Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography House Minority Whip Mike Caputo, D-Marion, Wednesday moves to amend a bill making the Municipal Home Rule Program permanent.

CHARLESTON — A committee of the West Virginia House of Delegates Wednesday put the brakes on a bill to make permanent a program that gives cities more freedom to craft ordinances.

House Bill 2728 making the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program permanent was tabled by voice vote by the House Government Organization Committee. Action on a similar bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 4, was postponed one day.

The House committee tabled the bill after a successful amendment from House Minority Whip Mike Caputo, D-Marion, and Delegate Tony Paynter, R-Wyoming, stripped language preventing municipalities from enacting rules or ordinances contrary to the state Workplace Freedom Act and Labor-Management Relations Act.

“I just don’t think that language is necessary,” Caputo said. “We fought the right-to-work issue. My side lost. The other side won. That issue should be behind us. I don’t know why we want that issue to surface again.”

The Workplace Freedom Act, passed in 2017, says a person cannot be required as a condition of employment to be a member of a union or pay union dues and fees. The Labor-Management Relations Act deals with unfair labor practices, collective bargaining and mediation.

Caputo said these provisions are already state law and the language is unneeded and divisive.

“I just believe it’s a poke in the eye,” Caputo said. “I believe it’s to surface, once again, a very divisive issue that should be behind us. If you’re a seasoned legislator, you fight the fight, but when it’s over, it’s over. You shouldn’t be dragging people through the mud again on such a controversial issue.”

The Caputo/Paynter amendment passed 13-12. Government Organization Vice-Chairman Jeffrey Pack, R-Raleigh, moved to table the bill, which was successful.

The Legislature passed SB 747, creating the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program, in 2007. The pilot program gave four cities, Charleston, Huntington, Bridgeport and Wheeling, the freedom to craft ordinances, rules and regulations that they couldn’t previously under state law. The Municipal Home Rule Board was created to manage the program.

In 2013, the program was opened up to 20 more municipalities, with 16 cities being accepted: Bluefield, Buckhannon, Charles Town, Clarksburg, Dunbar, Fairmont, Martinsburg, Milton, Morgantown, Nitro, Parkersburg, Ranson, Shinnston, South Charleston, Vienna and Weirton. Other amendments allow more cities to join. According to the state Department of Revenue, there are 34 cities participating in the Municipal Home Rule Program.

In both the Senate and House bills, the Municipal Home Rule Program would be opened up to all class I, II and III municipalities, ranging from cities with more than 50,000 residents to as little as 2,000 residents.

The Municipal Home Rule Board would also be able to approve applications for up to four class IV municipalities – cities with less than 2,000 residents.

The mayors of Vienna and Parkersburg said Home Rule has benefited their cities.

Vienna has been involved in the program for five years, Mayor Randy Rapp said. It allows cities to make ordinances that apply to it, he said.

“Ordinances applying to our city are really helpful as it helped with dilapidated buildings, people not mowing grass or taking care of property,” Rapp said.

Rapp said Home Rule has allowed Vienna to partner with neighboring cities, including Williamstown or St. Marys, in buying road salt and the 1 percent sales tax has enabled Vienna to contribute to pension funds and do city projects, Rapp said.

“We love Home Rule,” Rapp said.

If Home Rule was discontinued, the ordinances already enacted would remain on the books, but the 1 cent sales tax would be removed, Rapp said. Projects and programs would have to be modified, he said.

“I don’t really want to think about Home Rule being lost,” Rapp said.

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce agreed with Rapp that Home Rule provides an ability for the city to best address issues affecting communities. Parkersburg has addressed the issue of non-conforming motorized transports and enhancement and strengthening of the property maintenance codes to assist in the beautification of neighborhoods, he said.

The biggest budgetary impact of the 1 percent sales tax was a net increase of $3.5 million in revenue for the city and the elimination of the B&O tax on manufacturing, the B&O utility tax on gas and electric utilities and the B&O tax on manufacturing, he said. The elimination on manufacturing was nominal, but the utility tax reduction was passed directly to the residents, Joyce said.

“The elimination of the 1 percent sales tax would create a $6 million reduction in revenue which represents roughly 20 percent of our annual budget,” Joyce said. The 1 percent sales tax is a tax that is consumption based in that consumers only pay the tax when they elect to spend money on goods and services subject to the tax.”