A Republican state senator is urging West Virginia lawmakers to take up a transgender "bathroom bill" as the No. 1 item on a special session agenda that places flood relief as the fourth - and last - measure on the same list.
Sen. Robert Karnes, R-Upshur, said Monday he wasn't ranking special session proposals by importance in a letter to senators and House of Delegates members. Karnes' district covers Richwood, a town ravaged by last month's severe flooding.
Karnes, who wrote in that transgender people have a "diagnosable mental disorder," also provided a form letter for lawmakers to submit to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, asking him to call a special session within the next three weeks. That letter likewise lists the bathroom bill first and flood recovery last.
"There's no ranking at all, no particular order," Karnes said Monday. "Before the flood hit, I was already working on this. I just listed the issues down as they came to mind, and in the middle of that, the floods hit, and this was obviously something else that needed attention from us, so it got added on."
As of Monday night, Karnes and Sen. Sue Cline, R-Wyoming, were the only two state senators to sign and submit Karnes' form letter to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. No House members sent the form letter to the governor, according to Tomblin's spokeswoman.
The governor has hinted that he would call a special session sometime in August to allocate funds for flood recovery, but he has yet to set a date.
In his letter to lawmakers, Karnes takes aim at President Barack Obama's administrative order requiring schools to allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity.
Karnes wants lawmakers to pass a bill modeled after North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, which, in part, regulates access to school restrooms and locker rooms by transgender students.
"...A school following this guidance could force our teenage sons and daughters to shower with members of the opposite sex," Karnes wrote in a letter to lawmakers. "And, frankly, with members of the opposite sex who have a diagnosable mental disorder."
Karnes said Obama's executive order puts West Virginia children at risk - and "that risk will escalate greatly with the start of the fall semester."
Karnes' form letter urges Tomblin to call a special legislative session by August 10 - before the start of the upcoming school year for most schools across the state. Others expect Tomblin to convene a special session that starts the third weekend in August, which would coincide with legislative interim meetings.
"If my call were to gain steam, it would be for Aug. 10 or before, and the reason for that is because if we wait until the 20th, we're not likely to have anything that would happen that would affect the school year coming up," Karnes said. "This is something the people of West Virginia very much want. I sure hope it's addressed."
At its convention last month, the state Republican Party passed a platform that includes support for a bathroom gender law like North Carolina's. Also, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined a lawsuit with 10 states' attorneys general, challenging Obama's "guidance" to school districts on accommodating transgender student access to bathrooms and locker rooms.
Karnes' proposed special session agenda next lists restoring funding to the West Virginia Division of Forestry.
Last week, the division laid off 37 foresters - nearly a third of the agency's workforce.
In February, Karnes sponsored an amendment to a bill that reduced severance taxes on the timber industry. Tomblin aides have said the change led to a $1.7 million decrease in Forestry division funding and prompted the layoffs.
In his recent letter to lawmakers, Karnes blamed Tomblin for the layoffs.
"The governor has very deliberately set out to damage our forest industry," Karnes wrote. "First he cut funding to the Division of Forestry, second he apparently ordered state Forester Randy Dye to refrain from notifying legislators concerning these major cuts."
"The governor was the one who decided to do this," Karnes added Monday. "Nobody else had a hand in it. He's wrong, and he knows he's wrong."
The third item on Karnes' proposed legislative agenda: More help for counties affected by Obama's "war on coal."
Karnes' letter devotes five sentences to the importance of passing school bathroom restrictions - and one sentence about flood response.
"The historic flooding of recent days will require legislative action to ensure proper funding for cleanup and rebuilding," Karnes wrote.
A Tomblin spokeswoman said Monday the governor plans to call the Legislature into special session "in the near future to address costs associated with ongoing and long-term flood recovery efforts."
Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.