W.Va. lawmakers have full slate
By DAVE PAYNE Sr., dpayne@newsandsentinel.comCHARLESTON - With a new year ahead and a clean legislative slate, West Virginia lawmakers say they have plenty to address this year.
Del. Mitch Carmichael, D-Jackson, said the top priority should be creating a business climate that attracts businesses into the state.
"Generating jobs has to be priority No. 1. We have to make it less expensive to do business in West Virginia. We're going to be pushing for a more competitive tax structure again. We want to create a judicial climate that's fair and take partisanship out of judicial elections. Businesses look at that before they move in, we really need to get out of the 18th century," Carmichael said.
Also important for job creation is improving education, he said. Carmichael believes county school systems are often hampered by state meddling.
"There's not enough flexibility for local school districts. We try to control everything from Charleston. We can provide a world-class education by giving more local control," he said.
State Sen. Frank Deem, R-Wood, said he wants to see some change in the state public defender system.
"We have a state public defender system, with a few counties, like Wood, that don't belong in it. In Wood County, judges appoint public defenders, who bill for their work and the costs are astronomical, around $200,000 a year, but the public defenders who work in the state system make $50,000 a year only. We need to address that. We are running way behind payment of those people while costs keep going up. We've passed legislation addressing that the last couple of years, but it has never gotten through the House," he said.
Deem said the Senate will be taking a strong look at shoring up its retirement liabilities and finding a way to help homeowners with mortgages.
"We need to take a look to see if we can help those people who are having trouble with their mortgages. A lot of people have lost jobs or money on investments and are having a hard time keeping up with their mortgage payments. We need to help those if we can. Maybe there is something we can do with banks to encourage them. I don't have a plan, but it is something we will be considering in the upcoming session," Deem said.
Del. Dan Poling, D-Wood, said state drug-testing policies for state-funded projects should be extended to local governments as well.
"One I want is to get the drug testing policy for state-funded projects extended for counties and municipalities to make sure that we have a drug-free environment for our school systems and on other projects," he said.
Poling said he also supports incentives for volunteer firefighters or funding for volunteer fire departments.
"I don't know what direction that will take. We've talked about help to fund a reward for staying. We've talked about doing a tax credit or personal-property tax credit on vehicles they use to go to fires. There needs to be some kind of reward for the service they give for the community. When it comes down to it, we have to figure a way to get some money to them," he said.
Poling said West Virginia isn't having the budget problems other states are because the Mountain State has largely been isolated from the recession.
"West Virginia is in pretty good shape with the downturn of the economy, at least compared to the rest of the country. I think the governor has done a good job of selling West Virginia and if the stimulus package Obama wants goes through, it will benefit this state. Much of the unemployment is coming in the construction industry. With an infrastructure stimulus, you put those folks to work. As long as you use local workers to work in the local area, that money goes in the local economy and things work pretty good," he said.
Poling said he would also like to see an increase in the homestead exemption.
"It's not been changed in 12 or 13 years, I would like to get the amount of that increased," he said.
A homestead-exemption increase is also on the mind of Del. John Ellem, R-Wood, who has been re-appointed as minority chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
"We're going to take a serious look at changing how we elect judges and I'm going to have legislation to prohibit or regulate credit-card solicitation on college campuses. We're going to take up some immigration issues, such as government-sponsored benefits only being available to citizens. We're going to look at tax issues, in particular the business-franchise tax and the personal-property-inventory tax. We're also looking at a surface owner bill of rights with oil and gas drillings with additional safeguards and more rights for the surface owner as to the location of drilling on the property, pooling of leases and reclamation - in particular, the effects on groundwater," he said.
