West Virginia has $677 million in federal money to spend on pandemic relief and infrastructure, and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw says the state should carefully plan a strategy to use the money effectively.
“We’ve not seen this kind of money falling from the sky in West Virginia, ever. We’ve got to be thoughtful about how we do it because it’s probably never coming again,” Hanshaw said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
“This is a time to do capital investment. It’s a time to do transformative things. It’s a time to really use this to button up our economy and make sure we’re in a position to compete. We need to not be hasty about that. We need to be sure we’re not being irresponsible with how we spend this money.”
.@SpeakerHanshaw talks with @HoppyKercheval about his meeting with state House Speakers from across the country with the big topic being infrastructure and spending the federal dollars. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/HYYH47ANBO
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) May 26, 2021
State government received $677,774,994 last week from the American Rescue Plan Act. Overall, West Virginia is receiving $1.355 billion with the second allotment coming in about a year.
Guidance from the U.S. Treasury says the money may be used to support public health expenditures, address negative economic effects of the covid-19 pandemic, replace lost public sector revenue, provide premium pay for essential workers and invest in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure.
HOPPY KERCHEVAL: A Tidal Wave of Federal Money is Hitting West Virginia
Hanshaw focused on infrastructure — the water, wastewater and broadband needs.
“There’s a lot of flexibility, but I personally err on the side of things that last,” he said. “I think we need to look at things that will not only help us today but will help us 20 years from now. This is the time to do more for infrastructure than we’ve ever done in the lifetime of any West Virginian.”
Millions of dollars have also gone to municipalities and county governments.
That presents opportunities to cooperate. It also means the question is not just how should the money be spent — but who decides and what’s the best process?
“That may mean engaging more than we ever have with local political subdivisions, municipalities and counties,” Hanshaw said. “There needs to be serious coordination of that money.”
Gov. Jim Justice has said his staff is working on strategies for the best use of the money. Part of that is outreach to state lawmakers. But on Tuesday, the governor said his administration is not quite ready to roll out a plan. He, too, emphasized being cautious and thoughtful.
“It’s a little premature on that,” Justice said. “We’ve continued to meet with all the county and the city folks. We’re going to continue to talk about maximizing these federal dollars all across the state of West Virginia, and doing it right.
“We could just frivolously throw money at this and throw money at this, and you know what’s going to happen? Sure as I’m sitting here, we’re going to turn around and say we’ve got real needs over here, but all the money’s gone, and we don’t want to have that happen at all.”
Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin also emphasized the need for careful decisions while speaking this week on “Radio Roundtable” on WJLS-AM.
“This is a real opportunity to build the future, and I think we’ve got to take that seriously,” said Baldwin, D-Greenbrier.
There have been discussions of scheduling a special legislative session to allocate the federal money at the same time as legislative interim meetings already set for June 6-8. But given the amount of money and the importance of how it’s spent, Baldwin favors taking special care.
“I just want it to be done right. Trying to cobble something together in two weeks, I don’t know if that’s necessarily the right thing to do. I want it to be done right, not necessarily right now,” he said.
“This is an opportunity to build a future. This is a life changing amount of money for the state, and we’ve got to get it right.”