Listen to “House Holds the Leverage as Budget Moves to Morrisey” on Spreaker.
The big story coming out of the Capitol Thursday was the budget. The Senate amended its budget after receiving the House’s version and then rolled the document back across the Capitol. The House passed the compromise measure Thursday evening.
Veteran newsman Brad McElhinny has all the details.
A few observations — and a few hopes — as we close in on the final week of the session.
The House now holds the strongest hand moving forward — essentially all of the leverage. Legislators around the Capitol were quick to point out the governor would receive the budget Friday. The implication was that legislative clerks would turn the document around quickly in order to start the five-day clock on the governor. Under the Constitution, he has only five days to review the budget and issue any line-item vetoes.
The House and Senate are largely in lockstep at this point. If the governor redlines any provisions, the Legislature will still be in session and can easily override any line-item veto it does not like. Moving the budget this early effectively strips the governor of much of his leverage — a goal the House appeared to have from the beginning.
There is additional motivation beyond the political embarrassment that comes with having vetoes overridden. The issue of the tax cut is also looming. The governor created headroom for that proposal by reducing his revenue estimates by roughly five percent as opposed to any cuts in his budget.
But as House Finance Chairman Vernon Criss has repeatedly reminded anyone who will listen, the budget is an expenditure bill. It does not produce a tax cut. That requires a separate law. The governor can set the revenue estimates as he pleases, but minus a law to lower taxes, the lower revenue estimates would end up producing a surplus.
The tax cut bill is still sitting on Chairman Criss’ desk in House Finance. And it may end up producing more than just the governor agreeing to play nice with his line-item veto pen.
TEAM West Virginia — House Bill 4001 — is, in my view, the single best proposal currently on the table to change the trajectory of West Virginia’s economy. Successful ventures don’t cut their way to prosperity; they grow their way there. The structure TEAM West Virginia would create could help do exactly that — removing much of the politics from the process and focusing solely on closing economic development deals. That should be the metric that matters and we should let experienced developers lead the way without interference.
The House gave up quite a bit in the budget negotiations with the Senate — items the governor also wanted. The Hope Scholarship is funded at five quarters using surplus dollars as opposed to general revenue and legislation that would add guardrails died. That’s a win. The House also appears willing to meet in the middle on a five-percent tax cut. That’s reasonable give-and-take and the governor can claim a clear win beyond the current trigger mechanism. He can legitimately claim to be a tax cutter in his own right.
My hope is that TEAM West Virginia becomes part of the final agreement, or already is, between the House, Senate, and the governor. Admittedly, that may not happen, but my hope reflects reality – the state needs this program.
If holding the five-percent tax cut bill in reserve helps move Governor Morrisey — some say he’s not the biggest fan — toward supporting TEAM West Virginia and a firm agreement to make it law, then so be it. A deal on the program’s merits would be preferable, but time is of the essence and how it gets done isn’t as important as ensuring it does.
Otherwise, West Virginia risks missing one of its best opportunities to grow the economy, keep our people here, and build long-term prosperity. Too big a gamble not to pull out all the stops to see the program become law.
The course of legislative events between now and Day 60 will prove the hypothesis right or wrong. Here’s hoping it’s right.