House Speaker Rick Thompson and Senate President Jeff Kessler’s appointed legislative workgroups would focus on attracting quality jobs to West Virginia

One of the top priorities for West Virginia lawmakers this session has been examining ways to increase economic opportunities for West Virginians and attract jobs to the state.

House Speaker Rick Thompson and other members of the House leadership have introduced legislation in collaboration with Senate President Jeffrey Kessler that would create monthly House and Senate workgroups dedicated to learning how West Virginia can be more aggressive in attracting jobs.

House Bill 3013 would authorize the Senate President and House Speaker to appoint job creation workgroups that would work independently or in cooperation with the Department of Commerce, the West Virginia Development Office or other executive offices or agencies of the state in order to obtain information to assist the Legislature’s efforts to take action toward increasing and attracting jobs in West Virginia.

Their activities could include, among provisions listed in the bill, meeting with existing businesses and organizations to discuss and further develop resources currently available to businesses in West Virginia which then could be expanded upon to grow job opportunities within the state.

The House of Delegates took up and approved this measure on the House floor during the past week. If the legislation passes both bodies, the Speaker and President will have the ability to appoint a group of different House and Senate members each month to spend a day visiting a particular company, city or region to learn about how certain businesses prosper and expand and about various tactics local and state governments have used to attract businesses.  Each of the appointed workgroups would serve as a resource for other members of their body of the Legislature on these subject matters.

It is important for the Legislature to recognize the economic development challenges facing the many different areas of the state. This information will be invaluable when it comes to assisting lawmakers in shaping the policies, which will in turn, create the economic environments to best attract quality jobs to West Virginia.

Select Committee on Children and Poverty takes on financial distress in the Mountain State

On the first day of the regular session, the Senate adopted Senate Resolution 6, creating the Select Committee on Children and Poverty.

During the regular session, Children and Poverty has met once a week to hear from various speakers regarding the many issues impacting West Virginians living below the  poverty line. On this committee are Chairs and Vice-Chairs of major Senate committees, the Majority Leader and Majority Whip, and also the Minority Leader and Minority Whip.

According to a recently released report by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy and the West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition, child poverty in our state has increased significantly in the last 40 years – growing from 19.1 percent in 1969 to more than 23 percent today. One in three West Virginia children under age 6 currently live in poverty.

The study shows children with parents who didn’t graduate high school, those with single mothers, African Americans and those with unemployed parents are more likely to live in poverty. About half of families with single mothers in the state live below the federal poverty line and more than 30 percent of single-father families live in poverty.

Children most harmed by poverty are those who live in “deep poverty,” defined as family incomes less than 50 percent of the federal poverty level. In West Virginia, 46 percent of the children below the poverty threshold are living in deep poverty. More than one in every 10 West Virginia children live in deep poverty, living on less than $11, 406 a year for a family of four.

The Senate Select Committee on Children and Poverty has plans to tackle the various aspects of poverty in West Virginia including the impact poverty has on a child’s education. For 2010-2011 the rate of low-income students graduating from high school was only 67.9 percent. In elementary schools we find that only 35 percent of the state’s 3rd graders scored at or above mastery on the WESTTEST 2 Reading/Language Arts Test, which is considered a passing test score. About 16 percent of children not reading proficiently by the end of the third grade do not graduate from high school on time.

The Senate Select Committee will meet throughout the year during the monthly interim meetings that will begin once the regular session ends in April to continue discussions and travel throughout the state, visiting each of the 17 Senate Districts to see firsthand how poverty is affecting West Virginians and their children. Thus far the committee has visited Oak Hill and Beckley in the 9th and 10th Districts respectively with more visits around the state expected in the future.