Thursday marks day 30, the halfway mark of the 60-day annual legislative session, but as I write this, I’m having trouble predicting how productive this session will be by the time we get to April 12.

According to the Legislature’s website, only two bills have completed the legislative process and have been signed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey. Those bills are the annual bills to update terms in the state’s personal income tax and corporate net income tax acts to align with federal terms. These two bills are always passed at the beginning of each session quickly.

Otherwise, the only other bill that could be on its way to the desk of Gov. Morrisey by the time you read this is House Bill 2354, banning certain products from food in West Virginia. That’s a bill to make the red in your red Fruit Loops cereal less red. It’s also a bill most opponents believe will make food products in the state more expensive, as food without these FDA-approved additives is higher in price.

I want to be clear that I’m not judging the progress of the session yet. I do not want to incur the wrath of House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, who spent the weeks leading up to the 2025 legislative session lowering expectations among the public and press about the number of bills that will be passed. Hanshaw was very clear that the focus of the House this year is on the quality of the bills coming out, not the quantity.

And he’s right: the House of Delegates is not pushing out as many bills as the state Senate, though even the number of bills coming out of the Senate seem to be a decreased amount.

On the House-side, this is due to the new process for bills to be considered, with bills going through a two-step two-day process to be considered by a committee before being sent to the full House for consideration. Sometimes this becomes a four-step process if first referred to a subcommittee or a six or eight-step process if double-committee referenced.

The first step is a committee hearing process for a bill, which involves an explanation from the bill’s lead sponsor, questions of the committee’s legal counsel, testimony by agencies affected by the proposed legislation, and public testimony. Step two, beginning on the next day the bill is taken up in a committee or subcommittee, is the amendment and mark-up stage, along with committee discussion and a vote to recommend the bill.

There was some consternation by the professional activist class when the House did away with the request for public hearings, but now the public can go to any bill and click a button to submit their comments. The testimony phase of the bill in committee also allows for interested parties to be called to the podium to speak, with committee members able to ask questions.

I’ll be honest, I was concerned early on about the learning curve for this new procedure, and there were some hiccups early on, particularly when it came to when committee and subcommittee agendas were posted. But nearly four weeks into this process and I think it is great.

For one thing, it’s nice to actually hear the lead bill sponsor explain the purpose of the bill instead of a committee counsel. And it is also nice to hear some of the testimony for or against a bill from supporters and opponents. But the downside, as Hanshaw tried to prepare us for, is that the number of bills coming out of the House are fewer in number.

The general consensus from the Capitol dwellers — the lobbyists, activists, and others who populate the well of the upper rotunda during session — is that if only a few bills get passed this session, that’s probably a good thing in the long run. Especially given the kinds of bills the Senate is giving priority to.

But several of those bills are the top legislative priorities of the Governor’s Office. Out of the 12 of the governor’s bills introduced in the House, only two have completed the process and have been signed into law – the two tax term definition bills I talked about at the top of this column.

House Bill 2007, repealing the certificate of need program, was torpedoed by the House Health and Human Resources Committee. And House bills 2008 (merging the Department of Economic Development into the Department of Commerce) and 2009 (merging the Department of Arts, Culture and History into the Department of Tourism) are parked on the House’s inactive calendar for the time being.

Of the 13 of the governor’s bills introduced in the Senate, only Senate Bill 460, the religious/philosophical exemptions to school-age vaccines, has passed the Senate. That bill is still pending in the House Health and Human Resources Committee, where I am told it might not have the votes yet to make it to the House floor.

Senate Bill 456, the Riley Gaines Act defining “male” and “female” in State Code and protecting spaces for biological girls and women, was poised to pass the House Friday after passing the Senate last Monday. It could well be the second non-tax bill to end up on the governor’s desk later this week once the Senate concurs with changes made by the House to the bill.

And Senate Bill 458, the Universal Professional and Occupational Licensing Act, is poised to pass the Senate either today or this week, though I’m told this bill may run into trouble in the House. Senate Bill 474, ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.