Let's Talk About Legislative Session 2024

West Virginia boasts a red supermajority, with Republicans controlling the office of Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General and both chambers of the state legislature. So, it may come as a surprise to witness the glee expressed by radical left organizations such as the ACLU and Fairness WV on March 9th,  the last day of the legislative session.  Their virtual applause erupted when several good bills died on Saturday night. 

Bills such as SB 152, that would have required public schools to display our national motto, “In God We Trust” in a prominent place where every student would see it.  The ACLU, WV Library Association, American Federation of Teachers and the WV Principals Association, all, were celebrating the fact that our schools and public libraries may continue to be distributors of pornography made for children without penalty, with the fall of SB 741.

Are you under the impression it’s about “book banning” as their propaganda declares—?  Check this article if you’d like to view the filth our librarians and teachers are able to continue distributing, unhindered by the petty aggravation of accountability.  They’ll tell you it’s about Huck Finn or Howl, or Fifty Shades of Grey, as columnist Steven Adams likes to imagine. Maybe he isn't aware that we have children, juvenile and adult sections in the library?  In truth, it’s about cartoon pornography made especially for children, displayed in the open to children as young as 10 years old, as it was at the Wood County library.

Another bill that bit the dust, the most important piece of legislation this year to protect women, was HB 5243, reinvented at the end of the session into SB 601. Tracking these bills, specifically, may provide a litmus test for our state.  Every West Virginian -regardless of party affiliation- every person with a conscience, should be utterly digusted that the Democrats and their ilk killed a vital piece of legislation, that had wide overall support, to protect our kids— to protect the girls being watched by boys while they undress in their locker rooms.  To protect students trying to relieve themselves during the school day, but must be wary, lest there are kids having sex in the bathroom.  Think this doesn’t happen in the Mountain State?  You obviously haven’t seen Episode 35.

Where does the buck stop on this one?  Who exactly are the jocund darlings the ACLU is applauding?  Maybe it’s Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw (R-Clay), who had the authority to move this bill forward in the last few days of the session, but in the end, declined to do so.  Or maybe it’s Delegate Kayla Young (D-Kanawha) who doesn’t mind to make a mockery of our law making process, by not only creating an amendment to SB 601, but then deciding to up her game by dividing it into some thirty odd parts, to clog the process on the last day of the session.  Perhaps she’s congratulating herself on her TikTok videos about now. 

Many of the delegates and senators wax eloquently about balanced budgets, pay raises, economic deals and the like.  Many solid, good conservative lawmakers like to avoid these sticky social topics.  Let me remind you, good sirs and madams, you won’t have a future to contend for economically if you do not protect our children...if you do not secure the protection of their innocence….if you do not protect young girls who go to school and must drop classes or hide in closets to avoid undressing in front of boys.   THESE constitute our future, West Virginia.

Thankfully, the Democrats and their support did not gain all victory on March 9— through an amazing, concerted effort, SB 280 passed both chambers.  This is the bill that allows our teachers to instruct students on theories relating to the creation of the universe, such as Intelligent Design to accompany the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution.  The pushback against this bill was striking in its focus— chiefly, the complaints seemed to be that students would be allowed to think critically rather than only the approved thought of the atheist left.

HB 5105 is making its way to the Governor’s desk.  This is the medical freedom bill that eliminates vaccine requirements for students of public virtual schools, private schools and parochial schools. For the parents of children who have had adverse effects from vaccines, such as seizures, swelling of the brain and spinal cord, anaphylaxis, unusual bleeding or chronic illness, to scratch the surface, this is a bittersweet and long overdue victory.