CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State lawmakers put a three-day special session to bed Tuesday night following floor sessions in both the House and Senate finalizing bills that spend down the state’s multi-million dollar revenue collection surplus from last fiscal year.
The 40-plus bills approved include a six-bill package dealing with corrections. Leading that list is a $25 million pay package that looks to address the worker vacancy in jails and prisons and the high turnover rate of those in the first few years of employment.
The corrections package includes two retention payments to non-uniformed corrections workers. Both will be approximately $2,300. One will come immediately and the second in six months. Delegate Eric Brooks, R-Raleigh, applauded the move during Tuesday’s floor session.
“What we need to understand is these are people who have been carrying the water for us since last August when this agency was placed into a state of emergency,” Brooks said.
Another corrections bill will allow counties to collect per diem rates for up to five days in connection with people arrested by city police agencies in the the state’s larger municipalities.
Lawmakers finalized the bills on the same day a federal lawsuit was filed against state leaders in connection with jail conditions.
Emotional ending to VFD funding bill
The legislature passed a $12 million funding bill for volunteer fire departments, which will also benefit EMS, but not before some emotional debate in the House of Delegates that ended a long day. The Senate used a procedural move to take the bill the House previously passed and switched the funding for the bill from surplus funds to a permanent funding source. Delegates debated for nearly an hour on whether to agree with the Senate’s last-minute change before deciding to do so.
Delegate Rick Hillenbrand, R-Hampshire, said he wasn’t going home without funding for volunteer fire departments.
“If you don’t for this–shame on you,” Hillenbrand said. “Shame on every one of you that’s been here kicking this dog down the road year after year after year. Yeah, I’m a first termer but I get it and you better get it.”
House Finance Committee Chairman Vernon Criss, R-Wood, expressed concern that agreement with the Senate change would force lawmakers to raise taxes to keep the VFD funding in place after the current budget year.
Car Tax Credit fixed
Lawmakers passed a fix connected to the newly created vehicle tax credit. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charlie Trump, R-Morgan, said taxpayers will not be penalized for paying their vehicle tax in full this fall.
“That will allow people, even if they pay their second half ad valorem property taxes in the calendar year 2023, it will allow them to take the credit for that payment in 2024,” Trump said.
Delegates argue about Pierpont project funding
One of the longest debates in the House Tuesday came on the bill that allocates $25 million to Pierpont Community and Technical College for an aviation maintenance hangar to be located at the North Central West Virginia Airport in Harrison County.
Some delegates argued the legislature’s priorities should be focused elsewhere.
“The light above this capitol is not on because we are short on airport hangars, it’s not,” Delegate Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, said. “It’s on because we’ve got a corrections crisis.”
But other delegates disagreed saying the hangar is needed to train more students for available aviation jobs at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries West Virginia Service Center located at the airport.
“We have companies tell us what they need,” Delegate Joey Garcia, D-Marion, said. “We have students that are being churned out up at Pierpont but not quick enough, not quick enough. This is going to help north central West Virginia.”
Other bills
–Gov. Justice’s bill that would reduce the money put into the state’s Rainy Day fund was changed by the House and died. The move caused lawmakers to cut the original funding plans proposed in the special session by $144 million.
–Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, attempted to get an amendment added to the bill that provides $45 million to Marshall University for its cyber security program. Hansen wanted another $45 million for the financially struggling West Virginia University.
“Surplus funds to help them get through this tough patch, get through this tough period,” Hansen said.
House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, ruled the proposed amendment was not germane to the bill.
–A bill was approved to allocate $150 million to the state Division of Highways, including $100 million for road maintenance projects and $50 million for equipment.
Delegate Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, expressed frustration that the DOH has already spent much of the money before lawmakers approved it.
“I appreciate the work DOH does and I’m thankful that our roads are definitely improving in the state but I’m hoping we can have a little more transparency. Not going out and bidding projects, not going out and completing projects before the money is appropriated,” he said.
–Lawmakers also gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that creates Summersville Lake State Park, the first new state park designation in the Mountain State in 30 years.
The night ended with separate floor speeches from both Hanshaw and Senate President Craig Blair.
The list of bills that lawmakers finalized Tuesday included:
SB 1003–a bill creating two retention payments of $2,300 each for non-uniformed staff in the state Division of Corrections. The total cost will be $5.8 million.
SB 1005– includes $11,027,839 for pay raises for corrections officers and $2,660,749 for juvenile services officers.
SB 1006–updating temporary ID cards for released inmates that serves as an assistance in getting a job after their release and extends the time the card is good up to 180 days…
SB 1007-increases the number of days counties may seek reimbursement from municipalities for regional jail fees from one day to up to five days, if certain conditions are met. The city must have more than 4,000 residents. And the charge leading to incarceration could have been brought in municipal court but was brought in magistrate court.
SB 1009–allows the state Corrections Commissioner to decline to pay for an inmate’s medical procedure that is not deemed medically necessary
SB 1010–requiring the Supreme Court to establish a pretrial release program for all judicial circuits
SB 1039–creating a $15 million funding stream for deferred maintenance projects at the state’s regional jails..
SB 1019–funding a $10.4 million technology upgrade in the House of Delegates and state Senate
SB 1020–allowing for an excise tax in Mercer County to fund The Ridges economic development project
SB 1021, 1022–various funding streams for volunteer fire departments and EMS including making additional funding available for VFDs that serve more populated areas. SB 1022 takes the funds from money that is not surplus funds.
SB 1031–allocating $125 million to the state’s combined research labs project. Lawmakers reduced the governor’s original proposal of $175 million by $50 million
SB 1032–approving $4 million for the state Division of Forestry to purchase new wildfire suppression equipment…
SB 1034–an appropriation of $4 million for ADA improvements and an outdoor historical display at the state Culture Center in Charleston
SB 1038–$3 million to the Mountaineer Challenge Academy, $500,000 of which will be used to drawdown federal funds
SB 1041–providing $1 million for security camera improvements at the State Police Academy
SB 1043–allocation of $5 million to comply with a new state law that requires the state’s psychiatric hospitals to be licensed with OFLAC
SB 1026, 1027–funding to state Division of Highways including $100 million road maintenance projects and $50 million for equipment
SB 1042–a $12 million allocation for the state Department of Education to pay the remainder due for electric school buses from GreenPower
SB 1028–$85 million to the Governor’s Civil Contingency Fund for water and sewer projects
HB 117–allocating $45 million to Marshall University for the university’s Cyber Security program