A bill by any other name … is just as bad
Jessica Nelson, Member of the League of Women Voters of Morgantown-Monongalia County (WV)
If you follow any person or organization that follows the West Virginia Legislature’s progress, then you’ve probably noticed that certain bill numbers crop up again and again (like SB 460, HB 2400, HB 2006). That’s because these bills are of public interest, and bill-watchers are doing their best to spread the word about what the legislation is and how it impacts West Virginians.
Now, it’s common (and accepted) practice for lawmakers to introduce a bill in each chamber, which naturally results in two different bill numbers and even different short titles. This increases the chance of getting a piece of legislation passed.
However, sometimes the same — or very similar — bill can be introduced multiple times in each chamber, resulting in multiple bill numbers and names for what is effectively the same legislation. For example, there is the “Mountain Bike Responsibility Act,” which appears as four separate bills: HB 2707, HB 3342, SB 142, and SB 595. (To be clear, I have not read these bills, so there could be differences among them, but they all have a variation of the same short title.)
Unfortunately, this can make things harder for bill-watchers. Some of us maintain our sanity by monitoring only one chamber (and collaborating with others to watch the other) or only focus on legislation that is moving.
Sometimes, though, that means we (and by “we” I am referring to myself on this one) don’t always notice when the same bill with a different name or number gains traction.
Such is the case with the anti-transgender bill “defining ‘men’ and ‘women’” — HB 2006. Well, it has a Senate equivalent: SB 456, which somehow quietly passed in the Senate late last week — with only one Senator voting against it — and is already on second reading in the House of Delegates.
You may have heard of SB 51, to remove the exemptions for rape and incest from West Virginia’s already incredibly strict abortion ban. The sponsor of SB 51 withdrew his bill after public pressure. Unfortunately, the same bill was reintroduced as SB 608 and HB 2712.
The League of Women Voters of West Virginia has repeatedly made some noise about a bill to prohibit ranked choice voting. However, it turns out there are five of them: SB 133, SB 226, SB 490, HB 2408, and HB 2683.
I can’t decide if this is more like a game of whack-a-mole, where every time you hit one, another pops up, or like fighting a hydra, where every time you cut off one head, two more take its place.
Sadly, there is neither time nor space to list out every bill that has multiple iterations, but be reassured: No, you aren’t crazy — we really did work to kill a bad or stupid bill just for the same legislation to come up again with a different number.
It’s frustrating and exhausting, but fighting the good fight usually is. Y’all know what to do: Call and write your representatives and tell them a horrible bill by any other name is still a horrible bill.