With the legislature adjourned sine die (or without assigning a day for further meeting for those needing all state business to be conducted in English,) now's a good time to look back at some of the bills made into law this past session. Here's a quick recap of some of the major bills passed by…
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The Latest from the Golden Dome Several bills of interest are still under consideration as the 2016 West Virginia Legislative Session enters its final hours. Much talk this session has surrounded how to tackle the huge gap in the state budget. While the Senate has passed its budget bill, it is far different from the…
With Governor Tomblin's proclamation extending the legislative session for three days to work on the budget, it is highly unlikely the FY 2017 will be passed before the end of the regular session on Saturday. Both the House and the Senate have moved their versions of the budget bill, with the Senate passing its version yesterday,…
Why 10:00 AM Brunch is a Good ThingThis session, the State Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 298, which amends the state's current blue law by allowing restaurants, private clubs, and wineries to begin selling alcohol at 10:00 AM on Sundays, three hours before the current earliest time allowed, 1:00 PM. More commonly referred to as…
There have been a number of tax proposals this legislative session, the two that have gained the most traction are the proposals to increase the sales tax from 6% to 7% for highway funding, and increasing the tobacco tax from $0.55 to $1.55 per pack of cigarettes. While the state needs revenue both for fixing its…
Earlier this week, a bill began moving to increase revenue for the State Road Fund. Senate Bill 555 includes a number of provisions, some included in the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission report, that raise revenue for road work in West Virginia. The bill is on 3rd reading today.In its original form, SB 555 increased the gas tax…
After hearing from the coal industry about their desire for cut in the severance tax, SB 705 was quickly introduced and sped through the Senate Finance Committee on Monday, and is already on 2nd reading in the Senate today. In its current form, the bill cuts the severance tax on coal from 5% to 4%…
This week, the House of Delegates will consider a bill (HB 2704) that will extend the state's sales and use tax to more services in conjunction with lowering the sales tax rate. HB 2704 would remove several services currently exempted in West Virginia's sales tax, including services provided by lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers, investment counselors,…
Perils of Calling a Constitutional ConventionThis week the Senate passed SCR 10 which would add West Virginia to the states supporting the call for a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution. The House is considering a variety of bills and resolutions of its own including HB 4449, HB 2424 and HCR 36.The House Judiciary Committee…
As Ted and I explained in our report on the FY 2017 budget, there are a number of steps the governor is requesting the legislature to take in order to both close the FY 2016 budget gap of $381 million and the FY 2017 budget gap of $466 million. Here's an update of where the…