Guest Column: The AARP Agenda is West Virginia's Agenda

As we have in past legislative sessions, AARP West Virginia is providing an opportunity for our state elected officials and legislative leaders to submit op-ed guest columns on issues pending before the West Virginia Legislature. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of AARP.

———————————————————————-

Guest Column by Speaker Roger Hanshaw
West Virginia House of Delegates
March 14, 2025


I often quote my former boss, former West Virginia Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass, who once told me that if you’re trying to get something passed, the 60-day legislative session just flies by; but if you’re trying to keep something from happening, then 60 days goes a whole lot slower.

Perry Bennett/WV Legislature

The House implemented a new committee process this year, and it took some settling in, but we’ve been pleased with it so far. Each bill now goes through a two-day hearing and markup process along with a subcommittee step in most instances before the standing committee goes another round working through the bill.

As predicted, we have seen fewer bills moving through the process, but we think the bills are coming to the House floor in a better posture to become law and with a more thorough battery of discussion and debate, which includes accepting testimony from the public and other stakeholders during the hearing phase.

We’ve reached the mid-way point, and I know there are many pieces of legislation important to the state’s 50-plus population because the AARP agenda is most West Virginians’ agenda.

A great example of that is House Bill 2502, which would limit Internet and telecommunications providers’ billing if they fail to provide service to customers for five or more consecutive days or 120 hours.

This bill would require those providers to credit a customer’s account and would add enforcement through the Attorney General’s Office. Everyone wants to hear a dial tone when they pick up the phone, but it’s the type of utility that can be a literal lifeline for our older West Virginians. That measure will be in front of all Delegates for debate in the coming week.

Another bill that would protect not just older West Virginians but all of us from certain types of automated and unsolicited calls is on the move in our committees as well. House Bill 2356 would establish the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and increase penalties for those unwanted solicitations. A version of this overwhelmingly passed the full House last year, and I expect we’ll do it again this session.

I know I for one appreciate hearing the concerns of a quarter-million West Virginians through the work and advocacy of AARP, and I hope we continue to see the many volunteers and hear from even more of you on both the process and individual bills as we work to the finish line of the 60-day regular session.