Hello brothers and sisters,

In good news for workers across West Virginia, the House of Delegates passed a cap on copay on Wednesday, January 26, on a 94-3 vote.

The maximum copay will be reduced from $100 to $35, and a maximum copay for devices will be set at $100.

The House passed a $25 cap on insulin in the 2021 session, but the Senate raised the bill to $100. The House went along in the spirit of making progress, any progress.

This bill, House Bill 4252, goes to the Senate. Stay tuned.

Other bills we are looking at:

  • House Bill 4365, which would close four long-term health care facilities: Jackie Withrow Hospital, Lakin Hospital, and John Manchin Sr. Health Care Center, was introduced on January 25. Workers will be offered the opportunity to transfer to another position in state government if they qualify for such job, or take a year in severance pay and benefits. This bill has been referred to the House Government Committee, then the Finance Committee. (NOTE: Hopement is not affected at this time.)
  • Senate Bill 230, which attacks our rights in the public employees grievance process. The bill requires grievance forms to be notarized, and opens up the possibility for the grievant to be held responsible for the state’s legal fees in certain cases. In Senate Judiciary Committee.
  • HB 4310, “Specifying when a public employee’s spouse may be covered by PEIA.” The bill could disallow spouses to participate when they are offered another plan through their employment, no matter how good or bad that option would be. In House Finance Committee.
  • HB 3124, permitting collective bargaining for public employees. In House Government Organization Committee.
  • HB 3123, the “Family Leave Program” would be as good as any. That would allow four weeks of paid employee leave in a 12-month period for reasons including: birth of a child; adoption of a child; care of a child, parent, spouse, or dependent with a serious health condition. In House Workforce Development Committee.
  • SB 243, “Granting all public employees 10 percent per year permanent pay increase,” In Senate Government Organization.
  • HB 2117, “Providing certain employees of the Highways increases in annual pay,” House Finance.
  • HB 2142, “Establishing seniority rights for public employees,” House Workforce Development.
  • HB 3124, “Permit collective bargaining for public employees,” House Government Organization.
  • HB 3178, “Suspend state government pay if business is shut down due to a pandemic,” House Government Organization.
  • HB 3186, “Relating to PEIA inpatient rates,” House Banking and Insurance.
  • Several bills to improve pay and benefits for retirees. In committee.

Full text and status of all introduced bills can be found by searching at: https://www.wvlegislature.gov/bill_status/bill_status.cfm.
Many other questions can be answered at wvlegislature.gov, but we may be able to help you more quickly.
Please … if you want to know how a bill stands or who your senator or delegate is, please contact us at [email protected] or (304) 347-4396.