as the session’s midnight deadline approached.
“The Senate took up the bill in the final hour of the session, and during that time, it improperly suspended a Joint Rule of the Senate and House of Delegates, failed to correctly reconsider its actions in passing the bill and suspending the Joint Rule, and refused to consider numerous properly filed Senate amendments to the House of Delegates amendments to the bill,” the letter reads.
