photo by: W.Va. Legislative Photography

Gov. Patrick Morrisey enters the House of Delegates chamber Wednesday night to give his State of the State address.

CHARLESTON — Coming off of Wednesday’s night’s State of the State address, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he is optimistic that the West Virginia Legislature will give his agenda consideration.

Lawmakers from both parties provided feedback Thursday, ranging from support to skepticism.

Morrisey presented his second State of the State address Wednesday to members of the House of Delegates and state Senate on the first day of the 2026 legislative session. Morrisey also presented House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, and Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston, with his general revenue budget bill for fiscal year 2027.

Speaking by phone Thursday afternoon, Morrisey said he was looking forward to working with lawmakers on his proposals for 2026 and other matters of agreement.

“My sense is that there are a lot of people that are eager to get big things done this year,” Morrisey said. “Even though it’s an election year, I have optimism that we can collaborate and work together with the House and Senate on economic development issues, on cutting taxes, on workforce improvements and infrastructure. I’m optimistic that the people are eager to get things done and they’ll find that I’m willing to collaborate on anything that helps West Virginia.”

Morrisey asked lawmakers to support a 10% cut in personal income tax rates retroactive to the beginning of the year. His budget only accounts for a 5% personal income tax cut, which could return as much as $125 million to taxpayers when fully implemented.

“We need to continually focus on how we get even more competitive with other states, and that is part of the reason why I’m calling for a 10% income tax cut,” Morrisey said. “We’ve built it in significant portions, not all of it, of that tax cut into the budget. We can afford it. And we need to do it to not only address the affordability challenges in front of us, but to compete better with other states, such as Kentucky and Ohio and others that are cutting income tax rates.”

Morrisey hopes to work with lawmakers to find ways in the budget to pay for an additional 5% personal income tax cut.

“By putting 5% in up front, and then trying to identify the offsets for the other 5%, there’s a clear pathway in terms of how we can make this happen,” Morrisey said. “I’m excited about that. I’m starting the process of engaging with legislators and legislative leadership to make this occur.”

Morrisey’s budget includes an average 3% pay raise for state employees, teachers, school service personnel, and State Police and correctional officers beginning in fiscal year 2027. But public employees will also see a 3% increase in premium rates for health care benefits through the Public Employees Insurance Agency in the next fiscal year. Morrisey said he believes the pay raise will help with the PEIA premium increase and other affordability issues combined with the proposed tax cut.

“If you have a 3% pay increase, that’s going to mean significant relief to those who saw the PEIA premiums rise over time, because the cost of health care is just a fraction of what people get in a salary,” Morrisey said. “You’re getting a lot more savings by having the 3% increase in pay, and then when you limit the PEIA increase to 3%, you’re saving a significant amount of money.”

A number of lawmakers in the House and Senate provided feedback regarding some of Morrisey’s State of the State proposals. Del. Jimmy Willis, R-Brooke, praised Morrisey’s focus on increasing funding for higher education for additional workforce training and readiness.

“Seeing him want to put more money into higher education institutions, whether it’s the four-year or the two-year institutions, it’s always good news,” said Willis, vice chairman of the House Higher Education Subcommittee. “We need more plumbers and we need more welders. So, getting resources out there so these kids can be educated to go straight to the workforce – if it’s in the high schools – or be in the workforce by 21 ready to work the good paying jobs that we need, will be tremendous.”

State Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, R-Ohio, said she supports Morrisey’s agenda and is excited to see it implemented, especially the personal income tax cut, public employee pay raises, and additional investment in tourism and state parks.

“Anytime that we have tax cuts, I think that that encourages people to want to move to West Virginia. I 100% support the income tax reduction,” Chapman said. “I also support a pay raise for all state workers. I’m excited that that is part of the budget, and I would like to see the number be a little bit bigger on that.

“I also like the idea of encouraging tourism,” Chapman continued. “I think that the more people who come to West Virginia and realize what a great state this is, the more people who are willing to move here. And when we can expand the tax base and get people – especially young families – to move to West Virginia, the state will be in a much better position.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jason Barrett, R-Berkeley, said he was supportive of a personal income tax cut in general but his committee would need to review the governor’s proposal.

“We knew going in that the Governor was going to propose a tax cut,” Barrett said. “I’m certainly interested to unpack the budget a little bit to understand how we’re going to pay for it. I think anytime that we can return tax dollars to the people of West Virginia is a good idea, provided we can afford it. We’ll look through the budget over the next several days to get a much better understanding of that.”

Del. David McCormick, R-Monongalia, said he also supports the public employee pay raise and the idea of a personal income tax cut. But he needs more information on how the state plans to pay for it.

“I think that the 3%, frankly, could be more. I’d like to see it be more, but they certainly deserve a raise,” McCormick said. “The 10% reduction in personal income tax sounds great and would be great. However, we need to see some numbers and how that’s going to affect the budget … Not to say we couldn’t go further, but we’ve got to find the money to do it and see if it’s fiscally responsible to do.”

Members of the Democratic caucus in both the House and Senate said they found Morrisey’s address lacking in detail, major economic development announcements, and public policy initiatives.

“It was a lot of nothing,” said Senate Assistant Minority Leader Joey Garcia, D-Marion. “I didn’t find a lot of substantive policy. We didn’t land any major deals or economic development announcements. All that was really left was a tax cut that we can’t afford right now. I’m still waiting to see if we’re going to have to do some things in the Senate and the House to hopefully create some economic development options, because I didn’t see any plan from the Governor.”

“Most of (the State of the State address) was par for the course, but what was a bit astonishing is I didn’t hear one real policy position from the Governor,” said House Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio. “He made a lot of asks to the Legislature, all budgetary asks. He had funding mechanisms that he wants to get in place. But he had no real policy position.

“Typically, on day one for the State of the State, it’s the opportunity for the governor to lay out a vision for the future of the state, and I felt it lacked that,” Fluharty continued. “I want to start hearing solutions. We’ve had one-party rule for a decade now, and in that decade, 5% of our population is gone. I wanted to hear solutions for the future for West Virginians, and I didn’t hear any of that last night.”