Flanked by Senate President Craig Blair and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, Gov. Jim Justice announced that he will seek a five percent raise for all state employees in 2022.
Additionally, Justice announced that all state employees will receive a one-time 2.5 percent bonus to combat the rising costs of inflation. The governor said the bonus will be known as the “Inflatocine” – short for inflation vaccine.
“As we’ve gone through this horrible pandemic, we’ve continued to kick out surplus after surplus,” Justice said. “Our state is doing really good. I commend everybody that’s made all the right moves on the chessboard. We want to reward our people for a lot of great work that they’ve done and we also want to continue to help our teachers and make education our centerpiece in West Virginia.
“In addition to this, we have a situation going on in this country with this runaway inflation,” Justice continued. “So we’re going to do a one-time supplement to try to help our teachers and state employees who are contemplating how they’re going to fill their cars up with gasoline and buy groceries with the inflated prices.”
The pay raise and “Inflatocine” bonus will be submitted to the West Virginia Legislature in the form of a bill, which legislative leaders announced they intend to support during the 2022 Legislative Session.
Both leaders indicated their support.
“We are rowing the boat in the same direction, working together as a team, and the coach of this team is the governor. He’s leading the way,” Blair said. “He talks about that rocketship. We’re on the rocketship. We just need to keep going and take West Virginia from 50th to first place in every category. We’re getting there, and it’s time for us to reward and pay the dividends to these state employees. I’m confident that we’ll have no problems getting this through the Legislature.”
Hanshaw was also optimistic..
“We’re happy to be able to join with the governor today and indicate that, as the House, we do have support for the across-the-board pay raise,” Hanshaw said. “We know that it’s been a stressful time over the course of these past two years, when people have had to deal with remote work situations that they normally wouldn’t have been accustomed to or have had to work in environments that have not necessarily been conducive to the usual performance of their jobs. We have chronic turnover in some of our most important state jobs here in West Virginia. We have to deal with that, and dealing with it in the form of compensation is an important part of that process.”
Justice did not discuss how much the raise and the bonus would cost the state or how it would be paid for. He did not take questions from the media during the announcement.
Justice referenced the bonus in terms of helping employees with the holidays, but both measures will require the approval of the legislature, which won’t meet until January 2022.
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, (R) Clay, and Senate President Craig Blair, (R) Berkeley, join The Legislature Today from the Capitol building.
Friday evening’s discussion focuses on the challenges and goals of a legislative session in the middle of a pandemic. The 6pm broadcast also highlights the week’s floor debates and updates the status of multiple bills as the session reaches day 10 of 60.
Updated on Dec. 14, 2020 at 9:15 a.m. to include an audio version of this story.
Eleven Eastern Panhandle lawmakers met Friday morning to discuss top priorities for the upcoming legislative session. Among them: education, broadband and tax reform.
Incumbents and those newly elected to the West Virginia Legislature spoke to constituents over Zoom in an event hosted by the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce.
Sen. Craig Blair, R-Berkeley — who has been the Senate Finance chair since 2017 but recently gained the approval of the majority caucus to lead the chamber — said he’s hopeful 2021 will bring back a sense of normalcy as COVID-19 vaccines become more available.
Blair said one good thing highlighted from the pandemic is the importance and the many uses of broadband.
“[The pandemic] opened up opportunities for us that we haven’t had before with remote learning, telemedicine, putting an emphasis on getting broadband, fiber to every home in West Virginia that we could possibly get it to,” Blair said. “That will be transformational to the state of West Virginia.”
Many lawmakers also voiced concerns about the pandemic’s impact on education this year along with their hopes of expanding school choice opportunities like charter schools, which they say would give flexibility to teachers and parents.
“I want to look at removing all the barriers that are causing and leading to teacher shortages,” said Senate Education Chair Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson. “But more than anything else, especially with this COVID pandemic, and as others have mentioned, we need to do greater expansion of broadband and more options for kids who right now, unfortunately, are at home.”
Rucker said she’d like to see teachers have priority access to a COVID-19 vaccine following first responders and health care workers.
“I think our teachers should be next,” she said. “Because the most important thing we can do is get them back in the classroom and get our kids back in the classroom.”
There was also a lot of discussion about tax reform. Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump, R-Morgan, said he hopes to once again try and remove or limit the property tax currently on tangible personal property, machinery and equipment. The topic was highly contentious during the 2020 legislative session, but — as a proposed constitutional amendment — it ultimately failed to gain a needed two-thirds majority.
“The majority caucus is very interested in pursuing tax reform and different kinds of income tax reductions,” Trump said. “We tried to work last year on an amendment to the [West Virginia] Constitution to authorize the legislature to reduce or eliminate the ad valorem tax on tangible personal property, machinery, equipment, inventory, automobiles. I think we’ll have a much stronger chance this year of laying such a proposition before the citizens.”
Trump also said he hopes to revive his proposal to establish an Intermediate Appellate Court of Appeals, which is something he has tried to do several years in a row but without success.
Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, the only Democrat from the Eastern Panhandle in the Senate, said public health also needs to be a priority this session to address “the cracks” exposed by the pandemic.
“We need to strengthen our public health system,” Unger said. “[But] also the other area that’s going to be very much needed: behavioral health. [Senate] President-elect Blair talked about broadband and telehealth, and there’s something called telebehavioral health as well. These are things that we’re going to have to address as we go into a post-pandemic world.”
Many of the West Virginia Legislature’s top leadership members are located in the Eastern Panhandle.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Berkeley County, the region’s largest and most populated county, has grown in population by more than 14,900 people between 2010 and 2019, compared to Kanawha County which has lost that amount during those same years.
Berkeley County is the second most-populated county in West Virginia, just behind Kanawha, according to the Census.
The 2021 regular West Virginia Legislative session is expected to convene in early February.
A few hundred people attended a public hearing in Charles Town over the weekend regarding the future of the MARC train service, or Maryland Area Regional Commuter, in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. Maryland is asking West Virginia to either foot the bill or see a reduction in service.
The MARC train, based in Maryland, has six trains that service West Virginia every weekday. It’s been serving West Virginia commuters living in the Eastern Panhandle since the 1970s, but West Virginia has largely never paid for the service. Ridership over the years has declined, but an estimated 250 West Virginians use the train daily, according to the Maryland Transit Administration, or MTA.
The MTA is requesting $3.4 million from West Virginia or it will cut four of those six trains starting on Nov. 4.
Del. John Doyle, D-Jefferson, said many at the hearing want the MTA to give West Virginia at least one more year to find the money and keep the service as it is.
“If it is cut back, some people would probably lose their jobs. Many people would in fact clog the highways with even more cars than there are now,” Doyle said.
Sen. Finance Chairman Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said the MARC train is a positive for West Virginia, and he agrees that more time would be helpful to sort out the situation, however, he said he thinks it is unlikely the MTA will give that additional time.
Blair urges local municipalities and stakeholders to work together to find a local funding solution to keep the train service running.
“They need to actually help, too, and that’s where the money could potentially come from,” he said.
Blair also said he feels the West Virginia State Rail Authority should collect a “true” headcount of West Virginia riders. Blair and other officials argue there are more riders than the 250 claimed by the MTA.
Maryland Department of Transportation MTA will accept written comments through Oct. 7. Comments can be sent by mail emailed to HearingComments@mdot.maryland.gov.
During this public comment period, the agency said it is open to discussions with the West Virginia Rail Authority regarding the proposed changes.
West Virginia’s film tax credit was eliminated by the West Virginia Legislature in 2018 after a legislative audit report deemed the credit as providing only “minimal economic impact.” But people who work in the film industry don’t agree. An attempt to resurrect the credit failed this past session, but supporters are hopeful it will make it through the next legislative session.
Robert Tinnell is a West Virginia filmmaker who was born and raised in Marion County. He’s been making movies professionally since 1980, and since 2005, he and his brother Jeffrey have been running a production company called Allegheny Image Factory out of the Morgantown area.
They’ve produced award-winning films, documentaries, music videos and commercials. One of their recent feature films was, Feast of the Seven Fishes based on Robert Tinnell’s graphic novel of the same name. The film featured actors Skyler Gisondo and Madison Iseman and was filmed entirely in West Virginia.
Feast of the Seven Fishes will be available later this year but possibly under a new name. Tinnell said the film will likely be released under the title, 7 Fishes & Christmas ’83.
Tinnell said production of the film benefited greatly from West Virginia’s now-defunct film tax credit. He said the movie was able to be filmed and produced in-state, attracting actors and crew from the larger-film industry outside West Virginia thanks to incentive from the tax credit.
Now, since the credit was eliminated, Tinnell said it’s been harder to attract big productions to film in West Virginia.
“Stripping us of the tax credit, effectively disabled our ability to bring feature films or TV projects to West Virginia,” Tinnell said. “I mean, it’s that simple. Whether you agree with the tax incentive business model or not, the reality is, the industry and states, and even national governments, embrace the policy. And it simply is the cost of doing business.”
After losing the credit, Tinnell said it cost his production company two films and the potential of bringing about $4 million into the state.
“We say we want to diversify the state’s economy. We don’t want to just lean on extractive industries, it’s just too, up and down, and it’s putting all your eggs in one basket,” he said. “Here’s a really smart way to do it – and in a way that boosts not only the entertainment industry, but it’s just a great way to promote tourism.”
Credit Perry Bennett / WV Legislative Photography
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WV Legislative Photography
Del. Dianna Graves, R-Kanawha, discusses HB 2941 (reinstating the film investment tax credit) on the House floor on Feb. 27, 2019.
During the 2019 state Legislative session, Del. Dianna Graves, R-Kanawha, introduced a bill that would have reinstated the film tax credit – but with tweaks and adjustments based on the legislative audit report that made 12 recommendations if the credit were to be kept.
Graves has worked in the state’s film industry as both an accountant and producer, and she argues the tax credit was working but admits it did have problems, but problems she sought to fix with her bill.
“Even the audit admitted that it brought economic benefit to the state, it just didn’t think there was enough benefit to justify keeping it, well, then fine, let’s not get rid of it completely. It’s working. Let’s make it better. That was my goal,” she said.
Graves’ bill increased the cap of the film tax credit from $5 million to $10 million, and it would have required a film production company to spend at least $50,000 in-state before they would be eligible for the credit. After that, for every $100 spent, that production company could take home $27, but the remaining $73 would stay in-state.
Her bill managed to pass out of the House of Delegates but not without pushback. House Finance Chairman Del. Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, was one of 26 who voted against the bill.
Householder admits he’s not a fan of tax credits. He said they allow the government to pick economic winners and losers. He also argues the original film tax credit just wasn’t justifiable.
“In 10 years, only $8.6 million in tax credits were used,” Householder explained. “And if it’s such an attractive, competitive force, we would see more companies coming here, wanting to come here and take advantage of the tax credits, and it just wasn’t happening.”
He also felt Del. Graves’ bill didn’t make enough of the changes that were recommended by the audit.
“If she tightens all those up or takes those recommendations, I think it will pass the scrutiny,” he said. “Right now, I don’t foresee it happening since, remember, it was repealed in 2018. So, maybe in a year or so, maybe next legislative session, [it] might stand a better chance.”
Graves’ bill may have made it out of the House chamber last year, but it was never taken up by the Senate Finance Committee. In an emailed statement to West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Senate Finance Chairman Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said he also felt Graves didn’t make enough changes recommended in the audit report.
Like Blair and Householder, Graves identifies as a fiscal conservative, and she said she doesn’t often vote for tax credits but says the film tax credit is different.
“The West Virginia film tax credit; it functions much more like advertising expense than a traditional tax credit,” she explained. “We are trying to entice film companies and movie studios to come here and film. But instead of giving this money up front, like you do with advertising expense, we only give it if you come here. So, that means that our advertising expense has a 100 percent success rate.”
Graves said the film tax credit helps to diversify the state’s economy. She plans to reintroduce her bill during the 2020 state Legislative session.
She said she hopes she can communicate to the Senate in particular of the credit’s benefits, increase the cap, and get it signed by the governor.
**Editor’s Note: This article was edited on Jun. 28, 2019 to add the correct spelling of Robert Tinnell’s last name.
