×

Budget likely heading to committee

CHARLESTON — With glaring differences between the budget drafts created by the West Virginia Senate and House of Delegates, both sides will need to iron out differences if they hope to have the budget passed in time for the end of the legislative session on Saturday.

On Tuesday, the senate amended their version of the budget, Senate Bill 150, into the house version of the budget, House Bill 2020. But not before senate Democrats attempted to discharge House Bill 2730, which would provide teachers and school service personnel a 5 percent pay raise.

SB 150 does not account for the 5 percent raise, zeroing out that portion of the budget submitted by Gov. Jim Justice shortly after his State of the State Jan. 9. Justice, as well as Republican lawmakers, have been promising the additional pay raise since October. Teachers and school service personnel received a 5 percent raise last year after 10 says on strike for better pay.

The Republican senate majority included the raises in Senate Bill 451, which included additional funding for county school system, increased flexibility for teachers, additional funding for math education, pay differentials for hiring incentives, a charter school program, and education savings accounts.

The bill was postponed indefinitely by the house after teachers went on a two-day strike to protest the charter and ESA provisions of the bill. After the defeat of SB 451, Justice asked the legislature to approve his clean pay raise bill. However, HB 2730 has been parked in the Senate Education Committee since Feb. 23 and hasn’t moved.

“There have been a series of events…before the general election promising teachers a 5 percent pay raise,” Prezioso said. “This is simply trying to live up to that promise…let’s give the teachers the pay raise they deserve.”

“Back in January our governor stood up in the State of the State address and promised this to the teachers,” said state Sen. Doug Facemire, D-Braxton. “He didn’t promise it with any strings attached or anything like that. He promised this. As the government, we have a responsibility to our citizens that when we tell them something, we do it.”

Prezioso’s motion failed 18-16, with Republican senators Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, and Dave Sypolt, R-Preston, voting with the Democrats.

The senate general revenue budget total is $4.659 billion for fiscal year 2020. The house passed HB 2020 Saturday, which includes approximately $4.610 billion in expenditures for the general revenue budget.

It is expected the house will reject the senate changes to HB 2020, requiring both chambers to appoint members to a conference committee, which will develop a budget senators and delegates can agree on.

The conference committee process for the budget is not unusual, typically resulting in an extended session past the 60-day deadline. Last year, the legislature was able to complete work on the budget before day 60. But this year includes a few contentious issues.

The house budget accounts for a $30 million cut in steam coal severance tax revenue based on a bill that lowers the tax rate from 5 percent to 4 percent next fiscal year and 3 percent by fiscal year 2021. It includes a $16 million decrease in oil and natural gas severance tax collections for low-producing wells for a well-plugging program passed by the house. And it includes a $1.1 million cut from the elimination of the limestone and sandstone severance tax. These items are not reflected in the senate version of the budget.

On the senate side, their budget includes $4.1 million for an intermediate appeals court. It includes $110 million for secondary road maintenance, also known as Randy’s Dream for the bill’s lead sponsor, state Sen. Randy Smith, R-Tucker. The dueling budgets also include differences in the amount of additional funding for the state’s four-year colleges and universities, as well as for the community and technical college system.

Senate Bill 1, which creates a last-dollar-in high school and adult education grant program for community and technical colleges, has a $7.7 million price tag in the senate budget. The house version, which expanded the bill to include two-year programs at six four-year colleges and universities, increased the price to more than $10 million. SB 1 is up for passage in the house this morning.

Several amendments were made to the senate budget Tuesday, including line items that would get money at the end of fiscal year 2019 should there be a budget surplus. Some of the amendments include $5 million for veterans’ nursing homes, $400,000 for early warning flood systems, and $125,000 for sexual assault and prevention.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, raised concerns about putting so many items in the back of the budget for surplus money. He predicted a future where more and more items are simply added at the end of a budget.

“We’re going to see 100 or 200 surplus items amended in to the bill,” Blair said. “If we end up doing all these surplus amendments, I can guarantee that every year will have a conference committee… and the conference committee is going to have to sift through 50, 100, 200, and 300 requests.”

Prezioso, a former finance committee chairman when the Democrats controlled the majority in the senate, said he felt the pain and the pressures Blair was facing. Prezioso expressed confidence that the budget process would work as always.

“To get this budget done will take a concerted effort by the conferees committee to get it done,” Prezioso said. “At the very end, we’re going to live up to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia and produce a balanced budget…eventually we’ll have a good budget we can all agree with.”

HB 2020 will be up for passage in the senate today.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $3.92/week.

Subscribe Today