Tag: West Virginia Legislature

W.Va. Legislature Passes Flood Relief Bill

The West Virginia Senate has approved a bill to send $85 million in state aid to counties impacted by June’s flooding.Senators voted 32-0 Monday…

The West Virginia Senate has approved a bill to send $85 million in state aid to counties impacted by June’s flooding.

Senators voted 32-0 Monday completing the Legislature’s work on the bill.

The bill appropriates $21 million from lottery reserves, $9 million from an unappropriated surplus from the previous fiscal year, and $55 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

The $85 million in appropriations account for 25 percent of nearly $340 million in damage caused by the June 23 flood. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay the other 75 percent of the cost, but Gov. Tomblin has asked the White House to increase that match to 90/10.

“It was necessary that we put the 25 percent on the table to prove to the federal government that we were in,” Senate President Bill Cole said after the vote. “I am certainly hopeful that we get to the 90/10 match that the governor is working on so that will mean that a lot of this money will come back to the state.”

Putnam County Sen. Chris Walters, who represents the hard-hit communities of Clendenin and Elkview and spent weeks volunteering, said he did not share the praise for FEMA that many others did. Namely because of the thousands impacted by the flood, less than 200 received the maximum amount of aid the agency offers– $33,000.

“We can spend billions of dollars overseas, but when it comes to the federal government being there for our own people, we fell short,” he said. “We still have people living in tents in Kanawha County, all across out state, put out of their homes.”

The state aid bill now goes to Gov. Tomblin for a signature.

Members of the Senate will return to session Tuesday to consider gubernatorial confirmations. The House of Delegates has adjourned sine die. 

Special Session will Focus on Flood Funding

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin will call lawmakers into a special session Sunday evening to consider legislation that will help the state continue to cleanup and recover from June’s historic flooding. 

Gov. Tomblin issued the proclamation Friday convening a special session beginning Sunday evening at 6pm. Lawmakers will only be able to consider two pieces of legislation, according to the session call.

The first bill expires $21 million of surplus funds from the 2016 fiscal year and takes and an additional $55 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund, placing them in the general revenue account. The bill then appropriates $85 million from general revenue into the governor’s Civil Contingency Fund to pay debts and on-going expenses related to flood damage.

The second bill on the call allows lawmakers to pay both their own and employee salaries and expenses for the length of the special session.

Tomblin said flooding in south-central West Virginia on June 23 resulted in more than $300 million worth of damage to homes, businesses, and public buildings and infrastructure.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay 75 percent of those costs, although Tomblin has asked the federal government to increase the match to 90 percent. 

W.Va. Legislative Committee Will Look for Ways to Downsize Government

A new committee of West Virginia lawmakers will meet at the Capitol Monday to focus on ways  to reduce the size of state government.

Senate President Bill Cole and House Speaker Tim Armstead announced the creation of the Government Accountability, Transparency and Efficiency Committee last week, calling it GATE for short. 

Its members will hold their first meeting during interim meetings Monday at noon.

Speaker Armstead said Sunday along with identifying efficiencies that he believes still can be found despite years of government cuts, the committee will also focus on finding targeted reductions in state agencies.

“No one wants to go cutting key, essential government programs. That’s not our goal, that’s no one’s goal,”Armstead said, “but to say that in a $4 billion budget there aren’t areas we can cut, I don’t think is realistic.”

The committee will meet during the interim session and make recommendations to the full Legislature during the regular session in February.

Lawmakers held a special session during the summer to close a more than $300 million gap in the state’s budget.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s budget officials expect that gap to widen during the upcoming fiscal year.

Audit: Legislative Employees Were Paid for Days Didn't Work

Auditors have concluded that at least four state legislative employees were either paid for days they did not work or took days off without submitting the proper leave time.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports Legislative Post-Audit Division director Denny Rhodes told legislators Sunday that an initial review found three Court of Claims employees were compensated for a total of 64 days not worked, totaling nearly $7,000 in pay and more than $2,000 in benefits.

Rhodes says auditors who analyzed the time sheets and leave time records for all Court of Claims employees will present a full report at September interim meetings.

Court of Claims Clerk Cheryl Hall told the legislative Post Audits Committee that the issues raised in the preliminary audit report have been corrected.

Tomblin Signs 2017 Budget Bill, Tobacco Tax Hike

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed eight bills Friday, including the budget for the 2017 fiscal year lawmakers spent nearly a month in a special session…

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed eight bills Friday, including the budget for the 2017 fiscal year lawmakers spent nearly a month in a special session crafting. 

The budget bill includes cuts to state agencies and Constitutional Officers as well as the use of one-time Rainy Day Funds to find a balance. 

Nearly $100 million in new revenue is included in the bill now that Tomblin also signed an increase to the state’s cigarette and tobacco taxes Friday, approved by lawmakers in separate piece of legislation.

Other bills that have now received the governor’s signature include a bill to take $20 million from the West Virginia Infrastructure Fund to support government operations and a bill that would authorize the governor to continue making state debt payments should future legislators be unable to pass a budget, provoking a government shutdown.

Thursday, Tomblin signed a bill giving the Boone County Board of Education an additional $2 million to pay teachers salaries and other bills this month.

The county experienced an unexpected loss of $9 million in tax collections after three major coal companies announced bankruptcies in the past year.

W.Va. Division of Forestry Facing Layoffs

West Virginia’s Division of Forestry will lay off 37 workers to address a $1.7 million shortfall in the new budget year.

A news release Wednesday says lawmakers rejected legislation to fully fund the Division of Forestry, and the $1.7 million shortfall will spur layoffs of more than one-third of the agency’s workforce.

The affected employees work in fire protection, logging and timber management programs.

The reduction includes the elimination of 42 positions, five of which are vacant, one is a part-time employee and 36 are full-time. The layoffs will be determined by least seniority.

The release says the timber industry fought for a lower severance tax than Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin proposed this year.

It says lawmakers passed the lower tax and a budget shortfall followed, spurring the layoffs.

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