The second week of the Legislature’s special session on the budget begins today with the expectation that both the House and Senate will have proposed budgets to consider.
The Republican-led Senate took a significant step toward patching the projected $270 million hole in FY 2017’s budget last Thursday when it narrowly passed a tobacco tax increase. The plan for raising the tax on a pack of cigarettes by .45 cents, to $1, faces an uncertain future in the House.
House Republican leaders continue to try to round up 51 votes, and that is proving difficult. A large chunk of the GOP’s 64-member majority wants no tax increase, and Democratic leaders are trying to hold their 36-members to a $1 tax hike.
Several Democrats may peel off and support the .45 cent plan, but the rest of the Dems are less willing to compromise for several reasons. They argue a $1 increase would go farther in solving the state’s budget problems and high priced tobacco would help reduce smoking.
But politics is always intertwined with policy. Democrats, who were angered by the Republican-led passage of right-to-work and the repeal of prevailing wage during the regular session, are not willing to come to the rescue of the GOP as it tries to hammer out a budget.
Additionally, several Republicans privately suspect some Democrats are perpetuating the legislative impasse to benefit Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Jim Justice. A meltdown by the Republican-controlled House and Senate would reflect poorly on Republican Gubernatorial candidate and Senate President Bill Cole, while reinforcing Justice’s argument that Charleston needs leadership from someone who is not a politician.
Maybe it would play out that way, but if attempts to get a budget before the June 30th deadline fail, West Virginians may take a cue from a dying Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and wish “a plague on both your houses,” and throw in Governor Tomblin’s office for good measure.
Every politician up for election this year who would be associated with the budget collapse and a subsequent government shutdown runs the risk of incurring the wrath of the voters. Candidates’ attempts to explain the nuance of the arguments would be drowned out by the outcry of an electorate that, as we have witnessed in the presidential race, is already antagonized.
At times like these it’s instructive to refer back to the state’s founding document. The preamble to the West Virginia Constitution states that “We the people… pledge to promote, preserve and perpetuate good government in the State of West Virginia for the common welfare, freedom and security of ourselves and our posterity.”
That’s a unifying concept, and as lawmakers this week resume the search for a compromise on the budget, the state Constitution’s preamble is a good place to begin.