It appears Gov. Jim Justice will call state lawmakers into special session this weekend to coincide with previously scheduled interim committee meetings.
Look for items like highway maintenance funding, a fix for the car tax credit and a possible salary schedule for corrections officers. Justice could release his official call sometime Friday or Saturday. Interim meetings begin Sunday.
The state has more than 1,000 vacancies in jails and prisons, and members of the West Virginia National Guard have been performing administrative functions under an emergency deferred by the governor since August 2022. During the last session, lawmakers could not agree on a $10,000 pay increase for all corrections officers but did include them in the $2,300 raise approved for all state employees.
State Senator Mike Oliverio, R-Marion, predicts an agreement on the next step for corrections.
“Now, we’ll come back with some dollars to help with hiring folks, incentives, encouraging people to stay, and increasing pay,” Oliverio said Thursday during an appearance on WAJR Radio’s “Talk of the Town.”
More than 200 fire departments and EMS organizations statewide have delivered a letter to the governor asking lawmakers to consider funding to stabilize local services. Many cash-strapped organizations are closing, increasing critical response times in some counties. Oliverio said lawmakers could consider an increase in the tax on home insurance premiums. Currently, homeowners pay .5%, and the proposed increase to 1% could raise up to $12 million.
“I’ve been pushing to get these dollars tweaked a little bit so there will be some more dollars that will come to the growth counties,” Oliverio said. “The Monongalia, Berkley, and Jefferson.”
As West Virginia University goes through a review of about half of their programs in an effort to cut $45 million from their budget for next year, Oliverio said the commitment from state lawmakers was strong in the last legislative session. Oliverio said WVU received more than $100 million, $55 million for WVU Medicine and $50 million for the WVU Cancer Institute designation, and he expects a substantial portion of the $200 million set aside for deferred maintenance on college campuses will also go to WVU.
“The commitment from the legislature to higher education has been extremely significant,” Oliverio said. “I’ve even joked that this was WVU’s best year of funding from the legislature since Abraham Lincoln was president.”
Interim meetings are scheduled to go through Tuesday.