West Virginia Legislature Gavels in for 2020 Session
CHARLESTON — The wooden gavels hammered down in the West Virginia House of Delegates and Senate Wednesday, signaling the start of the first legislative session in the new decade.
Both chambers of the Legislature gaveled in at noon Wednesday, starting the 60-day session that ends in March. More than 481 bills were introduced on the first day, with some committees meeting in the afternoon prior to the annual State of the State address by Gov. Jim Justice Wednesday evening.
Several issues will be raised during the session, including the removal of the business and inventory tax on manufacturing machinery and equipment.
The removal requires two-thirds of both chambers to pass a resolution to send it to voters to ratify an amendment to the state Constitution. One proposal would phase out the $100 million dollar tax by 2024.
“We think it’s an important tool for economic growth that this Legislature and future legislatures should have authority for,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Craig Blair, R-Berkeley. “I’m sure there will be work on that during the course of the session.”
Phasing out the tax would mean reducing tax revenue to county governments and boards of education. The resolution would require the governor and the Legislature to develop a plan to address the reduction, but some lawmakers are still skeptical.
“It sounds great to take the inventory tax off if it’s going to bring people in, but we’re getting the cart before the horse,” Sen. Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, said. “I know that county boards of education and the commissions are really looking at this bill hard. If it does pass, they haven’t told us yet what they will replace the inventory tax with.”
“Marshall County receives $23 million dollars in funding for our county and schools,” said Delegate Lisa Zukoff, D-Marshall. “Without a designated source of funding to replace those monies, even if they’re phased out, I have a really hard time with that, because it will be such a detriment in my community.”
Foster care will be a major area of focus this year, with several bills planned to give the new foster care ombudsman at the Department of Health and Human Resources more authority, increase resources for Child Protective Services, and find ways to help keep children with their families. More than 7,000 children are in foster care placement, and a class action lawsuit has accused DHHR of not providing better protections to children.
“While (DHHR) is trying to do better, it’s just unconscionable to me that we can treat children with such a blatant disregard that we continue to have problems in this area,” Zukoff said. “These are our children, they’re our future. If we don’t take care of this problem, it will continued to escalate. We certainly need to strengthen legislation to make DHHR more accountable and to help the foster families and the kinship families who take care of these children every day.”
“It’s an absolute utter disservice. It’s a disgrace what we’re doing with our foster care system,” said Delegate Cody Thompson, D-Randolph. “We should be making it easier to foster children, to get these kids out of hotel rooms and back into the state with actual families who want to love, support and care for them.”
Criminal justice reform is another hot topic this year. Legislation to reduce overcrowding in the regional jails and prison will be introduced, as well as changes to the bond system to clear regional jails of people awaiting trials. It’s estimated that bond reform would save the state more than $35 million and help reduce regional jail bills for counties.
“We have to find a way to reduce overcrowding,” said Delegate David Kelly, R-Tyler. “We have to find a way to get people who have done their time to get back out into the public and get that fixed. We have people languishing in these regional jails who can’t pay a $500 bond. If they were to plead guilty they would have done more time than if they were found guilty of the crime.
Delegate Sammie Brown, D-Jefferson, is working on bills to expunge convictions of non-violent marijuana convictions and decriminalization, as well as legislation for affordable housing and an “any-willing-provider” statute that would prohibit health insurance providers from limiting health care providers from joining their network.
“The common theme here, truly, is how we can get out of our own way and truly create quality of life for the people of West Virginia,” Brown said. “I want this to be a place where people feel they can come home to and come back to and that is protecting their interests.”
That philosophy also includes adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s housing and employment non-discrimination acts. The Fairness Act is one bill that will be introduced this session.
“In my opinion, that is the new age civil rights movement, that is the new civil rights bill,” Brown said. “If we’re looking to really create inclusion and looking to create a space where all folks are welcome to our state…you have to make sure all folks are brought to the table. It’s four words.”
“All we’re going to add is four words,” Thompson said. “We need to protect everyone in West Virginia if they’re trying to get a job. We want everyone to be working.”
Underlining all of these issues will be the budget bill for fiscal year 2021. House Finance Committee Vice Chairman Vernon Criss, R-Wood, said he expects the budget to be similar to what was presented last year.”
“The budget process is important,” Criss said. “It appears, from what we understand, that the revenue estimates will be fairly flat, so the budget should be an easy thing.”