Richie Heath, a former state Senate chief of staff, lobbied on behalf of two governmental clients in 2022 and 2023. (Photo by W.Va. Legislative Photography)

CHARLESTON — County governments and the largest universities in West Virginia spent tens of thousands of dollars between 2022 and 2023 on lobbying the Legislature.

According to the lobbying services contracts filed with the West Virginia Ethics Commission, nine contracts have been filed since the start of July 1, 2022, with only four contracts filed so far since July 1 of this year.

House Bill 3220, passed by the Legislature in 2022, requires every state agency, city, county and school district that has contracted with individuals or companies for lobbying services to file an annual report with the Ethics Commission on or after July 1 of each year.

The law requires state and local governments to include specific contract details, such as effective dates, extensions, and length of contracts; costs of the contracts; copies of the contracts, and disclosure of any interested parties that would require someone to register as a lobbyist.

The law includes no deadlines to file the reports and has no enforcement mechanisms.

The four contracts filed since the beginning of July include the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority, Marshall University, the Wetzel County Assessor’s Office and the Wood County Commission.

The Wood County Commission signed a one-year contract beginning June 24, 2022, with the Bowles Rice law firm for $20,000. Lobbyist Richie Heath represented the commission at the Legislature in its efforts to get legislation passed allowing counties to adopt a 1% sales tax during the 2023 legislative session. Heath is a former chief of staff to former Senate President Bill Cole and Mitch Carmichael.

Senate Bill 20, which would have created the county sales tax program, was introduced on the first day of the session on Jan. 11 and referred to the Senate Government Organization committee. The committee chairman, state Sen. Jack Woodrum, R-Summers, is a former Summers County Commissioner.

However, the bill was never taken up by the committee.

Marshall University also contracted with Heath and Bowles Rice beginning Jan. 2 for a one-year contract at a cost of $75,000. Heath also listed lobbyists Greg Thomas and Mark Blankenship on the contract. Marshall also contracted with Bowles Rice in 2022 for $75,000.

According to the contract, Bowles Rice lobbied on behalf of Marshall for funding measures, tax incentives for sponsorship opportunities and cooperative learning programs, general legislative monitoring and bill drafting, and other legislative items. Heath also helped organize a reception and luncheon for the Legislative Women’s Caucus.

The Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority entered into a one-year contract from Aug. 1, 2022, to June 30 with TSG Consulting and lobbyist Tom Susman for $7,616 for issues facing healthcare providers and emergency medical services providers.

The Wetzel County Assessor’s Offices contracted on June 30 with Conrad Lucas of Capitol Resources LLC and Golden Horseshoe Strategies LLC after receiving three bids for lobbying services. Lucas is a former chairman of the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee and a two-time candidate for Congress.

The Wetzel County Assessor’s Office is paying Lucas $60,000 for a one-year contract that began July 1, or a monthly retainer of $5,000. Lucas also proposed additional support from lobbyist Hallie Mason of Mason Consulting for next year’s 60-day legislative session for a $25,000 flat fee for legislative monitoring.

Lucas’ contract with the Wetzel County Assessor’s Office includes: monitoring oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids legislation; pushing for a constitutional amendment to increase the Homestead Exemption from $20,000 to $25,000; expanding the eligibility for tax classification two for real estate parcels; a constitutional amendment eliminating tangible personal property taxes on inventory; and any other legislation that may be of interest.

The Kanawha County Commission entered into a 15-month contract beginning in October 2021 with Civic Point LLC and lobbyists Will Swann and Joseph Ward for $37,500 payable monthly at $2,500. The contract includes general government relations, legislative tracking, and lobbying of the Legislature, the Governor’s Office, and the Attorney General’s Office.

The County Commissioners’ Association of West Virginia entered into a one-year contract beginning January 2022 with MAP and Associated, the firm of lobbyist Melanie Pagliaro. The association paid Pagliaro $44,167 between January 2022 and September 2022. The contract was also extended until Sept. 6, 2023, bringing the total fee to $98,000.

West Virginia University contracted with the Jackson Kelly law firm and lobbyist Danielle Waltz beginning Feb. 1, 2022, at a cost of $5,000 per month. While Waltz is still listed on the Ethics Commission website as a lobbyist for WVU, the contract did not include a total amount. The cost of the month-to-month contract would have been $55,000 for the 11-month period.

Fairmont State University contracted with lobbyist Larry Puccio from December 2021 to December 2022 for $48,000 in monthly $4,000 payments. Puccio is a former chief of staff to former Gov. Joe Manchin, an advisor to Gov. Jim Justice lobbyist for several of Justice’s businesses, and a former chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Executive Committee. Puccio’s contract also included lobbyist Angel Moore.