With Takeover, W.Va. GOP Saw Fizzle-Outs and Compromises

In their first shot at leading the Legislature since the 1930s, Republicans considered ideas that Democrats hadn’t given much play.

They suggested allowing charter schools, repealing Common Core educational standards, drug testing welfare recipients and introducing a right-to-work law.

Those proposals and others met resistance and fell flat. Other bills, including a prevailing wage rollback, hit a happy medium so some Democrats could stomach them.

Republican House Speaker Tim Armstead said there were different ideas how to approach the bills that died or were scaled back.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler said the GOP rightfully received blowback for what they proposed.

Republicans passed reforms peeling back parts of state law, including a variety of legal protections.