CHARLESTON, W.Va. — With less than four weeks remaining in the 2016 Regular Legislative Session, there’s been no movement from lawmakers on Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s proposal to raise West Virginia’s cigarette tax — a key component in the additional funding he’s earmarked for the Public Employees Insurance Agency.
On Monday, Elaine Harris, state international representative for the Communications Workers of America and vice president of the West Virginia AFL-CIO, joined public employees and retirees covered by PEIA at the State Capitol to issue a call to lawmakers.
“Let’s get it done. Let’s get it fixed for these people and for the state of West Virginia,” Harris said.
Harris, a member of PEIA’s Finance Board, was a guest on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline” soon after a press conference at the State Capitol involving public employees and their representatives.
Monday was also Corrections Day at the Legislature.
“The pay for a starting (correctional) officer is less than $23,000. That’s an officer, then the support staff goes even lower,” Harris said. “Sad to say, these people are eligible for public assistance and they don’t want that. They are professionals….They want to take care of themselves, they want to make their own way, but it’s just becoming harder and harder.”
Rising health care costs, she said, are only adding to those financial struggles.
After originally approving $120 million worth of benefit cuts for state workers and retirees insured through PEIA, PEIA’s Finance Board approved a revised funding plan in January.
It would make up the $120 million with a combination of funding: $43 million from a proposed tobacco tax increase, $24 million in special revenues from the state budget, a 12 percent premium increase for all plan members, including retirees, and between $5 million and $6 million in benefit changes.
As of now, those revisions are scheduled to take effect on July 1, but that will depend on actions from the Legislature before the close of the 2016 Regular Legislative Session on March 12.
In his State of the State Address, Tomblin proposed raising West Virginia’s cigarette tax by 45 cents per pack, effective on April 1, and his plan to fund PEIA relies on that increase.
Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler (D-Marshall, 02), a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, is the lead sponsor of the proposed tobacco tax increase bill, SB 420, that was introduced in the state Senate on Jan. 28 at Tomblin’s request.
As proposed, the cigarette tax hike would take the total state tax, per pack of cigarettes, to $1 while taxes on other tobacco products would increase by between seven percent and 12 percent. Tomblin has also proposed a new tax on e-cigarettes, at 7.5 cents per milliliter.
The bill is still pending in the Senate Finance Committee.
Overall, the funding plan has the potential to mitigate 80 to 90 percent of the pending PEIA cuts, according to state officials, though Republican legislative leaders have indicated there may be other potential sources for funding beyond tax increases.
“I call upon the Legislature, as well as the folks who are here today, I join with them to say, ‘Let’s sit down.’ We’ve sat down around the table many times and fixed things that needed to be fixed in this state and this is one of the things that, I think, has to to be fixed,” Harris said.