CHARLESTON - State lawmakers are getting prepared to take on a number of issues as the West Virginia Legislature convenes this week for its regular session.
Legislators went down to Charleston Sunday for interim committee meetings. The regular session is scheduled to begin Wednesday. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin will deliver the State of the State Address before both houses of the state legislature and the people of West Virginia.
Many lawmakers were not sure what the governor might cover in his speech.
Del. Bill Anderson, R-Wood, said the governor usually keeps things to himself until he gives his speech.
"The governor likes to surprise people," Anderson said. "I have no idea what he will talk about."
Anderson said the state is poised to eliminate the state food tax and reductions continue on the state's business franchise tax which is poised to be eliminated in a few years.
"Right now we have revenue coming in to pay the bills," he said.
State officials are also anxious to see if the state will be picked for a new plant to process natural gas obtained from the Marcellus Shale deposit.
"Right now, we are a lot better off than a lot of states," Anderson said.
The congressional redistricting issue may take lawmakers' early attention. Last week, the Legislature decided to appeal the decision of a panel of three federal judges to throw out the plan the state had approved to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lawmakers said the original Jan. 17 deadline for a new plan is coming up and the filing period is in place until late in the month for potential candidates in the races. Lawmakers are waiting to see if the federal courts will issue a stay on the opinion.
State Sen. Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, said both parties in the lawsuit were told to get answers to the court by 3 p.m. today.
"I believe the court is planning to act on this right away," she said. "We should know something this week."
Other than congressional redistricting, budgetary matters and other concerns will have lawmakers' attention.
Boley believes the Legislature will tackle the OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) issue. OPEB, which funds the health benefits of retired public employees, has been an issue the state has been told had to addressed as benefits promised to thousands of retired workers, most from county school systems, will cost more than will be available to cover them.
State budgetary officials have said a plan has been formulated to deal with this issue. Boley said it will be one of the first things the Legislature will deal with this session.
"I believe we will take care of it within the next couple of weeks," she said.
Boley expects a number of education-related bills to go through the Legislature this session, but does not know yet what those will entail yet.
She expects the money might be available to offer some state employees a raise this year if lawmakers "can find the money."
Del. Tom Azinger, R-Wood, wants to join in the reintroduction of a bill that was defeated last session that would require a prescription for 15 common cold and allergy medications containing pseudoephedrine and other chemical precursors of the narcotic methamphetamine. Supporters of the bill, primarily law enforcement, said cutting access to these medications would reduce the number of illegal meth drug labs.
Opponents of the bill, including State Sen. David Nohe, R-Wood, said the bill forced residents to go to a doctor at an additional expense to get a prescription and would have limited effect in this area since it is on the border with another state where people can go and obtain the medications.
Azinger said the new bill is going to be named after Del. Larry Border of the 9th District, who died last June.
In addition, Azinger would like to see the Legislature take up tort reform and review a number of regulations relating to business.
"Businesses are always telling me they are being over-regulated," he said.
He wants to look at a number of such regulations to see if they can be streamlined.
"We want to make it easier to do business in West Virginia," Azinger said.
