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WHEELING -- West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is set to give his State of the State address today as the Legislature begins its 60-day regular session in Charleston.
Justice will address a joint session of the Legislature beginning at 7 p.m. in the House of Delegates chamber.
He tweeted out Tuesday that he was "excited" to begin the session.
Legislative leaders are saying lawmakers this year may actually be able to focus on issues other than the state budget, as West Virginia's finances appear to be in better shape than during the past couple of years. Expected deficits should be manageable, they said.
Eliminating the state's inventory tax is likely to be examined, but the question is how this can be done without impacting the revenue on which local governments and school districts rely, according to House Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha.
"The inventory tax is a job killer, and makes us non-competitive with other states that don't have it," he said during last week's West Virginia Press Association Legislative Lookahead. "The challenge is how do we get around it, when schools and counties depend upon it?"
Armstead suggested the Legislature could start eliminating the tax in an incremental fashion this year.
"Everyone is focused this time," he said. "We have a real potential for getting everyone on board. No one wants to have a black mark on their books that keeps businesses out of the state."
Armstead acknowledged West Virginia also is one of the nation's most-regulated states. "We want to be safe, but we don't believe we must micromanage," he said.
Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, said the Legislature should work this session toward establishing an intermediate court of appeals.
Presently, all appeals of circuit court cases must be filed with the Supreme Court of Appeals.
"This is an obstacle to job creation," Carmichael said. "I'm hopeful this year we can work hard to attain an intermediate court."
Neither legislative leader was aware of any specifics Justice might bring to his speech today.
As West Virginia begins to change laws in an effort to attract development, businesses that requested those changes need to come forward to make good on promised job creation, both Carmichael and Armstead said. Armstead challenged those who advocated for change "to come forward and invest" in the state.
He said it is now time for state officials to begin considering the best ways to sell West Virginia, and added the Legislature should set aside funding for the effort.
"Over the years, there have been a lot of bad things said about West Virginia," Carmichael said. "Step one is to fix the product, and step two is to sell the product. We have fixed the product, and now we have a product to sell."