Future of Home Rule in Senate’s hands

The state Senate will have to decide if it wants to deal with a bill that now includes a provision favored by the NRA.

The House of Delegates gave overwhelming approval to a bill Thursday that will continue and expand Home Rule for municipalities in West Virginia. But the bill also now includes a provision that would essentially eliminate Charleston’s more restrictive gun purchase ordinance if it wants to continue to be part of the Home Rule program.

Del. Nancy Guthrie, D-Kanawha, says the addition has poisoned the bill.

“I don’t think that you can extend rights to a municipality and then bite their hand off whenever you decide it’s not going the way you want it to,” Guthrie said.

The pro-NRA amendment mirrors a bill the House passed earlier this session taking away the more restrictive gun purchase ordinances. The Senate decided not to take that bill up. The Senate originally passed the Home Rule bill and now will decide what to do with the changes the House made.

Del. Meshea Poore, D-Kanawha, says the amendment is counter-productive.

“Either we trust the municipalities that we all represent to do what we trust them to do or we don’t,” Poore said. “We should not be placing any additional or unnecessary rules and regulations on them,” she said.

Del. Patrick Lane, R-Kanawha, the author the amendment, said the Home Rule bill, even with the change, is about bettering the economy.

“This is about jobs. It’s about giving the municipalities the ability to structure their finances in a way that will attract jobs to their local areas,” Lane said.

The bill passed the House 95-3.