Paul Espinosa Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Legislative Priorities: Relaxed COVID Protocols, A Tax Repeal, Broadband Expansion And A Possible Raise For State Workers

West Virginia lawmakers are hoping for a more normal legislative session in 2022 with some relaxed COVID-19 protocols at the statehouse. There’s also renewed hope to reduce or eliminate the personal income tax.

State lawmakers from the Eastern Panhandle met for a Legislative Outlook event over Zoom on Friday. The Martinsburg-Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce hosts these events every year ahead of the state legislative session, which begins in mid-January.

The Eastern Panhandle is home to several of the legislature’s key leadership members, such as Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump, R-Morgan. Trump said visitors to the capitol this year will likely get to roam the marble halls as they have in years prior to the pandemic.

“I do not think we’re gonna see restrictions on the number of people in the building. There may be, room by room, some limitations on how many people can be jammed into a particular room,” Trump said. “But I’m hoping that we’re going to see some relaxation from what we had early this year.”

It’s not yet clear if masks will be required of visitors.

For Trump, his biggest priority this year will be to follow-up on a resolution passed last session that will allow West Virginia voters to decide in the November general election if the legislature can amend the state’s constitution to reduce the personal property tax on machinery, equipment, inventory and vehicles.

Trump said it will be prudent for lawmakers to be transparent with voters about what the change to the tax could mean.

“I know there is some nervousness among school boards, county commissions and municipalities who are the recipients of those levy monies,” Trump said. “And it’s incumbent upon us to lay out in a statute this year, the specific plans – how those taxes would be reduced [and] how the legislature will replace the funding.”

On the flip side of the discussion over personal property tax, something that did not make it out of the legislature last year was a repeal to the state’s personal income tax. In a surprising turn of events, the bill to repeal the income tax was dramatically shot down in the House of Delegates on the final night of the 2021 session.

House Majority Whip Paul Espinosa, R-Jefferson, said he thinks this issue will be revisited this year.

“Talking with our colleagues in the Senate, talking with the governor’s office [about the] personal income tax, I think there’s still a strong appetite in both chambers,” Espinosa said of a potential repeal.

Education will also likely be top of mind for lawmakers this session.

Senate Education Chair Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, said her goals will be to tweak and strengthen past legislation. She said she hopes to perfect a bill that requires cameras in special education classrooms, and she also wants to introduce legislation that she says would “tighten” physical education requirements in schools.

Additionally, Rucker said a big priority will be to reform the higher education funding model.

“I’m really hopeful we’re going to find a funding model that is going to fund higher education in a fair way, that is going to take partisan politics [and] take political influence out of the equation,” Rucker said. “It’s going to be based on whether the institutions are fulfilling their missions [and] doing what they set out to do and helping students graduate.”

Charter school expansion in West Virginia, which was one of the bigger topics in education last session, will not likely be a topic this year, according to Rucker.

Lawmakers also mentioned their hopes to tackle other issues such as more broadband expansion, with the goal of getting high speed internet in every West Virginia home.

Rucker said there are also discussions happening about salary increases for public employees, including teachers.

The 2022 West Virginia Legislative session will begin on Jan. 12.

House Majority Whip Del. Paul Espinosa Hired As Rockwool Public Affairs Manager

House of Delegates Majority Whip Del. Paul Espinosa has been hired as the Public Affairs Manager for the controversial Rockwool insulation plant in Jefferson County.

Rockwool made the announcement in a press release Tuesday.

Trent Ogilvie, the President of Rockwool North America, said in the release the company had been looking to hire someone who, “knows the area, understands the issues, and most importantly can connect with all members of the community in a meaningful way.”

The release goes on to tout Espinosa’s achievements in the Jefferson County community and in the West Virginia House of Delegates.

Espinosa said in the release he’s been impressed with Rockwool’s outreach and open dialogue with the community over the past year. He said the company has taken many steps to address the community’s concerns and promise environmental stewardship.

Rockwool has been a source of contention, division and large community rallies in the county for the past year. The company would manufacture stone wool insulation on former orchard land across from an elementary school and feature two 21-story smokestacks releasing a range of chemicals.

The company is expected to offer 150 full-time positions and be operational by mid-2020.

MARC Train Service in W.Va. Chugs On, But an Uncertain Future Lies Ahead

The MARC Train, or Maryland Area Regional Commuter, serves about 250 West Virginians who live in Berkeley and Jefferson Counties.

The train has been serving the area for more than 30 years, but Maryland has always paid the bills. West Virginia was only responsible for upkeep of its three West Virginia stations.

Recently, that changed.

For the last two years, Maryland has requested a little more than $3 million in funding – otherwise, they’d end the service into West Virginia.

Below is an extended version of this interview:

In 2018, the West Virginia Legislature secured $1.5 million, and Maryland accepted it. This year, lawmakers successfully put $1.1 million in the budget, but it’s unclear if Maryland will accept the offer.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting spoke with Del. Paul Espinosa, R-Jefferson, the House Majority Whip and member of the House Finance Committee, to discuss the future of MARC in West Virginia.

W.Va. Lawmakers Addressing Child Sex Abuse

Some West Virginia lawmakers say they’ll introduce legislation intended to better protect children from sex abuse following a task force report indicating one in 10 are victims before they turn 18.

The group’s recommendations include training all public school personnel to recognize and respond to suspected abuse and clarifying the state’s mandatory reporting laws.

Others are strengthening screening for child-service professionals, coordinating various resources and strengthening schools’ capacity to provide prevention education in grades K-12.

House Education Committee Chairman Paul Espinosa and Senate Education Committee Chairman Kenny Mann say they’re working to draft related legislation and get it enacted this year.

They co-chair the task force established in 2015.

House Considers 3 Education Flexibility Bills

At the start of this legislative session, Republican leaders warned that public education could be on the chopping block, seeing reductions that the system has historically been protected from. During a recent press conference, both House Speaker Tim Armstead and Senate President Mitch Carmichael said they’ll work to mitigate the harm to classrooms and teachers, but funding will be reduced. The House’s Education Chairman says with those funding reductions, lawmakers are working to give county school systems more flexibility in how they spend their limited dollars.

House Bill 2569:

The House Education Committee is specifically looking for ways to give county school systems more flexibility when it comes to personnel. One way is through House Bill 2569.

When county Boards of Education need to reduce the number of teachers they have on the payroll, they are currently required to use a lottery system to determine which teachers of equal seniority will be let go. The bill removes the requirement and instead requires county boards to look at a variety of factors – qualifications, critical need, or the National Board of Certified Teachers.

“A school district that may have finally filled an AP calculus class or an advanced chemistry class with an educator may be forced to terminate that employee through a reduction in force with no consideration given to the fact that some of those positions are very, very hard to fill and in some cases it may not be the most senior person,” said House Education Chairman Paul Espinosa of Jefferson County.

Espinosa pulled the bill from the committee’s afternoon meeting Wednesday and says they will take it up on a later date.

House Bill 2738:

House Bill 2738 would also give more flexibility to public schools. The bill deals with teacher transfers.

“We believe it’s prudent to allow that school district to have the flexibility within that calendar year to move that individual, if necessary,” Espinosa said, “if it really makes sense for that school district, to move them to another role where perhaps their services are more needed.”

Sponsors of the bill say it will save schools’ money as enrollment changes, and it gives a school the ability to make quicker decisions when a particular role needs to be filled.

The bill passed out of committee Wednesday and heads to the full chamber.

House Bill 2637:

Another bill looking at public education flexibility is House Bill 2637. It’s already passed out of the House Education Committee and was taken up by the chamber’s Finance Committee Wednesday. It allows retired teachers to return to the classroom when there’s critical need or shortages.

“It’s not one of our efficiency issues that we’re looking at,” said House Finance Vice-Chair Eric Householder of Berkeley County, “but keep in mind; these retired teachers will be able to come back without any effect on their current retirement, so we’re not paying extra retirement benefits or anything like that, so I think it’s a win for the taxpayers.”

What now?

Legislative leaders announced earlier this week that the state’s public schools will see funding cuts—potentially as large as 5 percent—next year. House Finance Chair Eric Nelson says he and his colleagues will be looking closely at where those cuts fall.

“As far as the details of exactly what is coming from where; that’s the process that we’re going through right now; reviewing all three areas,” Nelson said, “You know, K-12 takes up 50 percent of our 4 billion dollars budget, and we’re very concerned about the various counties and their needs.”

Lawmakers have a little over 20 more days left of this regular session to pass a balanced budget. State Revenue Officials have projected a budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year to be as large as $497 million.

Two Education-Related Bills Pass Out of the House

The House voted on two education-related bills Tuesday – one that would give The West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind access to the School Building Authority and another aimed at giving higher education institutions more control of their own affairs.

House Bill 2123 – W.Va. Schools for the Deaf and Blind:

The West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind, located in the Eastern Panhandle, have been around since 1870, starting out with just 30 students. Over the years, enrollment increased and the campus grew to 79 acres with sixteen major buildings.

The Schools for the Deaf and Blind have since fallen into disrepair, though. Administrators at the Schools say it would take roughly $1.5 million to take care of current construction and renovation needs. Unable to raise their own funds through bonds or levies to help pay for construction, repairs, or building upgrades like a county school system – the Schools sought help from lawmakers. Those efforts during the past few years, though, have been unsuccessful, but members in the House are trying once again to help the Schools find funding through House Bill 2123.

“We had this bill the last two years,” said Delegate Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha, House Finance Chair, “it passed out of this body unanimously. What this does is just allow the School and the Deaf and the Blind who reach out to needy children throughout this whole state to compete for some of the funds in the SBA, or the School Building Authority, that they issue annually to fund major improvements. I urge passage.”

The first year, the bill was vetoed by then-Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, and last year, it was held up in the Senate’s Finance committee. It passed out of the House unanimously on Tuesday.

Delegate Ruth Rowan, a Republican from Hampshire County, is the lead sponsor of the bill. She says the battle has been worth it –

“Because I know these children, and I know how much they need this, so they’re worth fighting for,” Rowan explained.

House Bill 2542 – Higher Education Flexibility:

House Bill 2542 was also taken up in the chamber. Its overall goal is to give West Virginia University, Marshall University, and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine more flexibility in staffing and setting pay scales. Smaller universities and colleges in the state would have to notify the Higher Education Policy Commission of their intent to do the same.

The bill takes out the requirement that institutions have a recall list, essentially a list of laid off workers who, if their job would become available, would receive a call asking if they want their job back. The recall list becomes optional under the legislation.

Several Democrats argued the bill would open the door to age discrimination. House Education Chair Paul Espinosa countered that employees would still have the protection from the federal Civil Rights Act, Age in Discrimination in Employment Act, and Americans with Disabilities Act.

House Bill 2542 passed, 61-38, and moves across the rotunda to the Senate.