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Morrisey, West Virginia legislative leaders pledge better communication for upcoming session

Gov. Patrick Morrisey, left, House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, center, and state Senate President Randy Smith, right, talk to the press Wednesday afternoon after meeting about legislative priorities. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — With the 2025 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature less than two weeks away, Gov. Patrick Morrisey and leaders of the House of Delegates and state Senate said Wednesday they were committed to better communication on potential bills.

Morrisey, House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, and state Senate President Randy Smith held a brief press conference Wednesday afternoon at the State Capitol Building following a closed-door meeting where the leaders of the executive and legislative branches discussed the upcoming 60-day session beginning Wednesday, Feb. 12.

“As your new governor, we’re busy working away with some of the terrific leaders of the House and the Senate to try to put together a legislative agenda that’s really going to make West Virginia proud,” Morrisey said. “We’ve talked a lot over the last year about trying to take steps that are going to make West Virginia more competitive. And I think that you’re going to be seeing in the upcoming weeks as different proposals will get unveiled, that there’s an effort to move meaningfully toward economic gains in a lot of different areas.”

“The governor’s points are absolutely correct. We are all committed to doing everything in our power to continuing on the path to putting as many West Virginians as possible to good paying 21st century jobs to give them the capacity to make the best decisions for them and their families,” said Hanshaw, R-Clay.

“We know that a lot of the important work that’s necessary to make that happen has been done over the course of the past 10 years, and we know that what lies ahead of us now are grand challenges,” Hanshaw continued. “Big things that require the executive branch, the legislative branch, the administrative agencies, county, local and city governments to work together to solve problems in a way that perhaps we haven’t thought about before.”

Morrisey met with both Hanshaw and Smith, then the president-elect of the Senate, in December during the transition period between Morrisey winning the November election and his inauguration on Jan. 13. Morrisey said he plans to meet several more times with legislative leaders between now and the legislative session, when Morrisey will present his general revenue budget proposal for fiscal year 2026, as well as other bills part of his upcoming legislative agenda.

“It’s refreshing that we have a governor now who is bringing us together so we can go over the issues that’s important to the Senate and to the House and to the people of West Virginia…and come up with a plan to move this forward and move the state forward,” said Smith, R-Tucker. “These meetings are great because now I can go back to the Senate caucus and relay to them what the governor’s priorities are and how they line up with our priorities, which we’re on the same page.”

The 60-day session ends Saturday, April 12. During that time, more than 2,000 bills could potentially be introduced, with lawmakers only passing around 10% of bill introduced. Hanshaw said the House is focusing this year on the quality of legislation it plans to send to the Senate and later the governor, not the quantity.

“As we think about what awaits us in the upcoming 60-day session, sometimes that may be bills that we send to the governor’s desk for signature,” Hanshaw said. “Sometimes it may be changes to administrative policy that we’ll work with the governor and his team to implement. Sometimes it may be reallocation of funding priorities. We’re going to be about solving problems this year though, rather than just focusing on numbers of bills passed.”

Morrisey said the focus this legislative session will be introducing and signing bills that will make the state attractive to new people who might want to move to the state to work, live, and raise a family. Morrisey is working with his new cabinet to develop his legislative agenda.

“I want to emphasize that if we get the growth part of the equation right and we can become that shining state in the mountains economically by having a better regulatory structure, by having a more aggressive pro-job agenda, by having even more competitive tax rates, by doing the things that are everyone’s going to know around the country…I think that that’s going to lead to incredible great outcomes for the citizens of our state,” he said.

Morrisey also has the challenge of presenting a balanced general revenue budget for fiscal year 2026 that fills a projected $400 million deficit due to prior use of one-time monies and future Medicaid, PEIA, and educational expenses. Smith pointed out that his first year in office in 2017 involved passing a budget to address a $500 million projected deficit.

“This isn’t a new challenge to us, because several years ago we had a budget deficit and we came together and corrected that problem,” Smith said. “Our finance chair and all them, they’re working on this, getting ahead of the process, so to speak, But as we go forward the closer we get to session, we’ll have more conversations and we’ll be able to give more information.”

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

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