CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state legislature began its 60-day regular session with little fanfare Wednesday with the House and Senate gaveling at around noon.
Lawmakers now wait for Gov. Patrick Morrisey to deliver his State of the State Address tonight at 7 o’clock.
The condition of the state’s economy was the subject of discussion Wednesday morning with a presentation from WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research Director John Deskins.
He said he views the current state of the economy as a glass half-full, half-empty scenario.
“The baseline message is we’re expected to continue to grow in West Virginia, we don’t expect a recession is on the horizon, we’re going to add jobs in the coming five years and we still have more of our fair share of challenges,” Deskins said Wednesday on MetroNews “Talkline” broadcasting live from the state capitol.
Deskins told lawmakers earlier the state’s anemic workforce participation rate, the lowest in the nation at around 54 percent, continues to slow down any major economic growth.
“It’s virtually a mathematical impossibility. There’s no way we could ever achieve the outcomes that we want. There’s no way we could achieve something like a per capita personal income that’s on par with the national average–there’s no way we could ever achieve that unless we move the labor participation rate up,” Deskins said.
He said he believes there are people in West Virginia who want to work but they can’t because of things like bad health and drug addiction. He said the state’s overdose death rate has also played a role.
Deskins said later on Talkline financial investment in certain areas would help.
“We have to invest in these big problems—improving education outcomes, improving health outcomes, fixing this drug abuse problems. These are things we have to do but they aren’t going to be easy to fix overnight,” Deskins said.
Deskins said there are pockets of growth in West Virginia but unfortunately the state still lacks a diversified economy.
House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw said the House’s goal this session is to put tools in place to help approve the economy. Hanshaw said bills would begin running later this week including a bill to speed up access road construction.
“That’s not one that jumps out and grabs a lot of headlines but it’s super important if you are in the process, if you’re in the business of siting a major facility in a community. It might take a couple of million dollars to get into a site,” Hanshaw said Wednesday on Talkline.
Senate President Randy Smith said he wants to further concentrate on help small to medium-sized businesses in rural areas of the state.
“We’re not going to land these big projects, the big manufacturers, but we can do the small ones,” Smith said.
Gov. Morrisey will likely have economic development plans that he’ll focus on during part of his speech Wednesday night.