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HB4271 - Final

HB 4271 permitting public and private school students to self-administer asthma medication passed both houses and completed legislative action on March 12, 2004. The bill will now be sent to Governor Wise for his signature. The bill will go into effect on July 1, 2004.

Thanks to all who supported our effort to get this bill passed.

HB 4271 Stalled

HB 4721 passed the House of Delegates unanimously and is awaiting action in the Senate Education Committee before it can go to the Senate floor for a vote. Apparently this bill has stalled in the Senate Education Committee.

HB 4271 allows students with asthma to carry rescue inhalers with them at all times. This bill requires physician and parent permission as well as an assessment by the school nurse that the child knows how to properly use an inhaler. Help protect the lives of the 30,000 WV children who need to carry an asthma rescue inhaler to be able to carry it to school.

Action Needed:

Please contact Senate Education Committee Chairman Robert Plymale at 304-357-7937 and respectfully request that he put Committee Substitute for HB 4271 on the agenda for his committee's next meeting, pass it out of committee and to the Senate Floor for a vote.

Also, contact YOUR Senator and ask them to encourage Senate Education Committee members to run the bill. Contact members of the Senate Education Committee and request they run the HB 4271 out of committee.

Senate Education Committee members:

Chairman Robert Plymale, Vice Chairman Larry Edgell, and committee members are Bailey, Bowman, Caldwell, Dempsey, Hunter, Oliverio, Unger, White, Boley, Guills, Harrison and Sprouse. West Virginia Senators

The following is a sample letter from American Lung Associaton:

More than 30,000 of West Virginia's children have asthma. These children have the right to carry a rescue inhaler with them at all times. Quick access to rescue inhalers can mean the difference between a student staying in class or spending the day in the emergency room or even worse.

Please vote for HB 4271 and make a difference in the lives of more than 30,000 of West Virginia's children. One child who dies from an asthma attack because he did not have access to his inhaler is one child too many.

Fact Sheet

Visit a Fact Sheet on the use of asthma inhalers provided by MTSTCIL, or print the [Adobe PDF print version].

For more information on our Legislative agenda or MTSTCIL, please contact the Mountain State Center nearest you:

Huntington - 304-525-3324
Beckley - 304-255-0122
Sistersville - 304-652-2116

Updated: March 13, 2004