KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va.–Two Kanawha County House of Delegates are looking forward to the 87th legislative session that begins three weeks from Wednesday.

Andy Shamblin

Delegates Andy Shamblin and Dana Ferrell were on 580 Live with Dave Allen on Monday.

Ferrell says that the House has reformed the committee’s and how there made up.

He says that there will still be the six major standing committees, health, education, judiciary, finance, government organization and energy, but there will now be subcommittees under them.

This new way will allow them to look at passing bills that are going to help West Virginia.

“Not work on how many bills we can pass out of there, just so someone can have their name on a bill, but to really focus on this bill, what is it trying to fix and solve and does it do that,” Ferrell said. “And the other probably even more important thing we’re looking at these subcommittees will have a lot of oversight on the bills and legislation that we’ve already passed, is the executive branch able to fulfill these, able to carry these out, are these agencies carrying them out.”

Shamblin believes that with the changes, within the House of Delegates and the executive branch as a whole, this session should be a good one.

“Always a lot of turnovers in the House, a lot of changes, of course we’re significant changes in the executive branch as well, so it’s going to be a very exciting, fast-moving session,” Shamblin said.

Both delegates are looking ahead to being able to serve on their previous subcommittee’s that they had before.

Shamblin will be returning to his previous committee but has added one more committee that he will serve on.

“I’m looking forward to continuing my work on the judiciary committee, as well as serving as vice chairman of the courts and prison’s committee this time around,” he said. “I also asked and received, from Speaker Hanshaw, an appointment to the education committee, which is a new challenge for me as an educator.”

Dana Ferrell

And when the legislative session starts, Ferrell will be the chairman of the Subcommittee on Local Government.

He says he hopes that this subcommittee will help make smaller towns and cities a better place.

“I think the idea of this committee is to look at how can we help those communities be the best they can be, for a great place to live, work, and do business,” Ferrell said.

And since Shamblin is on the education committee, he is hopeful that they can get something done about the student discipline issue and absenteeism, that has been a big topic in recent months.

However, he doesn’t know if legislation can help.

“I think it’s a complex issue, and in some ways it’s an issue that is difficult to solve with legislation because schools are a reflection of the communities in which surround them,” Shamblin said. “The discipline issues vary greatly by jurisdiction and community.”

The session begins on February 12.