CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Members of the State Senate are selecting leadership as part of Organization Day in preparation for the 2025 legislative session.
On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” Mike Oliverio, R, Monongalia, 13, said members of the senate are selecting leadership and officers to include a new Senate President, Randy Smith, R, Tucker, 14.
“We’ll certify the election from November, we’ll swear in the senators that were elected, and then we’ll start with the election of officers,” Oliverio said.
After Inauguration Day, Jan. 13, lawmakers will be in recess until Feb. 12, the first day of the legislative session. The time allows the governor to get his cabinet in place and lawmakers to establish their agenda.
“I feel like a legislative session is a success when we spend more than half the time on economic development initiatives, trying to help grow our economy and trying to help people come home to West Virginia to work,” Oliverio said.
Oliverio said lawmakers rarely reach consensus when it comes to social issues, and as a result, valuable time during the 60-day session is wasted.
“Then, if we spend the rest of our time on education and health care—those are obviously very important as well,” Oliverio said.
The next state budget will be put together without the benefit of large revenue windfalls. Oliverio said some cost savings measures will likely be taken during this legislative session due to the absence of federal coronavirus relief funds and an expected drop in state revenue after a cut of more than 27 percent to the state income tax.
“We had a run of surpluses beyond the coronavirus dollars,” Oliverio said. “The combination of both of those things falling off a little bit and the tax cuts we did will require some level of belt tightening.”
Under the Justice administration, the state has made economic gains, adding jobs and attracting a variety of industries to lay the foundation for generations of economic progress.
“We’ve received some very positive accolades from national organizations that evaluate these types of things that really show people are coming to West Virginia,” Oliverio said. “Some of the big economic initiatives have started to take hold, and we’re seeing some progress there.”