Day 16: Gov. Justice's tax cut mini-tour continues, but Senate Republicans remain wary of the governor's path
Good morning and welcome back to 60 Days.
Today is Thursday, January 26th, 2023 — the 16th day of the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session.
Some days early in the session end up being a dud, which happens from time to time. Yesterday seemed to be one of those days, based on what I tuned into and what made news elsewhere.
But seeing as how we’re committed to delivering the goods every morning, here’s a look at what’s coming today and a bit about what we noticed from yesterday.
Maybe I just need a coffee get myself back into gear.
The House and Senate will both gavel in at 11 a.m.
If you’re feeling like skimming through bills on the House Special Calendar or the Senate Calendar for today, you can find them on the bulletin board.
Each has a slew of bills that will be on the floor. But, admittedly, the only one that really caught my eye was SB 426.
That measure calls on the state to “work in cooperation with the federal government to implement appropriate safeguards to defend government networks in West Virginia and in the United States from foreign technology threats.”
TikTok — the social media platform owned by the Chinese company ByteDance — has come under scrutiny over concerns that information could be shared with the Chinese Government.
The feds have banned its use on government devices. Other states have followed suit. And in late December, Gov. Jim Justice called for a bill to ban TikTok (and other apps with ties to Beijing) from state-owned devices.
It’s only on first reading in the Senate, but it’s certainly an issue that has made news here, elsewhere and nationally. So, keep an eye out for that.
Remember when Acting Corrections Commissioner Brad Douglas appeared before the House Jails and Prisons Committee last week? He addressed the crisis in West Virginia jails saying, “We’re absolutely working our people to death, and they’re quitting because of that.”
Severe staffing issues led Governor Justice to declare an emergency back in August, calling on members of the state National Guard to step in to help.
House lawmakers are set to begin addressing the crisis today. The Jails panel is considering a bill to give corrections officers a pay raise. HB 2879 also provides for a signing bonus to attract new workers.
Here’s what other House committees are up to today:
9 a.m. – House Committee on Workforce Development, Room 215-E
10 a.m. – House Committee on Senior, Children and Family Issues, Room 460-M
1 p.m. – House Committee on Technology and Infrastructure, Room 434-M
1 p.m. – House Committee on Energy and Manufacturing, Room, 410-M
3 p.m. – House Committee on Health and Human Resources, Room 215-E
The Senate committee schedule looks like this:
9 a.m. — Senate Committee on Government Organization, Room 208-W
Com. Sub. for SB 249: Amending Real Estate License Act
SB 240: Requiring state board of examination or registration proceedings to be open to public inspection
Com. Sub. for SB 294: Clarifying amount of deputy sheriff annual salary increase
SB 457: Removing certain activities Alcohol Beverage Control Commission licensee is prohibited to permit on private club premises
9 a.m. — Senate Committee on Education, Room 451-M
SB 222: Creating taskforce to consider options for direct funding of adult education learning centers
SB 306: Establishing Summer Feeding for All Program
SB 428: Revising requirements of local school improvement councils
1 p.m. — Senate Committee on Energy, Industry and Mining, Room 208-W
Presentation: PJM Transmission Grid
o Asim Z. Haque, VP, State Policy and Member Services, PJM
o Gary A. Jack, Senior Corporate Counsel, FirstEnergy Corp.
o David R. Ball, VP, Energy Delivery Ops., AEP
1 p.m. — Senate Committee on Health and Human Resources, Room 451- M
HB 2029: Repealing the creation of an all-payor claims database
SB 273: Relating to allocation of child protective workers in counties based upon population of county
HB 2018: Permitting the managed care case coordinator to attend the multidisciplinary team meeting
SB 267: Updating law regarding prior authorizations
2 p.m. — Senate Judiciary Subcommittee A – Criminal Law, Room 208-W
Com. Sub. for SB 49: Establishing criminal offense for being under influence of controlled substance unless specifically prescribed
Com. Sub. for SB 72: Modifying definition of sexual contact
Com. Sub. for SB 78: Creating felony offense of aggravated cruelty to animals
Com. Sub. for SB 120: Requiring registered sex offenders pay annual fee
Com. Sub. for SB 187: Creating new criminal offenses of sexual contact, intrusion, or abuse of students by school employee
Com. Sub. for SB 191: Relating to liability for payment of court costs as condition of pretrial diversion agreement
2 p.m. — Senate Judiciary Subcommittee B – Elections, Room 451-M
There are two bills on this agenda, both of which are worth pointing out:
SB 50: Requiring one-year residency within district or county to fill vacancy in Legislature
SB 235: Relating to voting rights of formerly incarcerated individuals
2 p.m. — Senate Judiciary Subcommittee C – Civil Justice and Courts, Room 219-M
3 p.m. — Senate Committee on Finance, Room 451-M
Budget hearings will continue in Senate Finance, with roads being the focus:
West Virginia Parkways Authority – Jeffrey A. Miller, Executive Director
West Virginia Department of Transportation – Jimmy Wriston, P.E., Cabinet Secretary
Gov. Jim Justice kicked off a mini-tour yesterday to promote his income tax cut reduction plan. Joined by Revenue Secretary Dave Hardy and House Finance Chair Vernon Criss (R-Wood), the governor made a stop in Parkersburg to talk and answer questions about his proposal.
HB 2526 easily passed the House of Delegates, but Justice is hoping to pump up support around the state to help convince the Republican-led Senate to get on board.
While Republicans in the Senate have seemed amenable to some sort of tax cuts, exactly what they’re planning remains unclear.
Sen. Eric Nelson (R-Kanawha) — who fairly recently chaired the House Finance Committee (which is to say he deserves some credit in terms of knowing his way around the state’s finances) — told WVMetroNews yesterday that discussions are ongoing amongst the Senate majority behind closed doors. But Nelson seemed to indicate they’re approaching how to tackle tax cuts with a sense of caution.
“I can say without a doubt that our entire caucus is extremely in favor of giving something back to West Virginians,” Nelson told Talkline host Hoppy Kercheval. “We do have some generous surpluses now, but let’s make sure that if we do give something back that we’re not going to run into a problem down the road.”
Justice will continue his mini-tour today in Beckley and finish the week in Wheeling tomorrow.
Not to be too heavy on the Senate this morning, but another thing that caught my eye was this piece from Mountain State Spotlight about Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump (R-Morgan) promising to introduce a proposal to walk back legislation passed last year regarding the accessibility of information from the state’s jails and prisons.
That does it for me today. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.
If you want to get in touch, you can email us at 60daysgilesdave@gmail.com.
I’m on Twitter at @davemistich and Giles is @GilesSnyder.