Legislative leaders outline goals for education, labor before start of 2019 session

CHARLESTON — Legislative leaders outlined  priorities for the session that begins next week during  West Virginia Press Association’s Legislative Look-ahead.
There was a substantial amount of overlap, with few points of contention among the four who spoke.
Senate President Mitch Carmichael and Minority Whip Corey Palumbo spoke for the Senate Republicans and Demo-crats, respectively.
Carmichael prefaced his comments by noting  the state has the lowest workforce participation rate and is among the lowest for education attainment.
With that in mind, he said, the Senate will again pursue a bill  he called a “last-dollar in” benefit for students and residents who want to pursue community and technical college education. This was more loosely termed the free community college bill last session.
The bill would supplement all other aid the prospective student could obtain to ensure the student pays nothing out of pocket for job education.
“This is a program that will break the cycle of poverty in West Virginia and bring more people into, or back into, the workforce,” Carmichael said.
The bill will require drug testing and community service, and would become a loan with a payback requirement for recipients who choose to leave the state.
The GOP will support the governor’s proposal to provide another 5 percent pay raise for teachers and state employees. Combined with the 2018 raise, Carmichael said, “This is a historic investment in our education community.”
The Republicans also want to pursue more education reform to provide more local control, he said.
Also on the agenda, he said, is an intermediate appeals court. West Virginia is one of only six or seven states without one.
Cost was a question last session, with the Supreme Court estimating its cost at $10 million per year and the Senate estimating $3 million. Carmichael said with the voters approving legislative control of the Supreme Court’s budget, they should get a more accurate handle on its costs.
Palumbo noted past legislation improved the state’s business tax and legal climate. “The problem is we’re still hemorrhaging people in West Virginia.”
For that reason, the last-dollar workforce training bill is a Democrat priority, too.
His caucus also favors ending the income tax on Social Security benefits.
Ten years ago, Palumbo said, the Legislature passed a bill to allow city and county governments to merge to create more efficient government. But it’s never been done. They hope to pass some legislation this session to provide additional motivation.
Palumbo said he personally doesn’t oppose an intermediate court, if new legislation makes the program a bit more efficient than last year’s bill: SB 341, which passed the Senate along party lines, 23-11, but died in the House.
However, it’s not a high priority for him, he said, and he thinks a majority of the Democrats may still oppose it.
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw appeared via a pre-recorded video and spoke for the Republicans, while Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, represented the minority.
The House GOP’s man-tra, he said, is to make West Virginia the best place possible to live, work and raise a family. All legislation will work toward that end.
The GOP, he said, is behind phasing out the business equipment and inventory tax, which he called a “job-killing tax.”
The House GOP supports the teacher pay raise proposal and wants to get behind legislation to enhance workforce training and job skills development, to help the economy and keep people working or running businesses here instead of other states, he said. There are more jobs in West Virginia than skilled labor to fill them.
Legislation to enhance statewide broadband connectivity will be introduced on Day 1 — Wednesday — he said.
Pushkin said legislation must answer important questions. Will this keep our children in West Virginia? Will it keep everyone here and draw people to return or move here?
His caucus also favors ending the Social Security benefits income tax and passing the last-dollar community college bill, with provisions to keep those who receive funding working here.
The Democrats, he said, favor fixing the flaws in the medical cannabis legislation and also support legalizing cannabis for adult use. While a bill for adult recreational use may seem like a non-starter, that’s what everybody thought about medical cannabis two years ago. The votes are there in both parties to pass it, if Republican leaders will allow it to move.
The Democrats don’t support an intermediate appeals court, he said. “It’s unnecessary and a waste of time, quite frankly.”
Asked how the Legislature might pay for the proposed tax cuts and new and expanded programs, along with $100 million in new money for PEIA, Carmichael said the money will come, for now, from tax revenue generated by business growth, Pushkin said a sales tax on legal cannabis could generate $80 million, not counting income tax from new jobs the industry would create.