Republicans in the West Virginia House of Delegates say the 60-day legislative session has been one of missed opportunities.
The session, which ends a week from Saturday, has included very little to improve the state’s economy according to GOP delegates.
“There’s been nothing that’s really happened. It’s been a session of lost opportunities I think,” Del. Patrick Lane, R-Kanawha, said Thursday on MetroNews Talkline.
When the session began GOP delegates introduced a number of bills dealing with tax reform, job creation and education.
“Unfortunately those things have not been acted upon. They’ve not been taken up,” Lane said.
The Republicans gained more than a dozen members in the House from the last election, giving them 46 members in the House, but Lane says it’s still not enough to set the agenda.
“We’ve got 46 people and that makes us a little bit more effective in the committees but 46 is still not a majority,” Lane said.
Republicans have pushed for years for the elimination of the property inventory tax. They introduced a resolution this session that would put a proposed amendment to the state Constitution before voters but it was not taken up by the Democratic leadership.
Lane says it’s frustrating. He says the state’s tax system has been studied over and over again during the past 20 years and all of the studies say to change it but Lane says some leading lawmakers want to continue to study it.
The delegate says the only thing close to a jobs creation bill in the House this session is a bill creating legislative working groups.
The 60-day session ends at midnight, Saturday, April 13.