Saturday, November 2, 2024

Special Session Ends With Some Bills Not Making The Finish Line

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CHARLESTON – Gov. Jim Justice and the West Virginia Legislature can point to many successes during the recent special session, but some bills died when the gavels came down Tuesday night.

Lawmakers passed 37 bills by the time the House of Delegates and state Senate adjourned sine die Tuesday evening, including a compromise 2% personal income tax cut and a child care tax credit, two items that were at the top of Justice’s priority list when he called the Legislature into the special session of 2024 on Sept. 30.

The Legislature also approved 28 supplemental appropriations bills for nearly $500 million in available surplus and unappropriated tax dollars, providing additional funding for Communities in Schools, the state Veterans’ Home, the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia National Guard, the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, higher education, rural hospitals, neuroscience research, drought recovery, EMS and nursing training and recruitment and more.

But not all supplemental appropriations bills passed Tuesday night. Senate Bill 2017, appropriating $300,000 for a proposed statue project for the State Capitol Building’s upper rotunda, was never taken up by the House. The proposed project would have placed statues of West Virginia’s first governor, Arthur Boreman, and presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln in the upper rotunda. The bill passed the Senate Sunday in a 28-1 vote. State Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, was the lone nay vote.

Another supplemental appropriation, Senate Bill 2029, would have given $5 million to the state Department of Economic Development for a child care expansion pilot program.

“These funds will be used to facilitate the development of different child care program proposals,” said Delegate Clay Riley, R-Harrison. “These programs will be intended to build infrastructure aimed at introducing child care services to child care deserts across the state. The goal is to quickly establish pilot programs that can provide critical data for the development of more policy in the near future.”

According to sources, the bill was being heavily lobbied on behalf of California-based Wonder School, a company that specializes in recruiting child care providers and provides assistance and support. Some delegates were concerned about appropriating funding that could go to a company outside the state when in-state child care providers are closing due to uncertainty about future state subsidy funding and the high costs of providing child care. Delegate Wayne Clark, R-Jefferson, said there are already in-state programs that provide the same services Wonder School would provide.

“While there is a lot of talk about child care, we need to ask ourselves why should we send West Virginia money to a California-based company, especially when we already have these services in place? Instead of pouring millions of dollars into an out-of-state company, let’s focus on tweaking these programs that are already here in West Virginia,” he said.

“I believe this action is being taken very quickly and without a great deal of thought,” said Delegate Marty Gearheart, R-Mercer. “While I applaud the governor’s office for the effort, I don’t think we need to spend $5 million on an effort that is not going to produce the desired result, which is successful child care providers that are able to provide a service that West Virginians desire.”

The bill passed the Senate Sunday in a 27-2 vote, with Sens. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, and Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha, voting no. The bill was tabled indefinitely in the House Tuesday night on a 47-40 vote in a motion offered by Delegate Joey Garcia, D-Marion.

“I don’t know who asked for this other than maybe a lobbyist,” Garcia said. “We have heard from the people on the ground who are running these businesses that there are certain things they need to find stabilization. Part of that is making sure their income matches their expenses. By giving $5 million to some recruitment agency … how is that not money that is just going down the drain?”

Two other bills that died would have increased the authority of the State Treasurer’s Office. House Bill 240 would have provided the treasurer more oversight and approval authority over certain bonds, such as refunding bonds and general obligation bonds. And House Bill 239 would have placed the treasurer in charge of the Municipal Bond Commission, which serves as the fiscal agent for tax levy bonds from county commissions, municipalities and school districts.

The Municipal Bond Commission is an agency within the Department of Revenue. According to Revenue Secretary Larry Pack, much of what the four-member commission office does flows through the treasurer’s office already. With the impending retirement of Executive Director Sarah Rogers, Pack said it made sense to transfer the commission to the treasurer’s office.

“The Department of Revenue secretary is never going to have time to deal with that,” said Pack, an unopposed Republican candidate for state treasurer succeeding Treasurer Riley Moore. “We were trying to figure out where should the bookkeeping sit. The advice from everyone was it should really sit in the treasurer’s office.”

While the House Finance Committee never recommended HB240 for passage, but did recommend HB239, though it was never voted on. During Tuesday morning’s House Finance Committee meeting, lawmakers questioned why the changes were needed.

“The governor has had seven-and-a-half years to restructure this particular commission,” Geartheart said. “However, in what is probably the last special session this Legislature will have, not on the first call, not on the amended call, but on the amended amended call he has decided to take care of what is an emergency.”

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