CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Secretary of Transportation Jimmy Wriston on Sunday presented his department’s desires for the regular legislative session, including bills allowing the agency to assume ownership of rental equipment and specifying the duties of secretary.
Wriston spoke before members of the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on Department of Transportation Accountability. The state Legislature began interim meetings on Sunday before the beginning of a special legislative session on Monday and the regular session on Wednesday.
Wriston noted the department’s goals include items not passed during last year’s session.
Wriston asked lawmakers to pass legislation allowing the department to buy rented equipment at the end of the rental period.
“We’ve rented many, many items throughout our interactions with our vendors to where we’ve — month after month after month — rent the same piece of equipment and literally spent as much in rentals as the cost of the equipment,” he said.
According to Wriston, vendors have contacted the agency about buying equipment due to lengthy rental periods.
“This bill would allow us to do that and add it to our inventory,” he added.
Delegate Marty Gearheart, R-Mercer, questioned the need for legislators to grant the authority. Wriston said he needed legislative language allowing purchases, adding this power would save the agency money on equipment and time in getting necessary materials.
“I could go through that cumbersome process and purchase that equipment, provided that same company that I rented it from was on the purchasing vendors list for me to purchase it from,” he said regarding the current language.
Another bill that Wriston mentioned would clarify the responsibilities of the department’s secretary with language similar to how state code lists the powers of other agency heads.
“In particular, it would allow the secretary to make cohesive interagency use of resources, to take the strength of one agency and help it help another one of the transportation agencies to be able, to take the weaknesses of one agency and cover them up with the strength of another,” he said.
The Division of Highways and the State Rail Authority have such power. Wriston said the two subsidiaries have accomplished $10 million in construction projects because of collaboration.
“This aids both agencies to where the work gets done, the need is filled, the proper agency is paying the bills, and it also frees up state dollars on the DOH side and budget numbers on the DOH side,” he added. “While they’re working on the SRA projects, there is no expenditures on the DOH side.”
The department is also pushing a bill on how much the agency has to put toward bonded projects, as well as legislation allowing taxes collected on the sale of construction materials to go toward the state road fund.