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Ryan Ferns, Ryan Weld Take Over New Roles in West Virginia Senate

Appointments made to Senate committees

WHEELING — West Virginia Sen. Ryan Ferns, R-Ohio, has been appointed to a new Senate committee that will consider major tax reform for West Virginia.

The Senate Select Committee on Tax Reform will work with changes legislators have been working on the past two sessions, committee Chairman Sen. Robert Carnes, R-Upshur said.

“We must examine every method to improve the West Virgnia economy, and that certainly will include comprehensive tax reform,” Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, said of the committee in a news release. “Our focus is to create private-sector jobs and opportunities for our citizens.”

Ferns said the committee’s work is likely to help the state bring in more tax revenue for decades to come.

“The general consensus is that our tax code is antiquated and riddled with loopholes and exemptions,” he said, adding that system relied heavily on the coal severance tax at the expense of finding a broader tax base.

With a projected state budget deficit of $400 million, it’s important to have a plan for “adjusting where our tax revenue comes from,” he said.

The committee will work quickly, Ferns said. Shortly after the session opens Feb. 8, the committee hopes to introduce its tax reform plan.

That brief timeframe is possible because, although the committee is new to the legislative session after being created officially last week,  its membership has been operating as an interim committee the past year and a half.

Ferns said he hopes that plan includes eliminating some sales tax loopholes. For example, “a lot of the professional services are exempt from sales tax,” including all medical, attorneys, accountants and lobbyists, he said. While he hopes some will be taxed, by taxing all of them, the state could bring in $1 billion, he said.

The 2017 legislative session begins Feb. 8 under a new leader, Gov. Jim Justice, who was inaugurated Jan. 16.

Ferns will serve as the incoming Senate majority leader.

Earlier this month, the Senate released its final list of committee assignments, which assigns leadership roles to senators, including chairmanships for some from the Northern Panhandle area.

Sen. Mike Maroney, a Republican from Marshall County, is chair of the Economic Development Committee; and Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, is chairman of the Military Committee.

Weld, who is serving his first term in the Senate after the November general election, was also named vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and vice chairman of the Workforce Committee.

Among his goals are to focus the Workforce Committee on oil and natural-gas industry training programs for Northern Panhandle residents.

“We have a lot of people ready to work but not ready for the area’s newest field,” Weld said.

To succeed in this goal, the committee will coordinate colleges such as West Virginia Northern Community College in Wheeling, to work with industry producers in order to teach skill sets needed in the industry, he said.

Weld was a member of the House of Delegates the past two years, but now he’s looking forward to his new responsibilities in the Senate.

“In the Senate, you have the ability to represent a lot more people, and to be responsible for a much larger area,” Weld, who is the sole assistant prosecutor serving in the Senate, said.

“I’m really excited to have that opportunity.”

Weld is also a military veteran, and 12-year Air Force National Guard member. Because the Northern Panhandle faces some unique challenges in the state, he said “we need to get our voices heard” in the state Capitol.

“We know we have to fight,” he said.

Committee assignments for local senators are as follows:

∫ Judiciary: Weld, vice chairman; and Ferns.

∫ Banking and Insurance: Maroney

∫ Confirmations: Ferns, vice chairman

∫ Economic Development: Maroney, chairman

∫ Finance: Ferns and Maroney

∫ Government Organization: Maroney

∫ Health and Human Resources: Maroney, vice chairman; and Weld

∫ Interstate Cooperation: Maroney

∫ Judiciary: Weld, vice chairman; and Ferns

∫ Military: Weld, chairman

∫ Pensions: Weld

∫ Rules: Ferns

∫ Transportation and Infrastructure: Maroney

∫ Workforce: Weld, vice chairman

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