Session starts with supermajorities, social distancing and State of the State

Today marks the start of a 60-day irregular legislative session in West Virginia.

Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the continued need for social distancing, the legislative session will be anything but regular.

The session kicks off today at noon as the Legislature gavels in, and then at 7 p.m. Gov. Jim Justice will lay out his vision during the governor’s annual State of the State address.

HOPPY KERCHEVAL: A Legislative Session Like No Other Begins Today

The Capitol remains generally closed to the public, except for those with appointments and official business. Lawmakers will be spreading out as much as possible, with some seated in the galleries and some options to participate in committee meetings by streaming from their offices.

Craig Blair

“On the Senate side I’m rather proud that we could do everything remotely if we needed to,” said new Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley. “The floor sessions have been televised, archived for a couple of years here now. Our committee meetings are done the same way. We’re set up to where we can actually bring people in to testify in committee remotely.

“We’re going to have some limited access. It’s very important to keep our members and our staff safe so we can work our way through this 60-day session and not have a covid outbreak like some other Legislatures around the country.”

Legislative agenda

The legislative session starts about a month later than normal this year because it marks the start of the governor’s next term.

Both the Senate and the House of Delegates will gavel in at noon. That will be overshadowed, as always, when lawmakers reconvene at 7 p.m. for the governor’s State of the State address.

Republicans have supermajorities in both the House and Senate this year, meaning they have dominant numbers to accomplish almost anything they choose. In some cases, though, there could be fractured views within the caucuses to make such political dominance more complicated than it sounds.

There are also a lot of new faces. About a third of the members of the House of Delegates are newly-elected. Blair will hold the gavel for the first time as president of the Senate. Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin and House Minority Leader Doug Skaff are new to their roles.

Roger Hanshaw

Once lawmakers start their work, they’ve described an active agenda, although most details have yet to emerge.

House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, during a legislative preview last week, described an aggressive start to the session. He outlined the aim of passing major legislation in relatively short order — not knowing when a possible outbreak might require a shutdown.

“We do anticipate working a fairly aggressive agenda early in the session because other states have seen their sessions shut down because of COVID,” said Hanshaw, R-Clay. “If we’re shut down we can still have a positive legislative session realizing there may be things left undone.”

Rollen Roberts

During a similar legislative preview last week, Sen. Rollan Roberts said Senate leaders already have more than a hundred bills to roll out. “We expect to hit the ground running,” said Roberts, R-Raleigh. They include:

  • 27 government reform bills, including permanent rollbacks of regulations temporarily eased during the pandemic, such as flexibility for telehealth. Others would reduce professional licensing requirements and restrict executive power during states of emergency.
  • Nine judicial reform bills, including limitations to business liability in covid-19 claims by employees and customers.
  • 21 education reform bills, including legislation to expand routes to approve state-funded charter schools.
  • 12 tax reform bills.
  • 16 economic development bills.
  • Nine Health and Human Resources bills.
  • Nine elections bills.

He said the list also includes three transportation and infrastructure, three agriculture and 16 “miscellaneous” bills.

State of the State

The governor will outline his own priorities during tonight’s address in the House chamber.

Gov. Jim Justice

If past is an indicator, Justice will describe accomplishments of the last few years while also using some showmanship. Last year, orange highways work vests were passed out for the crowd to wear. Three years ago, he brought out the high school girls basketball team he coaches to illustrate his leadership role.

This year, that kind of flare is anyone’s guess. But the governor has made a habit recently of appearing with his favorite English bulldog. Babydog for State of the State, anyone?

Justice will also describe policy, likely in a broad outline.

Mitch Carmichael

One State of the State announcement was revealed inadvertently last week with the revelation that former Senate President Mitch Carmichael has been hired as director of the state Development Office.

Justice was asked about the new role for Carmichael during one of his regular briefings.

“I was really going to do that in my State of the State. That may very well be out and everything. If it is, that’s where we’re moving,” Justice said.

But he embraced the hire, saying it will be a key position to develop the state’s economy.

“I don’t know that we have officially announced that yet, but what we’re doing is we’re trying to break out and be more efficient on our economic development. And we feel like Mitch can be a terrific asset there,” Justice said.

Similar moves still appear primed for revelation tonight.

During a legislative preview, Hanshaw foreshadowed legislation that would “elevate the profile for the Division of Tourism this session. I won’t steal the thunder from the governor. I’ll let him make the announcement about Tourism.”

Justice and lawmakers have also talked about a proposal to phase out the state income tax. But the details of that move appear to still be taking shape.

The personal income tax represents 43 percent of the General Fund, or $2.1 billion of the base budget this fiscal year. In other words, it represents almost half of how state government pays for the basic services of state agencies.

If the specifics of a bill aren’t ready yet, it’s not clear how much Justice would embrace the proposal in his spotlight speech. He could lean into the broad concept, he could mention it in passing or he could hold off until he sees what lawmakers present.

“I’d like to applaud the governor for making this an issue,” Blair said.

Broadband 

The coronavirus pandemic has emphasized the need for strengthened broadband for the school systems and for economic development in West Virginia.

This has long been a goal, but experiences of the past year have brought it to the top.

“Broadband is a key component,” Blair said.

Lawmakers are likely to consider a variety of measures meant to improve internet connectivity. But one major move has already taken effect with the placement of Carmichael to lead the Development Office.

That role will emphasize connectivity, looping in a new Office of Broadband within the Department of Commerce.

Additional steps seem primed for a bipartisan embrace.

“There are very few things in the House for which we can get unanimity easier than proposals to expand broadband in the state of West Virginia,” Hanshaw said.

“We know it’s got to be done, we know it is the way economies run in the 21st century. And I think it’s safe to say we have 95 or more votes for anything that puts more people into connectivity in the state of West Virginia.”

Hanshaw described working with the Governor’s Office on a broadband loan insurance program, as well as meeting with the Public Service Commission on accountability for providers.

The Speaker said much of the oversight for broadband falls to the federal government. Nevertheless, “We want to do everything we can and that means making it easier for people to get fiber on poles. That means making it easier for providers to access state rights of way. We want to make sure we’re making it easy to deploy wireless technology here,” he said. “We want to make sure we’re making it easier to build towers.”

Doug Skaff

House Minority Leader Doug Skaff, D-Kanawha, agreed. He lamented the school children who have had to be driven to WiFi hotspots in school parking lots to connect to their classes this year.

“There is no doubt we would definitely want to work together, and this should be our first, second and third priority right off the bat,” Skaff said.

Social distancing

All of this will happen with lawmakers trying not to connect to each other, at least not too closely.

Lawmakers and staff have had opportunities for covid-19 vaccinations, but rules are in place for further safeguards.

Hanshaw last week acknowledged the ongoing pandemic could affect daily factors such as staff availability, schedules, committee agendas, locations of meetings and degree of public access.

“We will be making sort of a game day decision each day,” Hanshaw said.

Hanshaw said the public may observe legislative activity through livestreaming.

Floor sessions and some committee meetings will be in the House Chamber this year. Other committee meetings will be in an East Wing room that people often call the Government Organization committee room. “We want to minimize the amount of time committee members are in close proximity to each other,” Hanshaw said.

There is video streaming in the Chamber, but the Government Organization room is only equipped for audio streaming.

The situation will be similar in the Senate.

Each of the three Senate chamber galleries will be limited to 18 people, with the rear gallery restricted to media and invited Senate guests.

No more than 10 members of the media and the public will be admitted to committee meetings in the Senate Finance Committee room, with no more than 12 in the Judiciary Committee room.

The new, new normal will be apparent tonight with the State of the State address in the House of Delegates chamber.

Of senators, only Blair will join delegates on the House floor. The rest of the senators, plus Supreme Court justices and constitutional officers, will be in spread-out seating in House galleries this year. Guests of the governor will be in the rear gallery.

“I promise you it will be right, and we’ll be spread out,” Justice said last week. “We’ve got to go on with our lives, but at the same time, we don’t want to go on compounding a terrible issue.”





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