MORGANTOWN, W.Va. A review of the legislative session by four of the five Monongalia County Delegates is mixed.
Delegate Evan Hansen (D-Monongalia, 79) believes changes made to the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) and other fiscal policies do not adequately address the future of staffing for key state departments. He said unique factors like record amounts of coronavirus relief and record tax revenue make current budget projections unreliable, endangering the tax cut plan.
“The governor has put forward a flat budget over the last several years that hasn’t come close to keeping up with inflation,” Hansen said. “So that surplus it looks like we have isn’t quite what it’s made out to be.”
Delegate John Williams, Minority Vice Chairman of the House Finance Committee (D-Monongalia, 80), said the near-term looks stable, but each year out becomes more uncertain under the $4.87 billion budget passed, which is about $1 million more than the governor asked for.
“So, will we be able to maintain this type of funding, and my concern is that the answer to that question is no?” Williams said on the budget.
Like Hansen, Williams is bearish when it comes to the future of record state surpluses month after month. If that were to come to furition, Williams said the once-celebrated tax cuts will lead to difficult choices for future legislators and programs people depend on.
“There are a lot of things in this budget I care about that are funded this year,” Williams said. “I’m worried about what we’re going to do three to four years from now when we don’t have the money; I’m worried about their future.”
Delegate Danielle Walker, member of the House Senior, Children, and Family Issues Committee (D-Monongalia, 81), was disappointed in the amount of time spent on House Bill 2007 relating to gender affirming care for minors. In the end, lawmakers approved a version of the bill that prohibits gender-affirming surgery for minors but allows pharmaceutical treatment for minors under certain conditions.
“There are other things we could be doing,” Walker said. “We have a foster care system that’s busting at the seams, and yet and still you choose to attack children, let me correct that, transgendered children. Shame on you.”
Vice Chairman of the House Education Committee, Delegate Joe Statler (R-Monongalia, 77), was encouraged by the passage of House Bill 3035 that creates supports to keep early learners on track with reading and math skills through grade 3.
“It’s really going to tremendously change education and the way we do it at the elementary level, in the K through 3 area,” Statler said.