December 11th, 2024 by WCBC Radio
The December interim meetings of the West Virginia Legislature have wrapped up. On Sunday an organizational caucus was held by the Republican members of the House and a separate one by the Senate. Current Speaker Roger Hanshaw will continue as Speaker of the House for the 87th legislature. On the Senate side outgoing Senate President Craig Blair will be replaced by Senator Randy Smith. Senator Blair represented part of Mineral County and with redistricting complete after this past election, Randy Smith represents all of Mineral County, so we will continue to be well represented in Charleston.
The Joint Committee on Finance met on Monday and received two presentations. The first was the monthly update on the state’s finances, which showed that revenues remained strong in November. Most revenue categories are meeting or slightly exceeding year-to-date estimates, though Severance Tax revenues are lagging due to falling energy prices from recent historical highs.
As the state moves into the new year, a significant surplus like those seen in recent years is unlikely, but overall, the state’s financial position remains solid.
The second presentation was on the West Virginia First Foundation. WVFF is committing millions of dollars to a project that could curtail the effects of addiction across Boone, Cabell, Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, Putnam, Raleigh, and Wayne counties. This impacts the area of West Virginia that has been hit the hardest by the opioid epidemic. The program is anticipated to expand in its second year to Mingo, McDowell and Wyoming counties and then to Mercer, Summers and Monroe. As this develops, data will be used to expand the program based off of success and not just throwing money at the problem as has been past practice.
The Leadership Committee of the Legislature, known as the Joint Committee on Government and Finance, convened on Tuesday. Alongside the state’s financial report, the committee reviewed several reports from the Performance Evaluation and Research Division (PERD) of the Legislative Auditor's Office. These included evaluations of the Broadband Loan Insurance Program (BLIN) and the Department of Transportation’s Division of Highways.
PERD reported that the Broadband Loan Insurance Program is functioning well overall, though it highlighted issues with the accessibility of required public information. BLIN has agreed with the findings and is working to improve its website, making loan-related documents easier to locate. Of the 13 loans, totaling approximately $80 million, all are current on payments, and it is unlikely the state will need to step in as guarantor.
The audit of the Division of Highways showed progress since the last review, with one issue fully resolved and significant advancements on others. However, the agency still faces challenges in fully accounting for the property it owns. Some of these difficulties date back to 1863, when West Virginia became a state and records may not have been transferred from Richmond. Despite these challenges, the Division of Highways is making improvements, which is a positive development for taxpayers.
The Joint Committee on Economic Development received an update from the West Virginia Grant Resource Center. Established in 2022 as a partnership between Marshall University and West Virginia University, the center provides free grant-writing services to local entities, offering university-level expertise to help secure funding.
Since its creation, the center has helped secure $41.4 million in additional grants for the state, with an estimated economic impact of $65 million. These grants come from federal, state, foundational, and other sources. The center’s services are available to local governments and non-governmental organizations focused on improving economic development, tourism, and public safety. For more information, feel free to contact my office or visit wvgrantcenters.com.
If you have any questions, need help with a state agency, or just have an idea that you think would make the state better my contact is Gary.Howell@WVHouse.gov, and my phone is (304) 340-3191, so please let me know. Until my next report, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
November 13th, 2024 by WCBC Radio
The November interim meetings of the West Virginia Legislature have wrapped up, with sessions held from Sunday through Tuesday this week. As the first gathering since the election, there was plenty of congratulating friends across the aisle and buzzing speculation about the changes the Morrisey administration may bring.
On Sunday we had a presentation on school safety, specifically from a company called Shooter Detection Systems. The company provides sensors that detect and report the location of a gun shot in a building and relay that information automatically. The more sensors the more accurate the information. The system was set up in the West Virginia Culture Center adjacent to the capitol and multiple blanks were shot from a real handgun to demonstrate. Many questions were asked. One was on cost, and it will be very high to implement. The other was on effectiveness, it was expressed that the system would struggle to detect a suppressed 22 long rifle shot. A 22 long rifle is the most common caliber weapon used in a crime. We are going to continue to investigate this and other systems.
The joint committee on Finance met and had several presentations. One that we have each month is on the state’s finances and we are hitting our estimates and the fiscal outlook for the state is strong. With Trump returning to office, we expect energy production to increase and prices to drop spurring more economic growth. Secretary of Tourism Chelsea Ruby presented on the state’s tourism industry, and it is booming with a 27% increase in West Virginia vs 9% nationally. Tourism is now over a $6 billion industry in West Virginia and that is raw numbers, not adjusted for impact. People traveling to West Virginia to vacation is making us more attractive to locate businesses here. When they visit, they know us, and when companies expand their people have been here and have a favorable opinion of the state for business location.
The state made two major investments in education over the past year. The first was with WVU to fund the National Cancer Institute, enabling WVU Medicine to expand cancer treatment statewide and participate in national clinical trials for new treatments. During a recent presentation, Albert Wright, President and CEO of WVU Medicine, confirmed that these trials won’t be limited to Morgantown—Mineral County will also have access to advanced cancer treatment trials, which is excellent news for our community and Potomac Valley Hospital.
The second investment went to the Cybersecurity Program at Marshall University, which will be one of only two such programs in the nation, alongside one in Texas, with significant federal involvement. Multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, will be directing hundreds of millions of dollars toward the program. This will drive Silicon Valley-type investment in the Huntington region, attracting both large and small tech companies. These initiatives represent tremendous progress for the state.
The Joint Committee on Government and Finance which is the leadership committee of the legislature also met, we had the same presentation as finance on the state’s fiscal health, and approved January and February interim meetings for 2025.
My final meeting was the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Tourism. We had a presentation on the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) on how to foster economic development and tourism through their grant programs. There are many projects that Mineral County could work on individually, but so far has not. There are also projects that could be worked on jointly with Maryland as ARC prioritizes some multistate initiatives.
I did set up additional meetings for Wednesday outside the normal interims that will be used to foster economic growth in the state, as they come to fruition, I will report on this in the future. In the meantime, if you have any questions, need help with a state agency, or just have an idea that you think would make the state better, please let me know. My contact is Gary.Howell@WVHouse.gov, and my phone is (304) 340-3191
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