By Autumn Shelton, West Virginia Press Association
The West Virginia Press Association held its annual Legislative Lookahead on Feb. 7. During the event, House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, Senator Amy Grady, R-Mason, and Delegate Clay Riley, R-Harrison, all spoke as part of a Legislative panel that discussed goals for the upcoming legislative session, which began on Feb. 12.
According to Hanshaw, one of the main priorities for the legislature is the state’s budget.
“For the last four years, we’ve enjoyed a substantial influx of federal dollars into the state of West Virginia,” Hanshaw began. “And, that’s been beneficial to us in a number of ways. It’s allowed us to enjoy some budget surpluses in state government that have positioned us well to make investments in infrastructure, to make investments in public education, to make investments in buying out some of the long-term liabilities of the state of West Virginia, and to make investments in the physical assets of state government of higher education of K-12 education.”
However, Hanshaw noted that for 2025, “circumstances are different” due to the uncertainty in Washington, D.C., and the changing American economy.
“We know that that will have implications, perhaps broad impact, on West Virginia state government,” Hanshaw said, adding that although the state has been working toward diversification of its own economy, it still relies on severance tax from natural resource extraction.
“But, we don’t know what that looks like for us now in the face of a 15 percent retaliatory tariff imposed on coal imports into China from the United States of America,” he said. “That remains uncertain for us and we have to see how that evolves over the course of the next budget cycle.”
Hanshaw also noted that workforce training and public education will continue to be paramount for that state as new ways of employee recruitment and business investment are considered.
“We have much more to do in terms of training and workforce – preparing young people to enter the careers of the 21st century economy, because we know that’s where we’re headed,” he continued. “We can no longer continue to just train workers for the jobs of the past. We have to be training workers for the jobs of the future.”
In order to do this, Hanshaw said that West Virginia must address the “substantial financial burden” of the Public Employees Insurance Agency.
“We have a lot of work to do,” he said of PEIA restructuring. “So many West Virginias depend upon that insurance plan, that employee benefit, to provide basic health care and basic medical coverage for them and their families that we have an obligation as the state of West Virginia to make sure that those in our charge, our employees at every level of government who depend upon that program . . . are protected and are covered.”
He also stated that local and state governments need to be protected from long-term insurance liabilities.
“We’ve begun to evaluate, with the help of our partners across government, our state’s BRIM (Board of Risk and Insurance Management) structure – how do we provide adequate insurance coverage in the face of liabilities that we know exist across state government,” Hanshaw said, adding that legislators must consider restructuring payment from the state in terms of the rising costs of healthcare.
Additionally, he said that legislators will be looking into the school-aid formula to better reflect what county boards of education, students and parents need, creating a hospitable environment for energy-intensive data center industries.
Riley was the next speaker to the podium.
According to Riley, the modified process of a bill’s committee process in the House, established in January through House Resolution 1, will lead to more public input despite removing the ability for in-person public hearings as was done in the past.
“As the Speaker said in his comments, things are different, and they are going to require a different approach,” Riley began, “I think some of you have heard that we are making some slight modification to the process on the House side of how we investigate the issues and the problems that we are trying to solve. They get a little bit deeper to the foundational solutions so that we can begin to look at the foster care issues and what are really the root causes and how we can begin to unwind the issue, because it’s a very complex issue.”
Riley said that the House process this year will include a bill hearing for “in-depth” testimony that will include opportunities for more public input.
“So, previously you would have a one-hour public hearing where this, now, every bill will have a hearing,” he said. “So, every member of the state of West Virginia, every citizen of the state of West Virginia can submit written comments if they are interested.”
Riley continued that the House Government Organization Committee, will look at efficient ways of permit processing, reducing red tape while protecting the environment, the House Judiciary Committee will continue to look at correctional facilities and the best way to get incarcerated individuals back into society, the House Finance Committee will continued to look at economic diversification and the regulatory structure for taxes, and the House Education Committee will look at how local school boards can be more effective and more accountable.
Next to speak was Hornbuckle.
“We’re going to stand up for West Virginia,” Hornbuckle began, adding that Democrats will continue to champion bipartisanship in the legislative process. However, “when it comes time to be the adult in the room and stand up to extremism, that’s what we’re going to do. That’s what we have to do.”
Hornbuckle said that West Virginia, along with the nation, is lacking “civility and statesmanship.”
“We’re living in an era of a zero-sum mentality where there’s one point – if it’s on your side, or your side who wins,” Hornbuckle said. “That’s dangerous for all of us, and that’s what we have to stand up against.”
He said that the Democratic caucus in the state’s legislature will focus on people.
“We’ve heard time and time again about affordable housing, about affordable healthcare,” Hornbuckle said. “We have worked awfully hard to make sure that everybody, nook and cranny and hollow in West Virginia has broadband. We’ve gotta accelerate those efforts.”
Hornbuckle also said that childcare needs and the need for more efficient public education spending will be considered.
“Our teachers are paid less than every single surrounding state. Our bus drivers are paid less than every single surrounding state,” he said. “You want to talk about compromise–we have the Hope Scholarship. I’ve been on record of not voting for that, but I understand it’s here. The least we can do is make sure your taxpayer dollars stay in this state. Currently, they are going out-of-state.”
Focusing on the state’s senior citizens as well as meaningful tax cuts to the lower and middle classes must be considered, he continued.
Lastly, Hornbuckle stated that privacy is a major concern.
“We want to make sure as women of the great state of West Virginia – whatever you do with your body is your choice,” he stated. “In West Virginia, we’re sportsmen. As long as you’re a law-abiding citizen, have whatever gun you want in your home. That’s your business. When it comes to loving who you want to love, we want to make sure that stays in your home, because, again, that’s your business and we are about privacy.”
Grady, chair of the Senate Education Committee and public school teacher, was the last panelist to speak.
“We need to focus on all of our students,” Grady began – that includes all students in both public education and private education.
For Grady, she said her number one focus for the education committee is the out-dated school aid formula.
“I was shocked to find out that there has never been a study done on the effectiveness of our state aid formula, and it hasn’t been changed a lot since the early 1990’s,” she said. “That’s a long time ago, and the needs of our schools are so different now than they were then. We have a lot more mental health issues. We have a lot of low-SES students. We have a lot more students with IEPs, and those aren’t addressed in our state aid formula right now.”
Grady noted that amending the school aid formula will be difficult, but that a good first step would be to hire an outside agency to complete a data-driven study on needed changes.
Second, Grady said that the committee will look at a new bill regarding school discipline issues, although Senate Bill 614 didn’t pass during the prior legislative session.
“I was really disappointed, but some really great conversations have come out over the last year about that bill over the exposure that it had,” she explained. “I have been contacted by several mental health providers and mental health agencies –agencies that work with school systems in other states– that have contacted me and said, ‘How can we help?’”
“If we can get some sort of support for our kids in schools to where we can keep them in schools, but also focus on the majority of the kids, the 99 percent that are in the classroom to learn, I think that’s the best thing we can do,” Grady continued.
Another area of focus will be increasing school security by using a school safety service and plan for all 55 counties, Grady said.
“I don’t know how much you guys are familiar with those, but those security maps are amazing. The DPS (Department of Public Safety) can pull them up and see where there’s movement inside of a building, they can see where doors are, where AEDs are, where every single fire extinguisher is, where they can shut off gas leaks – different types of things that aren’t’ deemed emergencies, but are helpful in the case of an emergency,” Grady explained.
Although the security mapping system comes with a $4.8 million price tag, Grady said that it would be a good investment by the state.
Lastly, Grady said that a high school diploma doesn’t have the same value as it once did, largely because students are simply being “pushed through the system.” She noted that different credentialing may be looked at to make a high school diploma valuable once again as well as increasing the level of school and business partnerships to prepare students for the workforce through internship opportunities.
