I smell trouble next week for Gov. Jim Justice’s 10% personal income tax cut, assuming a special session still happens.

As we’ve pointed out, Justice sprung this plan on the public and lawmakers a few weeks ago, with no member of Republican leadership in the House of Delegates and the state Senate getting a heads-up.

House Finance Committee Chairman Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, found out from me calling him after the announcement while he was at Home Depot. Speaking Thursday on 580 Live with Dave Allen, a Charleston-area radio show, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, also said he had no clue Justice was announcing the plan.

“This is out of character,” Tarr told Allen, calling Justice’s plan too small. Tarr said he wished Justice had bothered to reach out to lawmakers first before pitching his plan.

The fact is that Senate Republicans are focused on selling voters on supporting Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that will change language in the state Constitution that would allow the Legislature to reduce or eliminate certain personal property tax rates in the future. To encourage voters to support the amendment, it is possible that Senate Republicans may push for a tax rebate for vehicles personal property taxes during the special session.

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, believes that with the flat budgets the Governor and the Legislature have supported since fiscal year 2019 that kept government growth to around 1%, we’re seeing the fruit of the labor in the recent tax revenue surpluses. Blair believes that the freed up tax revenue is enough to fully fund county property tax assessments and give counties an extra $1 million or more, more than covering the costs of removing certain property taxes.

Justice has been clear in the last couple of briefings he does not support eliminating these personal property taxes. He believes a personal income tax cut has more “sex appeal” and would have a more immediate impact on West Virginia’s wallets.

I fear we’re heading for a repeat of the personal income tax phase-out fight of 2021, when Justice and the Senate Republicans were on one side of the debate and House Republicans on the other. Now it is the Governor and House Republicans united with the Senate Republicans playing the role of spoiler.

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With the selection of Paul Hardesty as new incoming president of the West Virginia Board of Education, I thought maybe this was done to send a message to the Legislature. Hardesty is a former Democratic state senator from Logan County who often opposed Republican efforts at education reform. With the state board and the Department of Education siding against the Legislature and state officials in the Hope Scholarship lawsuit, I thought maybe Hardesty’s selection was the board doubling down.

But based on what I heard him say on WV MetroNews Talkline, it sounds like Hardesty may be trying to take a less hostile tact. Having served in the Legislature, Hardesty understands that lawmakers pass laws and the Department of Education is obliged to follow those laws.

What that means for the state board’s role in the Hope Scholarship lawsuit is unclear. But it does seem that be doesn’t want to sway voters one way or another on Amendment 1, another constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would give the Legislature rule-making authority to approve department rules.

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Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., filed a letter with the House Clerk’s Office last Wednesday naming Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., as his proxy that day for votes. Mooney had voted twice earlier that day, but a spokesperson told me Mooney started to experience a sore throat and other COVID symptoms and chose to rest.

I had asked if Mooney had taken a COVID-19 test and if so, what were the results. I never heard back regarding this. However, since Mooney was at the ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda where Woody Williams lied in state along with the rest of West Virginia’s Congressional delegation, I guess he doesn’t have COVID and was feeling better.

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As I write this, I celebrate 40 years on this planet today. I don’t consider too many adult birthdays important anymore, but I do feel like 40 is a milestone.

I can’t help but look back at my life, particularly my young adult years spent in Parkersburg. I lived with two roommates above a garage on Williams Street. I didn’t own a car most of that time, either walking or relying on the Easy Rider bus system.

I worked various retail and restaurant jobs until I landed two part-time jobs doing radio news for Results Radio and covering Marietta city government for a new-defunct free weekly paper. I sometimes gave plasma for a few extra dollars.

I survived off a diet of fast food and buffets due to quantity of food and affordability (my metabolism at the time kept me a slim 180 pounds until after 2008 when bad lifestyle choice began to catch up with me). When I wasn’t working, I was blogging, hanging out at The Grind coffeeshop, having drunken singalongs with friends, and we’d end the night (or early morning) with a sausage biscuit and a newspaper at the Mountaineer Family Restaurant.

Flash forward to now. I’m married to a wonderful woman. We own our first home in Charleston with two cars, a cat, and now a shelter dog we adopted nearly three weeks ago. I have a great career writing for you all about state government each week, plus a prior career in service to the West Virginia Legislature and the Secretary of State’s Office. I have the respect of some and the friendship of many.

I don’t need physical gifts as I turn 40. A life well lived is the best gift of all. I hope to get the same gift when I turn 80.