Under the newly cleaned lights of the House Chamber’s chandelier, the 78th Legislature kicked off its second regular session by gathering for the Governor’s annual State of the State Address. Required by Article VII, Section 6 of the West Virginia Constitution, the address is the Governor’s opportunity to present his agenda for the upcoming session as well as his proposed budget for the next fiscal year.
This year’s address highlighted much of the progress the state has made in attracting business investment and job creation. The Governor pointed to a study by Expansion Management Magazine and the National Policy Research Council that ranked West Virginia eight in the nation in business recruitment and attraction. He also lauded the state’s 4.6 percent unemployment rate last year, the lowest in West Virginia history. Correspondingly, an average of 778,269 West Virginians were employed last year, a record high for the state.
The Governor also emphasized the progress the state had made in upgrading its infrastructure. In 2004, only 58 percent of West Virginians had access to broadband Internet. Now, that number is up to 80 percent, with the goal of reaching 100 percent by 2010. In addition, sewer and water systems have been upgraded throughout the state thanks to a $300 million investment by the state since 2004.
The speech was more than just a recap of the state’s recent progress, and already the Legislature has received some of the Governor’s State of the State proposals in the form of legislation. This includes a bill that would suspend or deny driver’s licenses for high school students who drop out or who fail to maintain a 2.0 grade point average. Education was also the focus of another bill borne out of the State of the State Address; this bill would require Promise scholarship recipients to repay the loan if they work out of state after graduation.
After the address, both houses reconvened to introduce the budget bill. The proposed budget will dole out $14.19 billion based on an estimated $14.69 billion in revenues. The Senate and House Finance committees will work with the budget bill throughout the session. At the end of the regular session, the Legislature traditionally meets for an extended session devoted specifically to passing the budget bill.
While the State of the State Address marks the beginning of session, only a handful of the bills sent to the Governor before the end of session find their genesis in the speech. Already, nearly 1,000 bills have been introduced in both houses, with only a small percentage introduced by request of the Governor. Many of these are House bills that have been carried over from last regular session or Senate bills that were introduced last year but failed to pass. Many of the new bills for this session are based on work done in interim committees prior to session, while others are based on requests or concerns expressed by constituents.
Over the 60-day session, legislative committees will mull these bills over. Only those that lawmakers consider the most important will make it out of committee and be sent to the Governor. The process is, for the most part, slow and deliberate, but it ensures that each bill receives the proper attention it deserves.
Throughout the session, you can keep track of every bill on the Legislature’s Web site at https://www.wvlegislature.gov/. On the site, you can find contact information for your legislators and use personalized bill tracking to keep tabs on the bills most important to you.
