Day 1: Welcome to Opening Day (I wish I was talking about baseball.)
The West Virginia Weakly Legislative Lookahead for February 12, 2025
Well, we’re here — it’s Opening Day.
And I’m not talking about Major League Baseball. We’re still a few weeks away from that. I’m talking about Day 1 of the 87th West Virginia Legislature.
Lawmakers will gavel in at noon in the House of Delegates and state Senate to kick off the 60-day regular session.
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw (R-Clay) and Senate President Randy Smith (R-Preston) will knock out a whole bunch of housekeeping so everyone can get set at the starting line.
In terms of real-deal legislating, expect only a small portion of that to happen. Matter of fact, a few hundred bills are set to be introduced. You can have a look for yourself here:
I’d recap what looks interesting, but those are some long lists to comb through on short notice. And a good rule for reporting on (or simply observing) the Legislature is not to get too worked up until a bill starts getting a look in committee.
What will happen today, for sure, is freshly inaugurated Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey will deliver his first State of the State address. This evening, Morrisey will outline his priorities and give his thoughts about how lawmakers should budget for in the upcoming fiscal year.
West Virginia’s new chief executive has warned of a significant budget shortfall — which he blames on his predecessor as governor, Sen. Jim Justice.
Since taking office, Morrisey has made clear his allegiance to President Donald Trump. So be on the lookout for a lot of talk tonight about how West Virginia policy will be shaped in the mold of the actions of the new Trump administration.
Over the course of the next two months, The West Virginia Weakly will go daily — giving you a look at what is coming down the pike under the golden dome in Charleston.
We’re not going to be there walking the marble floors every day or anything. But as a couple veterans of the Capitol press corps, we’ll do our best to help readers make sense of the process and what to keep your eyes peeled for.
These daily (Monday through Friday) lookahead posts will be short and sweet. Like our weekend emails, we’ll also rely on reporters from a variety of statewide and local media outlets to help explain what lawmakers are getting up to.
We’ll still be putting out editions of our Saturday Weakly Reader to recap news in state politics and other goings-on around the state. It’ll likely be heavy on legislative news, but we’ll also do our best to keep an eye on other things.
It’s going to be a busy 60 Days for the WV Weakly.
Thanks for sharing the ride with us.