CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Governor Jim Justice isn’t ready to announce victory over the state budget standoff yet, but he thinks he and legislative leaders have finally focused on a strategy to feel good about.
“I worked all weekend to try to come up with a plan that was really a plan of everybody’s, and I think we’re really close,” Justice said late Tuesday afternoon.
The governor is said to have proposed a lower increase in the state consumer sales tax, along with a less aggressive reduction of the personal income tax. Legislative leaders were tight-lipped but privately expressed some optimism and said they need to take the possibility to their caucuses.
“What we’ve tried to do is mesh together ideas from all of us, and I absolutely believe without a doubt we’re making progress, making real progress,” Justice said in a brief interview after a long afternoon of meetings.
Justice and legislative leaders met for about three hours this afternoon in three separate rooms. All the Democrats had united into one room with House Republican leaders in one room and Senate President Mitch Carmichael in another. Talks that had been scheduled for Wednesday were canceled.
Justice’s hope is that if there’s consensus leading into Monday’s resumption of the special session then lawmakers might be able to vote and finalize a budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1.
“It would be my goal that we could very quickly get to a budget that can be passed, to where we can get everybody out of here and get us all off the taxpayer’s dime. That’s what we need to do,” Justice said.
Justice, about an hour prior to his comments on the record, expressed quick words of optimism between meetings with different groups of legislators.
“Now you can say we’re making progress,” the governor commented after meeting with House Republicans and as he walked toward another meeting with legislative Democrats.
The governor, as well as legislative leaders from both parties, first gathered in the Governor’s Conference Room, off the Secretary of State’s office, about 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Lawmakers had thought that was where one big talk would take place today, but after about 10 minutes they walked back out and into separate rooms. Carmichael, the lone representative of his caucus, remained in the Governor’s Conference Room.
Senate Democrats united with House Democrats in the governor’s legal offices. The Senate Democrats were represented by Minority Leader Roman Prezioso and Senator Glenn Jeffries. The House Democrats were Minority Leader Tim Miley and delegates Mike Caputo, Brent Boggs and Stephen Baldwin.
House Republicans, who gathered in the governor’s office, included Speaker Tim Armstead, House Finance Chairman Eric Nelson, assistant Finance Chairman Eric Householder and Judiciary Chairman John Shott.
That’s how negotiations took place last week, with the governor walking from room-to-room, saying he was attempting to learn more about what the four groups want to achieve for the state budget and aspects of some proposals they can’t abide.
Justice met all day Thursday and then into Friday afternoon with lawmakers before breaking off for the long holiday weekend.
Lawmakers thought they were being summoned to resume talks on Wednesday morning, but Justice sent word that he would gather them this afternoon. There were some indications that Justice had thought hard about the earlier talks over the weekend and had plans to present an altered proposal today.
As he explained after the meetings Tuesday afternoon, “I spent Memorial Day Weekend, on Sunday, and I drove down to that cemetery where the tackle box and the hatchet were” — referring to a story about the desperation of West Virginians that he first told during his inaugural address.
“I drove there because my grandparents are buried there. On the way, this was very sobering from the standpoint was there was one stretch of road where it was completely washed away, right to the edge of the pavement. A hundred foot dropoff.
“You know, you see coal camps where they used to be spotlessly clean and now they’re anything but that. And you see despair, and you start thinking about, for crying out loud, here we are in this bubble in Charleston and we’re spending the taxpayers’ dollars, $35,000 a day, that could fix that road or do something to try to help these people. We need to get this thing off the dime.”
The full Legislature is supposed to reconvene in its special session June 5, which is Monday.
.@WVgovernor just walked by. “We’re doing great!” he said, but then clarified to say we’re working hard to do great pic.twitter.com/5Hmmuu9Vx5
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) May 30, 2017
Senate Republicans have advocated a plan to raise the consumer sales tax — most recently to 7.25 percent — while starting a plan to reduce the personal income tax six months later. The result, they say, would raise revenue to balance the coming budget while also laying the groundwork for increased economic activity.
House Republicans, House Democrats and Senate Democrats all have cast doubt on that notion, favoring plans that would forego the broadest aspects of the income tax reduction while opting for a smaller sales tax increase, if any at all.
The plans have been at odds within the Legislature as the House passed its proposal with a bipartisan 74-17 vote on May 16
The Senate passed its plan May 24 on a 18-13 vote that included all Republicans except for Senator Randy Smith voting in favor and all Democrats against. The House then voted 85-0 to refuse to concur.
The matter appeared to be moving toward conference committee, but Justice said he wanted the time and influence to be able to sort out the matter more informally over a couple of weeks.
Justice has proposed a budget of $4.35 billion to be worked out during the special session. Legislators need to resolve about $250 million, either through increased revenue or cuts.
The governor vetoed a budget that would have used about $90 million from the state Rainy Day fund and then cut millions from higher education and healthcare spending.