CHARLESTON — Delegate Amy Summers, R-Taylor, is prepping for her new job as House majority leader. She was named to the post last week and wants to be ready for the start of the next session Jan. 9.
Republicans know Summers is the first female GOP majority leader, and delegates of both parties believe she’s the first of any party. Commenting on that, she chuckled and smiled. “It’s nice making history. I like it.”
New Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, previously named Delegate Riley Moore, R-Jefferson, to the post, but Moore was unseated in the general election.
Summers explained how she earned the job.
“Roger and I have served on several committees together, and we just know how we operate, and we think a lot alike. … We like good policy. We like good laws that can change people’s lives.”
Hanshaw’s goal, she said, is to make West Virginia a better place to live, work and raise a family, and he wants to formulate policies to make that happen.
“I think he just thought I could be on his team and help all of us achieve those things.”
Part of the majority leader’s job is seen each day on the House floor. The leader is a sort of ringmaster, making sure the day’s script of floor actions runs smoothly. The leader is also often the chief defender of party policies during floor debates.
But there’s more off camera, and she’s just starting to learn what all that entails, she said.
She’s wrapping up her role as Health Committee vice chair to make way for her successor, trying to transition into the new role with a new speaker and has some new thoughts on how his team will work.
She knows she’ll be attending meetings and dealing with some media matters. She’ll also oversee House staff. She’ll coordinate with new Majority Whip Paul Espinosa and work out the whip’s somewhat modified new role (the whip is tasked with polling the caucus on its views on issues and building caucus unity).
Summers also wants to coordinate better with the Senate and her counterpart there on bill consensus and bill movement.
“We have the opportunity, we’re both of the same party, that we should coordinate a little better.”
She knows Minority Leader (and former Speaker) Tim Miley, D-Harrison, lives just a sort drive away from him and already has a good relationship with him, she said. “I have no problem making sure that as many things as we can agree on as a whole House, we can. It makes things go smoother.”
Most bills pass with overwhelming majorities, she noted.
Summers said previous majority leaders took seats on the Finance Committee, but she’s an emergency room nurse and understands the issues that come before the Health Committee, so she wants to keep a seat there instead.
The majority’s big issue this coming session, she said, will be phasing out the business inventory tax — known to be an obstacle to recruiting businesses to the state for decades. A proposal to end it last session fizzled, partly because of the statewide teacher walkout and demands for a raise and a fix to PEIA problems.
The biggest hurdle to ending the inventory tax, it’s widely known, is replacing the money from it that supports local schools. So it may have to be phased out slowly, she said. “Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.”
We’re one of the few states with such a tax, she said, so there must be a way. But proposals to raise the oil and gas severance tax may not be the answer. The state is shifting from a gas-export mentality to a keep-it-here-for-industry mentality. “We have to make it so they want to come here. That’s just another hurdle.”
The House GOP, she said, will get behind another teacher pay raise and the governor’s funding proposal for PEIA. Those things cost money, so they’ll also continue looking at ways to reduce fraud and waste in government.
The Education Committee lost both its chair, Espinosa, and its vice chair, Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, Summers said. Their successors haven’t been announced, but Summers expects to see some education reforms introduced or revisited this session.
“Our constituents and our parents are really wanting something different, wanting options. So I think you’ll see some discussion of that,” she said. Charter schools and education savings accounts may be discussed, and there will be more emphasis on career and technical training.
Summers said, with a smile, that when her new role was announced, she suddenly developed “200 new friends.” She believes her people skills developed as an ER nurse will help her build good relationships as majority leader.
“I don’t have a problem if I disagree on an issue. It’s only if they get ugly about it. Why can’t we agree to disagree or try to reach middle ground? There’s no reason that can’t be in politics. Some people can’t be.”
Summers’ new role also boosts north-central West Virginia’s presence in legislative leadership.
The area has been well represented in the current minority party — with Miley; Barbara Evans Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, as Judiciary minority chair; Linda Longstreth, D-Marion, as Health minority chair; Mike Caputo, D-Marion, as minority whip and Transportation minority chair. In the Senate, Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, is minority leader.
The numbers have been fewer on the GOP side. Statler will not return. Neither will Cindy Frich, R-Monongalia, who chaired Banking & Insurance and was vice chair of Rule Making Review. Hanshaw hasn’t announced the 2019 chairs yet.
In the Senate, Dave Sypolt, R-Preston, chaired Agriculture and Randy Smith, R-Tucker, chaired Energy. For the coming session, Senate President Mitch Carmichael just replaced his Education chair and hasn’t announced his other committee chairs yet.
