I had a moment Tuesday when reviewing Governor Jim Justice’s press conference where a scene from the movie Animal House popped into my head. It’s the one where Faber College’s Dean Wormer invokes “a little known codicil in the Faber College constitution which gives the dean unlimited power to preserve order in time of campus emergency.”
Governor Justice Tuesday invoked (sort of) provisions of 15-5-6 of the state code that give him additional powers during times of emergency. In this case, he believes Republican plans for a possible $50 million in cuts to the Department of Health and Human Resources constitute a statewide emergency.
Specifically, the Governor has ordered the emergency light at the top of the Capitol dome to be turned on. Okay, maybe the Governor doesn’t need to invoke anything; he can just have somebody switch on the light, and the signal is more for effect than to actually calling out the National Guard or something.
You get the idea.
The pseudo emergency declaration by Justice comes after Republican leaders in the House and Senate announced last week they were looking for ways to cut $150 million from The Big Three—public education, higher education and DHHR.
Justice maintains that taking $50 million out of DHHR’s General Revenue budget of $1.1 billion (4.5 percent) would be cruel. “There are thousands and thousands and thousands that are going to be devastated,” Justice said. “We’re going to turn on the dome light from the standpoint of declaring an absolute health emergency within the state.”
Justice has even created a “war room,” which he says will be open at 9 a.m. every day to meet with legislators to hammer out a budget.
“I’m proposing we close the doors and lock the doors until the budget could be resolved,” Justice said. “I’m willing to sit here. I’m willing to negotiate.”
“Negotiate” is the key word, and a “locked-room-send-out-for-pizza” approach to the budget isn’t a bad idea. The Republicans may be willing to compromise on some sort of revenue increase, but they want to start with serious cuts. I also hear that in private, Justice sounds more conciliatory toward some of the Republican proposals than he does in public.
Justice really wants money for his Save Our State Fund and a classroom teacher pay raise. In return, he may have to continue the two-percent across-the-board budget cuts imposed by Governor Tomblin last year, give up his support of the dog racing subsidy and agree to some additional cuts.
Those could be starting points for a tentative agreement before digging into more controversial and problematic cuts to public ed, higher ed and DHHR. The Governor has turned on the light at the top of the Capitol, now we just need for that light to shine a path toward budget enlightenment.