The West Virginia Senate on April 11 voted to refuse to concur with a House amendment to Senate Bill 275 that would have removed a high school diploma or equivalent requirement for school cooks and custodians 21 years of age and older.

Senator from Lewis moved that the Senate refuse to concur in the House amendment and request a message be sent to the House. The motion was adopted and the clerk was directed to communicate the Senate's action to the House.

The motion drew its primary floor explanation from Senator from Lewis, who said the House amendment "only provides for the removal of high school diploma or equivalent requirement for cooks and custodians who are 21 years of age or older" and argued that the change "reduces the pool of persons available to fill these positions during a time when the school system across the state are struggling to fill these and other positions." The senator urged rejection of the amendment.

No roll-call tally for the refusal-to-concur motion was recorded in the floor transcript; the presiding officer declared the motion adopted and ordered the clerk to notify the House.

The action returns the matter to the two chambers for further negotiation; the Senate's refusal to concur means the amendment will either be reconsidered by the House or the two chambers may appoint conferees or negotiate alternate language.

No additional legal references or implementation steps were recorded on the floor record for this item.

Clerk actions and the formal communication to the House were recorded at the conclusion of the motion.