A Senate committee voted to adopt a strike-and-insert amendment to House Bill 3429 and then reported the bill to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass. Committee members then adopted a title amendment before adjourning.

Jason Wandling, general counsel for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), told the committee the bill would create a pool of prequalified engineering firms to speed up design and procurement for Abandoned Mine Lands projects. “We’re hoping that this will shorten some of our project times by 3 to 6 months,” Wandling said.

According to Wandling’s explanation, the bill would allow DEP to solicit letters of interest and maintain a list of prequalified engineering firms. The Division of Purchasing would enter into one-year prequalification agreements with firms, with an optional two-year extension at DEP’s request. The bill also provides a process for DEP to select a firm based on previous satisfactory performance and its knowledge of DEP facilities without seeking competitive bids in instances where the DEP secretary determines competition is not practical; such selections would require prior approval from the director of the Division of Purchasing.

Wandling described the broader context: the federal government has been providing nearly $140,000,000 a year in recent years for Abandoned Mine Lands work, and DEP staff have sought ways to encumber and spend that funding more quickly. He said project review involves multiple steps, including reengineering proposals sent by project proponents, federal review, and other intra-agency reviews; the prequalification pool aims to shorten project timelines by a few months so that funds can be spent on the ground sooner.

The committee adopted the strike-and-insert amendment by voice vote; the vice chair moved that House Bill 3429, as amended, be reported to the full Senate with a recommendation that it do pass, and the motion was adopted by voice vote. The committee also adopted a title amendment on a separate voice vote. The transcript records voice votes only; specific roll-call tallies were not provided in the committee record.

No committee record in the transcript shows additional amendments or a floor schedule; the bill will be transmitted to the full Senate for further consideration.