The committee heard a brief presentation regarding opportunities for West Virginia development and growth from Karen Schaufeld, CEO, SWaN Hill Top House Hotel. Lawmakers are currently in the middle of three days of traveling interim meetings at Cacapon State Park in Berkeley Springs, WV.

Schaufeld began by mentioning a favorable business tax climate, but also noted the many other factors that go into a decision to locate a business in a particular area.

She mentioned that an educated population, with an emphasis on career and technical education, is often key.

Schaufeld explained that most businesses have core principles and values that weigh heavily in decisions on where to locate. Many companies are committed to using all renewable energy to power operations by a certain date. Amazon was used as a common example of this principle.

She noted that many companies value a diverse workforce, with goals of 50 percent female employees and 30 percent people of color as an example. Companies also want employees to have access to quality healthcare, including family planning, according to Schaufeld.

Schaufeld used Pittsburgh as an example of a city that has revitalized itself from an industrial city to a diverse and vibrant city by focusing on intense collaboration with lawmakers, community organizations and leaders from a variety of industries.

She closed by emphasizing that West Virginia already has many advantages when it comes to attracting business, including location to the eastern seaboard, natural beauty and outdoor recreation.

The Joint Committee on Judiciary heard two presentations during the interim meetings today.

The first presentation was about juror counseling. Some cases require the presentation of graphic images as evidence. These photos can affect jurors and court staff. Judge Farrell said the effects are a type of PTSD. He’s worked as a judge for 12 years and was a prosecutor before that. He’s had jurors and staff tell him they had to see a counselor after what they witnessed in court.

Judge Farrell would like to see a mechanism in the code to provide counseling to jurors and court staff if they need it.

The second presentation was on incentivizing jury service. It was presented that in West Virginia jurors are paid between $15 and $40 a day for service. Legislation proposed in 2022 legislation would have doubled the pay to $80 a day. Jurors are responsible for their own food, parking, and other incidentals for the entire length of the court case. Jurors do receive reimbursement for mileage. Jurors would have to take time off work to serve. Often, jurors do not receive any payment for this time off. Small business owners struggle to serve on juries because it could require them to close their businesses for days. During the presentation, it was asked that the committee consider tax credits for businesses and individuals who serve on juries.

The purpose of incentivizing jury service is to get jurors a reason to want to serve. Adequate compensation increases the faith in the jury.

Jennifer Brown, the West Virginia Director of Senior and Community Services gave the committee an overview of the challenges her agency has had providing services to the state’s seniors post pandemic.

Brown explained to the committee that it’s always been challenging for seniors, many of whom rely solely on Social Security to afford food and the gas it takes to get to the store. Statewide, nearly one in 10 seniors struggles to get enough food; those with disabilities or raising grandkids are more likely to go hungry, Brown said.

The pandemic forced 3,000 new seniors to seek food from senior centers in West Virginia. As consumer prices have risen nearly 8 percent in the last year and a half, the problem is even more acute according to Brown.

Brown, who has run the Wyoming County center for decades, said the pandemic has been expensive. Her center in Mullens has had to adjust to feeding seniors while keeping them safe from the coronavirus. They did a grab and go meal option for seniors that didn’t feel comfortable going to the center in person. The center also offers medical services and connects seniors with any help they need.

West Virginia’s senior centers, which operate as nonprofits, are funded by a mix of federal, state and local funding. The state funding runs through the West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services.

The Joint Committee on Flooding met on September 11, 2022 for an update.

The WV Emergency Management Division presented on the summer flooding. Once flooding response efforts cease, recovery begins. Several assessments take place to determine assistance needed for recovery. Federal programs can provide relief. Some programs include individual assistance and public assistance, which require certain thresholds to be met before assistance is provided.

During the Summer of 2022, four flooding events have taken place. On July 12th, flooding in McDowell caused over $4 million in damages. The amount of damage exceeded the county and state thresholds required to receive assistance. Damages identified include water and wastewater systems, city parks, Berwind Lake, and roads/bridges.

From July 26th to August 1st, a flooding event took place in Fayette, Greenbrier, Logan, McDowell, Mingo, and Wyoming counties. Four of the six counties have met their threshold, but the totals have not met the state threshold. Damage information is still being solicited from Logan and Greenbrier counties to determine if damage thresholds have been met.

On August 10th, Jackson and Doddridge counties suffered flooding. Damage thresholds for the county were met, but not for the state. Damages identified were Doddridge Senior Center, Jackson County High School, and Ripley Elementary.

On August 14th, Fayette and Kanawha counties were hit by flooding. The damages done met both county and state thresholds. Damages identified were the town of Smithers and sewer lines in Cannelton Hollow.

The agency is working to classify all four events into a single event in order to meet the thresholds to receive funding from the state. Typically, a gap of 72 hours separates events. However, the agency is arguing that the ground did not have time to desaturate between these events. The agency has found support for its argument, and they are continuing to build its package for the Governor to submit to FEMA.

In addition to these events, the agency is working on the May 2020 and 8 other events from 2016 through 2022.

Next, the committee heard about the types of flooding in West Virginia and why it’s happening. There are two types of flooding that affect WV: riverine and flash. Riverine floods make up 851 of the 1663 floods that have happened in the state since 2007, while flash floods make up 832. Kanawha, Berkely, and Greenbrier have had the most floods since 2007. Flash floods are the greatest hazard in WV because they account for 49 percent of floods, but 65 percent of fatalities and property damage.

Flooding is on the rise across the US, but WV is seeing some of the worst of it. WV has the highest increased flood vulnerability in the US. It is tied with Louisiana. The reason the state is seeing more flooding is that the air temperature is increasing. The air temperature has increased one degree, causing the atmosphere to expand and hold more water. A small increase in air temperature can cause disproportionately large increases in water vapor.

Extreme rainfall is increasing. Throughout the US, the hourly rainfall intensity has increased. Huntington has some of the greatest increases in the US with an increase of 28 percent since 1970.

Hardening Infrastructure is important to mitigate flooding and prevent damage. Federal programs available to West Virginia include:

• Building Resilient Infrastructure & Communities (BRIC) funding
• Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)
• Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA)
• CARES, ARPA
• COVID-19 HMGP
• Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation (CDBG-MIT)

Glen Hughes, the director of unemployment compensations for Workforce WV presented to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Workforce Investment for Economic Development. The presentation was a review of threshold wages and the maximum weekly benefit rate in the WV Unemployment Compensation Program. The threshold wage is the wage amount the employer pays unemployment taxes on for each person employed during a calendar year. The maximum weekly benefit rate is the maximum amount of unemployment benefits an individual can receive, which is 66.66 percent.

Legislation increased the threshold wage to $12,000 for several years but then decreased it to $9,000 in 2022. The maximum weekly benefit rate was recalculated in 2021.  

In the future, reimbursable employers may see benefits with returns. The threshold wage will be recalculated; it will increase or decrease to correspond with the average annual wage. New wage classes will be established.

The threshold wage has decreased while the maximum weekly benefits paid had increased. While the trust fund is doing well, there is a concern about what this means in the future. WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research is looking at how these changes could affect the trust fund. Their report should be available in December. Workforce WV plans to use this report to make policy recommendations.