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West Virginia Legislative Session West Virginia Legislature West Virginia Politics

No Income Tax Reform; Focus on Constitutional Rights Instead

Governor, or “King” Justice, as some call him, wants to jack up sales and other taxes and give taxpayers government handouts, while proposing to eliminate personal income taxes.  While this might seem laudable at first glance, it is a smoke and mirrors game.

Our state has been severely hampered by unnecessary and burdensome, and unconstitutional mask mandates, business closure mandates and by limiting the capacity of businesses.  Even today, Jefferson County WV high schools are closed this week due to bogus COVID 19 statistics.  Children are at virtually zero risk from COVID 19.  Staff are not at risk either.  In fact, with proper treatment 99.9 % of those with COVID will recover.  COVID 19 is much less fatal for children than the flu.  Following this rationale, why did we not close schools periodically due to cases of the flu?

The best way to help our state is to remove unnecessary mandates.  HB 2003 will require legislative review for any mandates over 60 days and has passed the WV House of Delegates unanimously.  This bill needs to be brought to the floor of the Senate ASAP and amended to make it clear that the bill’s provisions apply to not only future mandates plus the current one.  Mask mandates discourage business.  And, of course, closing restaurants and making up random rules for their operation, as well as for other businesses’ operation, adversely affects businesses, including causing many small businesses to go out of business permanently.  Yet Governor Justice does not want to deal with these core issues, but rather wants to distract us with other, peripheral issues.

So, Governor Justice, stop the social posturing BS.  People will decide on their own whether or not they want to wear a mask.  Children need to be in school.  People need to interact in person without unnecessary and harmful government mandates.  By the way, why can eighth grade students be in school, but not ninth grade students?  What is the magical “scientific” formula behind that?

Specifically regarding the income tax proposal, many small businesses would not benefit in any case.  Schedule C income is not included.  Food grocery items will become taxable again, at 7.9%, after having just been removed from being taxable in 2013.  Food had also been added and removed from being taxed in West Virginia previously in 1981 and then taxed again in 1989.  Tax on food drives West Virginians to shop in neighboring states with no food tax. 

Governor Justice should focus on helping West Virginians to exercise their God-given freedoms, and not on dubious plans that increase taxes on essential items like food purchased at grocery stores.  Leave the income tax alone.  There are many more pressing issues, like restoring our Constitutional freedoms and ensuring voting integrity.

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West Virginia Legislative Session West Virginia Legislature West Virginia Politics

Vaccine Choice Bills in the WV Legislature-2021

There are seven bills dealing with vaccination choice that have been introduced in the WV House or Senate.  All of them will provide some welcome relief from West Virginia’s authoritarian, one size fits all approach to immunizations. 

As a start, I suggest you contact your senators in support of SB 406, and contact your delegate in support of HB 2881.  Both remove the requirement to provide the harmful and unnecessary Hepatitus B vaccination to children before attending any West Virginia school, public or private.  Typically, this vaccination is given to newborn babies.  Mind you that the vaccination is for a sexually transmitted disease, and that this disease is nonexistent among those who are not having sexual intercourse or using IV drugs.  HB 2881 is in the House Health and Human Resources Committee chaired by Jeffrey Pack.

HB 2728 clarifies that the commissioner of Public Health shall not expand compulsory immunization requirements for school children without explicit Legislative authority, including the chair of the Health Committee.  Vaccination by administrative ruling added 11 to 13 doses of four vaccines to the West Virginia required vaccine schedule from 2008 to 2017. These vaccines alone have caused between 1740 to 17,400 serious adverse reactions requiring hospitalization and 290 to 2900 deaths in West Virginia. Current administrative rulings specify that all vaccines recommend by the ACIP panel are also recommended for West Virginia children. Furthermore, from 2008 to 2017 parents enrolling children in state licensed daycare were required to get HIB, pneumococcal (Prevnar), rotavirus and Hepatitus A vaccinations under penalty of law. These vaccinations were added by an administrative rule, were subsequently removed, but could be added again.  This bill is in the House Education Committee, chaired by Joe Ellington.

HB 2783 grants a physician to grant a child a medical exemption from the required immunizations for entering a school or a state-regulated child care center.  The position of Immunization Officer (added in 2015) is eliminated.  This bill is in the House Health and Human Resources Committee, chaired by Jeffrey Pack.

See all of the Vaccine Choice bills here.

Delegate Paul Espinosa (Shannondale):  Capitol:  (304) 340-3310  Cell:  (304) 268-4266  paul.espinosa@wvhouse.gov

Delegate Wayne Clark (Charles Town)  Capitol:   (304) 340-3366  Cell:  (703) 786-7114 wayne.clark@wvhouse.gov  wclark@pga.com

Delegate John Doyle (Shepherdstown)  Capitol:  (304) 340-3248 Hm:  (304) 876-1648 johndoyle@wvhouse.gov    rjohndoyle@comcast.net

Delegate Joe Ellington (House Education Chair) joe.ellington@wvhouse.gov (304) 340-3265

Delegate Jeff Pack (House Health Chair)  jeffrey.pack@wvhouse.gov   jeffrey.pack@wvhouse.gov

(304) 340-3269

Senator John Unger (Shepherdstown)  Capitol:  (304) 357-7933  Cell:  (304) 389-1866  john.unger@wvsenate.gov    pastorunger@gmail.com

Senator Patricia Rucker (Shannondale)  Capitol:  (304) 357-7957  Cell:  (304) 279-1619

patricia.rucker@wvsenate.gov  ruckerforwv@gmail.com

Senator Mike Maroney (Senate Health and Human Resources Chair) (304) 357-7902 mike.maroney@wvsenate.gov

Originall posted at Vaccine Choice Bills in WV Legislature-2021 – Urban Life Training

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West Virginia Legislature West Virginia Politics

West Virginia Legislative Session-2021 Priorities

Four Priorities for 2021 WV Legislative Session
by Richard Urban

  1. Protect our constitutional freedoms from encroachment by government mandates. 
    Reform the Governor’s emergency powers authority, requiring the legislature to authorize extensions after 60 days.  HB 2003 does this, but lacks clear language indicating that it applies to the current decrees of Governor Justice, not just future ones.  It passed the House and is currently in the Senate, submitted to the Government Organization committee, chaired by Senator Maynard but they have not acted on it since receiving it February 22nd.
    HB 2014 specifies that emergency funds received from the Federal Government over $150 million must be appropriated by the legislature.  It has passed the House and is currently in the Senate, submitted to the Finance committee chaired by Senator Eric Tarr.
    Action Steps:  Contact our Senators to express support for both bills, and to request an amendment clarifying that HB 2003 applies to mandates currently in place.
    Also contact the chair of the respective committees to request that the bill be put on the agenda and passed out of the committee.
  2. Protect the integrity of elections in West Virginia.  Eliminate early voting.  All voting will be on Election Day.  Mail in voting should not be allowed at all, unless a citizen lives outside of the United States.  That is what the great majority of other countries do.  See this analysis of other countries:    For those living outside the county, a Photo ID must be submitted with the request for a ballot.  Eliminate using electronic voting machines.  Use paper ballots.  Do not use Clarity voting or any other third party reporting system.  All counting and reporting must remain in the state.

In case of a challenge of the election results, failure to follow rules will automatically invalidate any contested election and a new election must be called i.e. if observers are not allowed to view ballot processing, or if ballots are destroyed or voting machine audit records erased.  Use paper ballots to speed up voting and eliminate fraud.  Tabulate votes, when not done manually, using two machines from different manufacturers.  Results must match.  Results will be recorded by each county and records will be retained on local servers and backed up by physical records of ballot counts.  No third-party processing of election results is allowed.

Action step:  Contact our legislators and let them know that you oppose HB 2814, sponsored by Jefferson County’s own Shepherdstown delegate, John Doyle.  Tell our legislators that you want actual election reform that insures the integrity of our elections based on the above points.

3. Protect personal and religious freedom by eliminating vaccine mandates in West Virginia.  This includes not allowing employers to mandate vaccines.  See this fact sheet.
Action step.  Contact our legislators and let them know that you support SB 406 and SB 2881, which both remove the dangerous and unnecessary Hepatitus B vaccine from the vaccination schedule.  We have gone literally decades without any progress on this issue.  This is a modest step in the right direction
Also let them know that you support HB 2728 to clarify that the commissioner of Public Health cannot add any immunizations not specifically authorized by the legislature and HB 2783 that allows a physician to write a medical exemption and eliminates the state Immunization Officer.  See all of the health freedom bills hereJoin the West Virginians for health freedom local group on Telegram to keep updated.
Action Step:  Contact House Education Chair Ellington to ask that HB 2728 be put on the agenda and why it is important to you.
Contact House Health Chair Pack to tell him why you support HB 2783 and HB 2881 and ask that they both be put on the agenda.
4. Fund a road that exits to the south from Shannondale.
Action Steps:  Contact our legislators to ask and demand that such a road be funded, as it is a safety issue.

Contact Information:

Delegate Paul Espinosa (Shannondale):  Capitol:  (304) 340-3310  Cell:  (304) 268-4266  paul.espinosa@wvhouse.gov

Delegate Wayne Clark (Charles Town)  Capitol:   (304) 340-3366  Cell:  (703) 786-7114 wayne.clark@wvhouse.gov  wclark@pga.com

Delegate John Doyle (Shepherdstown)  Capitol:  (304) 340-3248 Hm:  (304) 876-1648 johndoyle@wvhouse.gov    rjohndoyle@comcast.net

Delegate Joe Ellington (House Education Chair) joe.ellington@wvhouse.gov (304) 340-3265

Delegate Jeff Pack (House Health Chair)  jeffrey.pack@wvhouse.gov   jeffrey.pack@wvhouse.gov

(304) 340-3269

Senator John Unger (Shepherdstown)  Capitol:  (304) 357-7933  Cell:  (304) 389-1866  john.unger@wvsenate.gov    pastorunger@gmail.com

Senator Patricia Rucker (Shannondale)  Capitol:  (304) 357-7957  Cell:  (304) 279-1619

patricia.rucker@wvsenate.gov  ruckerforwv@gmail.com

Senator Mark Maynard-Chair of Government Organization Committee  Capitol:  (304)357-7808

Cell:  (304) 360-6272  Mark.Maynard@wvsenate.gov

Senator Eric Tarr-Chari of Finance Committee  Capitol:  (304) 357-7901  eric.tarr@wvsenate.gov