MORGANTOWN — The candidates for the state Senate 2nd District took questions on the issues from The Dominion Post Editorial Board.
Republican incumbent Charles Clements faces Democratic challenger Eric Hayhurst.
Clements, of New Martinsville, served two terms in the House of Delegates from 1995-98. He was appointed to the Senate to fill the seat of now-Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt in January 2017 and was elected in 2018 to a full term; he’s seeking his second full term. He chairs Transportation and Infrastructure and serves on several other committees.
He previously was a small business owner and served as office manager to an income tax accounting firm before his appointment to the Senate. He’s been married for 53 years.
Hayhurst, of Maidsville, is a WVU graduate and an attorney. He’s a high school basketball official and community volunteer. Unmarried, he has a dog named Baxter, he said.
They fielded a question on their views of the rival tax-relief plans: the Senate’s plan to eliminate the tax on business inventory, equipment and machinery, and the vehicle property tax — if Amendment 2 is approved by the voters — and the House’s and governor’s plan to cut the personal income tax.
Hayhurst said the state can’t afford to do both. There are teacher vacancies, a jail guard shortage, infrastructure needs and the opioid crisis. “West Virginia needs a lot of the money that’s in the surplus that’s just sitting there.”
He said he favors tax cuts for low- and middle-income workers. But not Amendment 2, which would be bad for the counties, schools and the state as a whole. “The plan the Senate has put forward is paper-thin. … I think it’s too dangerous.”
If there was a concrete plan in place, he’d be happy to look at it, he said. He also favors cutting the car tax.
Clements said Amendment 2 doesn’t automatically change the tax code; that requires further legislative action. And the Senate plan reimburses the counties.
To give some perspective, he said that in the 1990s the Senate developed a 40-year plan to fully fund the state pension fund. The state has stuck to that through Republican and Democrat legislatures.
The Senate plan, he said, includes a trigger to reduce the income tax, while the governor’s plan doesn’t reduce it enough. “This is an important economic development tool for our state,” and will help West Virginia small businesses, not just out-of-state companies.
They took a question on how they would spend the spendable portion of the budget surplus — $1.3 billion last fiscal year, and still growing.
Clements said, “I’m a big infrastructure person.” It should go to roads, upgrading facilities, water and sewer projects totaling billions of dollars across the state. In other words, capital projects, and only one-time expenditures — not long-term or budget-building commitments.
Hayhurst agreed on roads and bridges and added broadband. There are a lot of areas with poor or no coverage. “We should be building the best broadband, the best cellular coverage in those areas.” He also agreed it should be only one-time expenditures.
In the wake of the abortion law passed during the special session, they were asked what they would do to help mothers.
Hayhurst said, speaking of women in general, they should be provided reproductive choice. “The exceptions in this bill are largely illusory,” partly due to the short reporting window and partly due to expected repercussions on ob/gyns who will leave the state or not come here.
“Women will die because of this law that has been passed,” he said. The state should provide additional services, allow Medicaid to apply across state borders, provide education, access to healthcare for expectant mothers, including minor rape victims, and stipends.
Clements referred to SB 3001, passed by the Senate at the end of the July special session, amended and passed by the House, then returned to the Senate where it died over failure to agree to the House changes. It was intended to address some of the needed services for mothers and families.
(As reported then, the Senate version mandated insurance coverage for vasectomies and tubal ligations. It prohibited prior authorizations, waiting periods and multiple office visits. It codified that adoptive families may access early intervention programs offered through the Department of Health and Human Resources. It doubled the adoption tax credit from $4,000 to $8,000. It removed the current prohibition for licensed pharmacists to dispense self-administered contraceptives to anyone under 18. It also created a special revenue account for local health departments to provide free contraceptives to help the working poor.)
Clements, who was a co-sponsor, said he expects it to be reintroduced during the 2023 regular session. On the repercussions on physicians, he said they talked to doctors when crafting the abortion bill and made sure they aren’t subject to criminal penalties for doing their job. They can only face loss of license if they intentionally break the law.
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