From the Well | July 27, 2022

It is the informal gathering place for lobbyists, reporters, constituents and lawmakers.

Centrally situated between the chambers of the House of Delegates and Senate,

The Well is where information is often shared, alliances are formed, and deals are made.

July 27, 2022

July Interim Meetings

and

Extraordinary Session

Photo courtesy of the West Virginia House of Delegates

The vote was 69-23; eight members were absent.

The bill now goes to the Senate, which is scheduled to convene at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Debate in the House of Delegates lasted more than three hours.

A majority of delegates voted down several amendments, including one offered by Democrats to establish exceptions for rape or incest.

Lawmakers adopted a different, narrower amendment offered by Delegate John Hardy of Berkeley County.

That amendment adds an exception that allows an abortion to be performed if the patient is a victim of sexual assault or incest; a report is made to a qualified law enforcement officer; a licensed medical professional determines that the probable gestational age of fetus has not exceeded 14 weeks; and other technical restrictions.

The vote on the amendment was 46-43.

Click here to read more from WVMetroNews.

Senate President Craig Blair doesn’t favor the governor’s income tax proposal right now. Governor Jim Justice, meanwhile, said the Senate majority’s property tax plan is too complicated.

The House Finance Committee passed the governor’s preferred bill Tuesday morning during this week’s special legislative session. The proposed income tax cut now will be considered among all delegates on the House floor, where it seems likely to pass without much change. Then the Senate would get the bill.

Blair said the special session called for the income tax cut has provided an opportunity to talk about the personal property tax cut.

“We’re butting heads, but I’d like to thank the governor for making the (special session) call because what’s it’s done is it’s bringing greater awareness to the counties and to the public so that in November when they go to the ballot they can trust the Legislature.

“If they vote yes on the personal property tax, we have every intention of being able to take care of this and take this tax away,” Senate President Blair said.

West Virginians vote in the General Election on a constitutional amendment that would give legislators the ability to change property taxes.

Click here for more coverage from WVMetroNews.

Companies that make and distribute ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic beverages want to see fairness in the West Virginia marketplace and say changes in tax law would be good for consumers and boost state revenue.

Appearing Monday before the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Finance, Andrew Deloney, Vice President for State Public Policy for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, said consumers deserve a fair tax policy that is based on the amount of alcohol in a beverage. Changes in tax and retail sales laws, he said, would lead to greater sales and generate more tax revenue for the state.

Distillers market spirit-based, pre-mixed cocktails that contain about the same amount of alcohol as other beverages that West Virginia taxes at a lower rate, Mr. Deloney said. As a result, he continued, West Virginia consumers pay higher prices for spirits-based RTD products even though those products contain the same or a similar amount of alcohol by volume as malt-, sugar- or wine-based products.

Deloney said RTD beverages sales have grown rapidly nationally, and the world pandemic was a factor in the increase. He suggested West Virginia’s tax policy regarding RTD beverages penalizes consumers. He said growing demand for RTD beverages and consideration for consumer convenience have led legislators in other states to consider bills related to taxation and retail access on RTD beverages.

West Virginians pay 15% to 20% more for RTD products than consumers in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland, Deloney said.

Lowering the tax to West Virginia’s cider rate (22.6 cents per gallon) and allowing distribution through beer sales outlets would net the state $3 million to $7 million in new tax revenue annually, he said. His association, he added, is not working toward or suggesting at this time the expansion of access points for the purchase of RTD beverages.

Addressing alcohol abuse, Mr. Deloney said, “There is no beverage of moderation, only the practice of moderation.

Transportation Secretary Jimmy Wriston told the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on Department of Transportation Accountability on Sunday that inflation continues to affect road construction projects across West Virginia.

Secretary Wriston pointed to supply-chain problems and difficulty purchasing and maintaining vehicles and construction equipment.

The state ended the fiscal year roughly $72 million below projections for the state Road Fund, which comes from a mix of sources, including gasoline tax, licenses and registration fees, and federal reimbursements. Secretary Wriston said each of those revenue streams is down, but the gasoline tax revenue has declined the most.

Click here for coverage from WVMetroNews.

West Virginia Parkways Authority Executive Director Jeff Miller told members of a legislative interim committee this week that a nearly $25 million toll system upgrade on the West Virginia Turnpike remains on schedule for completion by the end of 2023.

“This is very complex,” Mr. Miller said. “There’s factory acceptance on the testing, and each lane has to be commissioned. It’s also a complete upgrade to our back-office customer service center. We’re transitioning all of that to cloud-based as well.”

Parkways Authority members gave approval in April to a $24.8 million contract with technology company TransCore, which plans to take 18 months to make the changes. The current system has been in service since 2008.

Miller told lawmakers Sunday the new tolling system will include payments by debit or credit card as an option for testing under the new system.

However, Mr. Miller stressed that E-ZPass remains the quickest, most efficient way to move through the Turnpike’s three main tollbooths. He said having the credit-card payment option will not speed up traffic flow.

Currently, 58% of toll road motorists use E-ZPass, and Mr. Miller said the percentage is growing by a half-percent a month.

Mr. Miller also said the Turnpike has a collection system for motorists who don’t carry cash. He said they have five days to submit an electronic payment. The toll collector fills out a form including a motorist’s license plate number, a process that takes about 30 seconds. Miller told the Commission that cash transactions take about eight seconds.

Click here for more coverage from WVMetroNews.

Greg Bailey, Deputy State Highway Engineer, West Virginia Division of Highways, told lawmakers this week that the Division believes it has the authority to address temporary signs along the state’s highways in a policy rather than through legislative rule or statute.

He said his office is currently in the process of developing the policy and the manner in which the policy will be enforced.

Railroad Car Shortages Noted

Cindy Butler, Commissioner of the West Virginia Multimodal Division, gave lawmakers a summary of the Division’s efforts to investigate coal railcar shortages and backlog. She indicated the state has limited tools to address issues related to railroads, which are regulated by the federal government.

Delegate Daniel Linville of Cabell County told DOT officials that he’s at least gotten updates from CSX, which blankets about two-thirds of West Virginia. Delegate Linville said he hasn’t received any information from the state’s other major rail carrier, Norfolk Southern.

“We will be happy to use the power the Legislature has, the power that we as chairs have, and that we may be able to bestow to you all to hold these railroads accountable,” Delegate Linville said.

Speaking Tuesday to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance, Senator Tom Takubo of Kanawha County was clear about his opinion of West Virginia’s new electronic death-certificate filing system.

“I think this system has been horrible. What’s concerning to me is it won’t let you list the primary and the secondary causes of death. It won’t let you do that,” said Senator Takubo, a Kanawha County physician.

Members of the committee received updates from numerous state department officials. One area of concern centered around the state’s electronic death certificate filing system; another concern involved the slow implementation of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHR) Integrated Eligibility System.

Dr. Ayne Amjad, Director of the Bureau for Public Health, spoke about the state’s Vital Registration System-used in the preparation of death certificates. She said Netsmart was contracted in January 2019 to provide hosting services and IT support for the system.

“Around April of 2020, the project was deemed to be at risk” as the result of unfulfilled change orders and excessive turnover, Amjad said.

“By January of 2021, we did engage our legal counsel to look into that contract for failure to meet their milestones.”

DHHR terminated the contract with Netsmart in April 2021 after paying $141,000 of the $2.4 million contract. DHHR has since secured the services of VitalCheck to assume hosting and IT responsibilities.

Click here to read more from West Virginia Press.

Christina Mullins, Commissioner of the Bureau for Behavioral Health, told members of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability on Tuesday that the state returned $34 million in federal funds to address the state’s substance abuse problems.

Commissioner Mullins cited stringent federal requirements attached to the money and a lack of essential state workers as reasons for returning the funds. After she testified before Congress, she said some of the federal requirements were relaxed but still not enough for all states to spend the money.

She noted: “We’ve initially focused on increasing treatment opportunities so that we could get people into … treatment opportunities.

“The big challenge (came about) because about 96% of those funds were awarded to communities…. It made it difficult to spend those funds as they did not have the workforce they needed: the qualified addiction providers and qualified mental health professionals to deliver the services once they got the funds.”

State officials said they are working with local officials to increase the workforce and the number of treatment beds to avoid returning additional federal funds.

The West Virginia Lottery topped the $1 billion mark in total sales in the recently completed fiscal year.

Total sales were about$1.27 billion, lottery officials reported during a meeting Wednesday of the state Lottery Commission.

“When we hit that we feel pretty comfortable we’ll make our statutory obligations for transfers to state agencies,” state Lottery Director John Myers told commission members.

The near $1.3 billion is the highest total sales number in at least the past five years, Mr. Myers said.

Lottery proceeds support schools and education, state parks and tourism, and senior citizens.

Click here to read more from WVMetroNews.

·    Sept. 11-13

·    Nov. 13-15 (Cacapon State Park/Berkeley Springs)

·    Dec. 5-6

·    Jan. 8-10

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