2016 Special Session Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Senate Passes Boone County Schools Funding Bill

While the House took up the budget Monday, the Senate passed a bill that puts a little more than $2 million from state reserves into the Boone County Board of Education.

Senate Bill 1010 is a supplemental appropriation that would take money from general revenue and state reserves to help the Boone County school system get back on its feet after a decline in tax revenue this fiscal year.

The decline was largely due to bankruptcies of three major coal companies in the county. In fact, the decline topped at an unexpected $9 million.

To combat the loss in revenue, Boone County tried to ease the blow by cutting more than $2 million in expenses, closing three elementary schools, laying off 80 teachers and service personnel, and finding more than $6 million in savings.

But it wasn’t enough, so the county asked help from lawmakers – if nothing came from the Legislature, teachers in Boone would not receive a paycheck on June 24.

Senate Bill 1010 was the answer, but many lawmakers who opposed it saw it as a “bailout.”

During the Senate’s afternoon floor session Monday, Senator Art Kirkendoll, a Democrat from Logan County, spoke on the bill as senators were about to vote.

“I know the concept of the bill, when it first become apparent to the legislative bodies; I heard the word used called bailout, and even if it was a bailout, I would feel a little remorse about it. But I know when I become a Senator here in November 2011, the first three or four pieces of legislation I supported was legislation for the cracker plant, TIFF projects for Morgantown; the first four or five major pieces of legislation was to support the northern part of the state. We’re all West Virginians. I never ever considered backing down on support of anything in the northern part, the Eastern Panhandle, or anywhere else. It’s not a bailout. To me it’s a support system for saying thank you to a county; we’re gonna give you an opportunity to fix this.”

Senate Bill 1010 ultimately passed 32 to 0. Boone County would have to pay the money back over time, but for now, teachers in the county are more likely to see their paychecks.

The bill now goes to the House for consideration.

Tomblin Bill Would Use Infrastructure Funds to Help Balance Budget

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has added an additional bill to his special session call for state lawmakers to consider- a bill reducing funding for the state infrastructure fund.

The West Virginia Infrastructure Fund is used to pay for infrastructure development like water and sewer line projects.

Tomblin’s bill would allow lawmakers to reduce the fund by $20 million for the 2017 fiscal year, using that money to balance the general revenue budget.

Lawmakers will return to Charleston Saturday to continue working on the budget after Tomblin vetoed a budget bill Wednesday. That plan took $186 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to help close a $272 million budget gap.

With Controversial Exemption Withdrawn, Tobacco Tax Hike Set for Thursday Senate Vote

A bill to increase the state’s cigarette tax will be put to a final vote in the state Senate Thursday after serious debate over proposed amendments Wednesday.

As introduced on behalf of Gov. Tomblin, the bill would increase the tax on a pack of cigarettes by 45 cents, bump the tax on smokeless tobacco products and create a new tax on e-cigarette liquids. The bill is estimated to bring in more than $70 million annually.

As amended in the Senate’s Finance Committee Tuesday, it also dedicates $43.5 million of the new revenues to the Public Employee Insurance Agency, or PEIA, for the 2017 budget year to avoid rate increases for those covered under the plan.

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Senate Health Chair Ryan Ferns proposed an amendment to exclude smokeless tobacco from the proposed additional tax increase, losing more than $4 million in the new revenues.

“It’s our understanding this will be the final version of the bill approved by the House,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael said on the floor. “We’re trying to find a compromise in a hurry and, unfortunately, this is what we need to do.”

Carmichael said he did not support the amendment, he would rather have a $1 increase as proposed by proposed by Democratic Sen. Roman Prezioso in a Senate Finance Committee meeting Tuesday, but the 45 cent increase with the exemptions for smokeless products is what can be approved in the House of Delegates, according to the Majority Leader.

“If you vote green you are voting for big tobacco. If you vote red you are voting for the health and wellness of West Virginians,” Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler said before the vote on the Health Chair’s Amendment. “Everyone is watching, Mr. President.”

Democratic Senator and former Senate Health Chair Ron Stollings accused the leadership of being controlled by the tobacco lobby, pointing to lobbyists sitting in the chamber gallery.

“I’m embarrassed,” Stollings said. “I’m embarrassed the tail is wagging the dog.”

After nearly an hour off debate, Ferns moved to withdraw the amendment. Carmichael said the decision to do so now leaves the burden on the House to amend the bill, but many Democrats refused to suspend the Constitutional rules and put the bill to a final vote Wednesday as had been expected.

Tomblin Budget Plan Criticized by Lawmakers Looking for More Cuts

During a joint meeting, members of the House and Senate Finance Committees were presented with Governor Tomblin’s plan to balance the 2017 budget as well as close a $110 million gap in the current fiscal year.

While that plan makes some additional cuts, it also relies on increased tax revenues.

Tomblin has presented lawmakers with a bill that includes new income from an increased cigarette tax, a new tax on cell phones and landlines, and a one percent bump to the state’s sales tax. The three new revenues combined are expected to bring in $330 million annually.

“The old adage that you don’t have a revenue problem, you have a spending problem, well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but that’s not the case here,” Department of Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss told lawmakers Monday. “We have a revenue problem.”

Department of Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss presented the governor’s budget proposal to lawmakers Monday.

That problem can largely be explained by declining natural gas and coal severance tax revenues. State revenue officials told lawmakers those declines are now also starting to affect income tax and sales tax collections.

But Tomblin’s plan to balance the budget is seen as insufficient by some members of the Legislature, like Republican Sen. Chris Walters from Kanawha County.

“If you notice on the call, everything is just a revenue enhancement, a tax increase,” Walters told Kiss. “Why did the governor’s office choose not to put any type of restructuring of government in his call?”

Kiss’s response: After weeks of negotiations between House and Senate leaders and the governor’s office, there was no final agreement for what should be placed on the governor’s special session call.

Kiss said because the deadline to approve a budget is quickly approaching—June 30– Tomblin decided to move forward with the session and his proposal.

“I’m telling you, it’s really hard for every member of this chamber, no matter which party you’re in, to go ask for a tax increase right now when you yourself and we all see that the revenues are down,” Republican Sen. Craig Blair told Kiss.

“To me, it tell me that the well’s dry and if we can’t cut revenue right now than when can we do it?”

Blair said in his years in the Legislature, he’s never voted for a tax increase before, but he’s willing to do it now because he feels like lawmakers are left with no other option.

“This governor has cut this budget by $3 or 400 million over the last several years so I don’t think it fair for anyone to characterize that he doesn’t have the willingness to do that,” Kiss said during the meeting.

“I think where the miscommunication is [is] the governor believes this problem cannot be solved by cutting our way out of it. It’s going to require a combined approach, I’ve heard many of you say that, but also the plans we’ve seen that present that combined approach, we don’t believe solve the problem.”

A lawmaker goes over Gov. Tomblin’s budget proposal in detail.

It’s not just the 2017 budget lawmakers are dealing with during this special session though. They are also trying to backfill holes in the current budget year. To do that, Tomblin has presented a bill that pulls one-time dollars from various agency accounts and $29 million from the Rainy Day Fund.

Lawmakers will return to the Capitol Tuesday to continue their deliberations.

The 45 cent increase to the state’s cigarette tax was read a first time in the Senate Monday, putting it on track for a Wednesday vote. The Senate approved a $1 increase to that tax during the regular session, but it died in a House committee.