MORGANTOWN — The two candidates for the state Senate 14th District fielded questions from The Dominion Post Editorial Board on Tuesday.
Republican incumbent Dave Sypolt is seeking his fourth term in office. He previously served as Education chair and now serves as Agriculture and Rural Development chair.
Sypolt noted the state’s improving economy. There’s been more business growth in the past 18 months than the previous several years, he said. We’re starting to see and a decrease in unemployment and an increase in private business benefits and wages.
Democrat challenger Stephanie Zucker is trained as a research scientist and owns Animal Medical Center on Hartman Run Road in Morgantown.
She calls herself an “improbable candidate” spurred to run because she’s frustrated with the ineffectiveness of the current legislature and disgusted with the lack of focus on the well-being of the state’s residents.
On the question of pay raises for Division of Highways workers, Sypolt said pay for all state employees is abysmally low. Last session’s 5 percent raise for all employees is not sufficient and is just a start. Further improvement in the state’s economy could provide the tax revenue to fund further raises.
Zucker said, “I’m not seeing that improving economy filter down to our citizens.” While not suggesting a means to fund raises, she said state worker pay hikes will filter down into the economy.
Addressing the question of whether representatives of the state’s community and technical colleges should have seats on the new higher education blue ribbon commission, both agreed they should.
Sypolt noted that during last session, SB 284, the so-called free community college bill, died to make way for the state teacher and employee raises. The bill would have budgeted $7 million to give students money to supplement any other grants or scholarships they might receive, He hopes to see it resurrected and passed next session.
Another bill that failed — in the last minutes of the last night — was HB 4345, to expand aspects of the medical cannabis program and fix a problem regarding how tax and permit money would be channeled into state coffers.
The banking fix was written incorrectly and rather than revise it, House leadership let it die.
The editorial board asked if the program will help residents and the state’s economy.
Sypolt said, “I’m not sure it would help the economy but it would help the people.” He expects the banking problem to get fixed during a special session or next regular session.
Zucker said that the program is too limited and doesn’t allow for use of the whole plant, only processed products, which can be less effective for patients.
She noted that states with medical and adult-use (recreational) cannabis laws see a significant drop in opioid use and abuse. “I can’t see how anyone who pays attention in this state could think something that could cut our opioid use, overdoses and deaths by a quarter couldn’t be a no-brainer.”
While medical cannabis may not help the economy much, she said, decriminalization could — by reducing the strain on the legal system and generating tax revenue.
Both support single-member House districts and legislative oversight of the Supreme Court budget.
They differ on raising severance taxes on oil and gas production.
Zucker said she favors raising the severance tax and creating an impact fee, so the gas producers pay their fair share of boosting the state’s economy and providing needed state services. She cited Alaska, which has a high tax and uses it to send checks out to residents.
Sypolt said our competition is next door — Ohio and Pennsylvania. Both have more active rigs and lower taxes. West Virginia’s tax is 5 percent of the wellhead price and yields $1.068 million over the life of a single well.
Ohio’s tax is 2.5 cents per thousand cubic feet and, in contrast, yields only $200,000 per well, he said. Pennsylvania has an impact fee, with a complex formula, that yields $240,000 over 15 years.
So raising the tax will only drive business to our neighbors, he said.
