Del. Vernon Criss, R-Wood, speaks in favor of elevating the West Virginia Development Office and the Division of Tourism to cabinet-level positions. (Photo Provided)

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia House of Delegates approved a bill Wednesday to prioritize economic development and tourism in the state after a lengthy debate over whether the bill was needed or not.

House Bill 2019, elevating the West Virginia Development Office and the Division of Tourism to cabinet-level positions, passed the House 86-13. The bill heads to the state Senate.

HB 2019 would rename the WVDO to the Department of Economic Development and the Division of Tourism to the Department of Tourism. The leaders of both new departments would be subject to confirmation by the state Senate, but other than new titles nothing else would change.

Both agencies are currently under the Department of Commerce and Secretary Ed Gaunch. Gov. Jim Justice announced the change during his Feb. 10 State of the State address before lawmakers. If passed by the Senate, the Department of Commerce would remain in charge of the Division of Forestry; the Division of Labor; the Division of Natural Resources; the Geological and Economic Survey; the Office of Miners’ Health, Safety and Training, the Division of Rehabilitation Services, and WorkForce West Virginia.

Chelsea Ruby, the commissioner of tourism since 2017, would retain her role leading the Department of Tourism as secretary, while the new Department of Economic Development would be led by new WVDO Director Mitch Carmichael, the former Republican senate president and lieutenant governor. He replaced Mike Graney, who became the deputy secretary of Commerce.

Some Democratic lawmakers expressed support for elevating the Division of Tourism but questioned the need to elevating the WVDO, especially with Carmichael at the helm. Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, accused Carmichael of pressuring Republican senators against supporting a signature effort for lawmakers to call themselves into special session last summer to appropriate federal C.A.R.E.S. Act dollars.

“I have to rise in opposition to this bill because basically something I learned in my upbringing, and that was not to reward what I would consider to be bad behavior,” Pushkin said. “When a bipartisan supermajority of this body signed a petition to bring ourselves back in, basically, there’s one person that stood in the way of that. And we’re awarding that bad behavior with a cabinet-level position and retirement plan.”

“I don’t agree with everything that person’s done,” said House Government Organization Committee Chairman Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, in response to Pushkin’s remarks. “I’ve had a lot of bills pass out of this House in the last two years that wound up in the Senate President’s trashcan … But I’m going to tell you today, I am praying that he is an unmitigated success. I am praying for him every day. If I’ve got to buy his business cards, if I got to buy his damn lunch, I will do it to make him successful.”

Del. John Doyle, D-Jefferson, said he would support the bill, but he also wished that Republican lawmakers had split the bill into two.

“The reason to make the change in Tourism is that while we’ve had considerable success in our recent past in West Virginia with tourism, in my view we would have had more if Tourism had been a separate department of government,” Doyle said. “It is my hope that when it gets over to the Senate that people will began thinking more about this. And I hope that my idea that the Development Office should stay in Commerce will gain some strength and ended up being reflected in the bill that passes the Senate.”

Del. Vernon Criss, R-Wood, reminded members that former governor Gaston Caperton created the modern cabinet secretary system in 1989. Changes in cabinet positions and departments is common, he said, including the dissolving of the Department of Education and the Arts in 2018.

“We eliminated the secretary of arts and education because it wasn’t working correctly and fitting into the model of how we work government,” Criss said. “This is just another one of those tweaks that we need to do to elevate the importance of these two offices, not the people.”

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com