CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There was a clear divide between some Democrats and Republicans following Gov. Jim Justice’s State of the State Address Wednesday night at the state capitol.
“The governor is upbeat, positive, can-do kind of guy and I appreciate that very much,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Trump, R-Morgan said.
House of Delegates Minority Leader Tim Miley, D-Harrison, saw the speech a different way.
“There’s a lot of platitudes that he gave but I’m not so sure everything is as rosy in this state as he made it out to be,” Miley said.
West Virginia Democratic Party Chairwoman Belinda Biafore called the speech “the same old storytelling with empty promises.”
“He paints a fairytale, but the truth is West Virginia’s economy is fragile, our public schools are at risk, and our healthcare system is designed to fail those who need it most,” Biafore said in a statement.
Justice said there have been 20,000 jobs added in the state during the past year and he recognized several companies and their representatives during the speech that have created those jobs. Miley said there are plenty of other companies that have cut jobs.
“Go around the state and you can see how well the economy is working. I don’t think it’s working as well in West Virginia as it is in the rest of the country,” Miley said.
Delegate Daniel Linville, R-Cabell, said he remembers the days when the number of jobs lost was the story not jobs gained. Linville said the speech was further proof that the state is on an “upward trajectory.” He said all of this with coal revenues down.
“If you would have told us 10 years ago that the percentage of our overall general revenue budget coming from our severance tax was this law you would think that our state was in terrible trouble,” Linville said. “We just came off a year of historic economic growth.”
Senate President Mitch Carmichael said he appreciates Justice’s vision for the state’s future.
“I am pleased that Governor Justice shares the Legislature’s goal of eliminating the business inventory, equipment, and machinery tax because he also understands that it’s holding our state back from unlocking its full economic potential,” Carmichael said.
It’s the second year in the row Justice has endorsed the elimination of the inventory tax. That’s support that was noticed by Senator Dave Sypolt, R-Preston.
“Really that is where the future of West Virginia is going to lie for good-paying jobs and especially with the petrochemical industries we have, if we can grow that, that would mean jobs for our state for the next 40 to 50 years,” Sypolt said.
West Virginia Education Association Dale Lee said he wishes Justice would have said more about public education. He said teachers, who have gone on strike each of the last two years, will have their eyes on Justice and lawmakers during the next 60 days.
“It’s an election year–so you never know what you’ll going to get. I do know our educators across the state of West Virginia are watching very closely. We haven’t gone away, we haven’t gone dormant. We are going to be watching the actions of the legislature very closely,” Lee said.
Trump said what’s clear to him is Justice willing to scale back plans in what’s expected to be a tight budget year.
“One of the things I like about his approach is that he’s always willing to look at reevaluating things and shift funding from one thing to another,” Trump said.
Miley said in the end whether you liked Justice’s speech or not, lawmakers must strive to work together with Justice to pass bills that will benefit West Virginians.
“I want to work together with the governor and the majority party but some things they are opposing I’m not sure we’ll agree with,” Miley said.
House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Jackson, also promoted a get along attitude.
“We’re ready to work together over the next 59 days to pass initiatives that continue to spur job growth, drive business investment and improve the quality of life for everyone in our state,” Hanshaw said.