Day 2: The State of the State has been stated. Now, lawmakers get to work.
Good morning from your legislative listening post in Morgantown. The session is now underway and that means everyone has more work to do, including me and Giles.
The first few days of the session in an election year means there’s as much news coming out of incumbents and other would-be office seekers filing candidacy paperwork as there is actual policy-making. Yesterday was no outlier, as Gov. Jim Justice signed up to make his run for the U.S. Senate official. He also submitted paperwork on behalf of former president Donald Trump as he seeks the GOP nomination for president.
Brad McElhinny, one of the best of the best from the statehouse press corps (and one of the funniest people around), made note of the frenzy of paperwork filings with a bit of a joke about a famous West Virginian who decided to announce his retirement. Brad was, of course, talking about Fairmont native and Alabama head football coach Nick Saban. The point is clear: filings are aplenty and Saban has wide name recognition. So why not make a run for something, Coach?
Today is January 11, 2024, the second day of the West Virginia Legislature’s regular session.
Now that Governor Justice has presented his spending plan to the Legislature, budget hearings are on tap today:
The House Finance Committee is set to hear from the Department of Revenue during its meeting at 9am in room 460M. The panel will reconvene in the afternoon, at 3:30pm, to hear a presentation on the budget bill.
The Senate Finance Committee will hear from State Budget Director Michael Cook at the panel’s morning meeting. It’s scheduled for 9:30am in room 451M. Later in the afternoon, at 3:30pm, the committee will meet with Mark Muchow, the Department of Revenue’s Deputy Cabinet Secretary.
The floor sessions for both the House and Senate begin at the usual time, at 11am.
As it did last year, the nonpartisan League of Women Voters of West Virginia is again planning to track how individual lawmakers vote on the League’s top policy priorities including making it easier to vote and safeguarding equal rights. You can find last year’s scorecard here.
Of course, yesterday was Gov. Justice’s final State of the State address. True to form, he brought out a prop of sorts, this time introducing lawmakers and other distinguished guests to the girls’ basketball team he coaches at Greenbrier East High School.
Justice also, as predicted, boasted about the fiscal shape of West Virginia, making note of more than $400 million in surplus funds half way through the fiscal year. The governor painted a picture that offered stark contrast to seven years ago when he first took office.
“When the first time you saw me, I stood before you pledging to fight for the soul of our state. We were starting down a dark tunnel,” Justice said in his roughly hour-long speech. “Our state was bankrupt. Our jobs and our people were leaving and our spirit was broken. Do you remember those days? Do you remember what that was like? It wasn’t any fun, was it?”
60 Days links — a round-up of coverage on last night’s speech:
Brad McElhinny of WVMetroNews detailed Justice’s plans for more tax cuts and another round of pay raises for public employees.
Roger Adkins of The Charleston Gazette-Mail also detailed the governor’s fiscal proposals, including one that would create a child tax credit.
The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy is calling on West Virginia lawmakers to reject another “austerity budget.” Executive Director Kelly Allen posted the WVCBP’s first blush reaction on X (the former Twitter) shortly after the Governor wrapped up his remarks.
During his remarks last night, Governor Justice said, "If we don't watch out, we're going to ruin -- and I said ruin -- high school sports in West Virginia." He was talking about the transfer bill the legislature passed last year. It’s being blamed for leading to some eye-popping scores in high school football. Henry Culvyhouse and Derek Willis of Mountain State Spotlight analyzed scores going back to 2009 for this story published in November.
And Babydog turned up on the House floor last night after a question was raised about whether she was an invited guest. David Beard of the Morgantown Dominion Post has that story in this roundup of the session’s first day.
Resources:
Correction: Today’s 60 Days newsletter has been updated. It originally included a link to a League of Women Voters webinar on the group’s scorecard. The link didn’t work because the webinar has already happened — LAST Thursday, January 4th. I somehow missed that little nugget of information. Thanks to a sharp-eyed reader for bringing it to my attention.
Possibly, your link to the webinar didn’t work because it happened on Jan 4! But never fear, it was recorded & is available for posterity at https://youtu.be/UIpHFi5YDFU?si=fQtfdvqS5JORjbN1