×

Legislators prep for new session

CHARLESTON — The priorities for many local lawmakers to address in the upcoming legislative session include a large budget shortfall and dealing with West Virginia’s growing drug abuse problem.

The West Virginia Legislature will gather in Charleston next week for interim committee meetings on Monday and Tuesday and will officially convene on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at which time it is expected to recess until Feb. 8.

The state Constitution says the legislature has to convene on the second Wednesday of January. However, in sessions where a newly elected governor takes office the legislature recesses for a month to allow the new governor time to put together his state budget proposal and other proposals on which it will take action.

Del. Bill Anderson, R-8th, of Wood County, believes the budget shortfall will be one of the biggest priorities the legislature will deal with.

“I hope we will be able to address the thousand-pound elephant in the room and that is the budget situation,” he said.

The state is around $91 million below revenue estimates, Anderson said. Cuts have already been made and more may be coming.

One bright spot is the natural gas business has picked up a little, Anderson said. The state receives a five percent severance on natural gas sales.

“With that increase, hopefully that can generate money to offer us some help,” Anderson said.

The budget projections for the next couple of years are looking “ugly,” he said.

Anderson does not want to see any more cuts made to higher education, but he also wants administrators who run the colleges around the state to manage them as efficiently as possible. As far as possible tuition increases, he is concerned with the amount of debt many students rack up by the time they leave school.

“That is troublesome tome and burdensome to them,” Anderson said.

He is looking forward to seeing what the new governor will put forth in his budget proposal and what they will be able to do to meet the needs of the state.

“We will put forth a budget to meet the needs of the state,” Anderson said. “It is a difficult process.”

Del. Ray Hollen, R-9th, of Wirt County, was recently elected to the House of Delegates and is looking forward to getting started and learning the legislative process. He believes the priorities will be the state’s budget and economy as well as the drug abuse epidemic the state faces.

He also wants to see the legislature establish plans and facilities to be able to offer drug addiction treatment.

“Those are the main things we all need to look at,” Hollen said. “We need to get West Virginia back on track and improve the lives of West Virginians.”

Del John Kelly, R-10th, of Wood County, said the state’s budget will be a big priority.

“We need to look at revenues and look at cutting some things,” he said.

The state currently has 240 different boards and commissions that have paid positions, but a number of them don’t meet. Other states have an average of around 92 such bodies.

“We need to look at eliminating some and combining services for others,” Kelly said.

Kelly wants to work to create an environment that is conducive to bringing businesses into the state to create needed jobs. He wants to do more tort and legal reforms to improve the state’s business climate. He also wants to work on the expansion of transmission lines for natural gas throughout the state.

Kelly wants to see work done on developing the state’s oil and gas reserves. He is also hoping they will be able to act on possible directives from the federal government, under the new Republican majority, to ease restrictions on coal and coal powered power plants.

“It has been devastating for West Virginia as well as anyone who lives and works here,” Kelly said. “I really want the ‘War on Coal’ to go away.”

The state’s growing drug abuse problem is something the legislature will have to deal with. Kelly wants to see work done in establishing treatment facilities statewide. He has been working on a bill, which is about 95 percent ready, which would create 600-700 long-term treatment beds statewide with 100 being located in Wood County.

Kelly said he is not interested in devoting state money to any short term treatment programs which he feels would only have a limited effect and not provide the support to stop people from abusing again. He left enough of the bill open to allow others, with more knowledge about drug treatment programs, to be able to put in needed provisions.

“This is a good bill that can definitely get us started,” Kelly said.

State Senator Mike Azinger, R-Wood, who spent the last two years in the House of Delegates, said the top priority will be the budget where he thinks more cuts will probably have to be made to “cut the fat.”

He wants to continue the direction of the Republican-controlled legislature has been going over the last couple of years so business will come and invest in the state and its people.

“We want to keep doing what we have been doing and making West Virginia a job creating state.”

He wants to see the passage of a Religious Freedom Bill in West Virginia. Azinger also wants to cut the taxes on military benefits to entice veterans to move to West Virginia once they get out of the service. He said what the state gets is “nominal” from those taxes, but there is potential in bringing those people here in building up the state’s work force.

Azinger said he is excited about the upcoming session as the Republicans have a stronger majority in the legislature.

“We will be passing bills to help West Virginia and make this a better place to be,” he said.

The legislature will have a lot to work on in the upcoming session, the lawmakers said.

“I think we will have a full basket,” Kelly said.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today