Legislative session comes to an end

This is it, the last week of session.  For those of us who spend our days under the big dome in Charleston, the last week means longer work days and extra sessions.  This is the week when lawmakers buckle down to make up for slacking during the majority of session. 

Looking back on the session, it's been a slow one, in comparison to previous years.  It seems that election year politics got the best of our Legislature and the general consensus is that nothing was really accomplished this year.  There was no real controversy, no major debating and an endless supply of feel-good bills and named bridges.  To those who love politics, this is kind of disappointing. 

However, this week a herd of lobbyists fighting for or against the Optometry Bill has taken over the Capitol.  If passed, this bill would allow optometrists to perform certain surgical laser procedures.  While there are pros to the bill, such as more accessible and affordable laser eye surgery, and cons to the bill, such as questions about patient safety due to the differences in training and education between optometrists and opthamologists, we may be forgetting to ask the most important question: are our legislators qualified to make this decision? 

As the session's end is drawing near, this bill will be debated heavily until Saturday, without any guarantee legislative action will even be taken.  So, what has happened in Charleston this session?

The School Calendar Bill was the most publicized bill to make it to the governor's desk.  It was a recommendation of Gov. Manchin and made it through the legislative process with little to no debate.  This was also one of very few bills to make it to the governor.  While neither body of the State Legislature has voted against many bills, a vast majority have spent session being held up in committees, never to be seen again.  Both the House and the Senate have added extra sessions this week in an attempt to get these bills out of these committees. 

It's like we are in the last lap of session and lawmakers will be busy trying to accomplish what they promised as part of their agendas, with election day glooming overhead only months away.  While this session has been pretty slow, I expect there to be quite a bit of excitement in the remaining days.

Kerissa Bennett can be contacted at bennett120@marshall.edu.