Photo Courtesy/WV Governor's Office Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Tuesday that he would work with lawmakers toward passing a balanced general revenue budget and tax cuts.

CHARLESTON – In a Thursday evening statement, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced that he signed Senate Bill 250, the compromise budget bill between the House of Delegates and state Senate, with several line-item vetoes.

SB 250 sets the general revenue budget for fiscal year 2027, beginning on July 1, at $5.485 billion, a 0.2% decrease from the governor’s $5.493 billion revenue estimate. The compromise budget leaves $5 million unappropriated.

In his statement, Morrisey said decisions beginning last year to limit spending and make minor budget cuts to state departments and agencies set the stage this year for a new balanced budget agreement.

“Our success last year in reducing base program expenditures helped give us the fiscally prudent budget I signed today,” he said.

Morrisey thanked the Legislature for fully funding the Hope Scholarship educational voucher program, which will be open to all of the state’s public, private and home school students beginning with the 2026-27 school year.

The Hope Scholarship is funded in the compromise budget at $297 million. This includes $117 million provided through the FY27 general revenue budget, $20 million in carryover funds already available through the State Treasurer’s Office, $100 million in supplemental appropriations and $60 million to be paid out from available surplus tax collections at the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.

The $297 million will fund five quarters of payments covering all of the upcoming 2026-27 school year and the first quarter of 2027-28, eliminating the need for future supplemental appropriations and expenditures from the surplus section of the budget.

SB 250 also includes $5 million in the surplus section of the budget for the Flood Resiliency Trust Fund, $3 million for the Mountain State Digital Literacy Program, $30 million appropriated to the Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council for water and sewer improvements in the surplus section, $10 million for the Dilapidated Properties Program, and $125 million for road and bridge maintenance.

“These investments reflect our commitment to preparing West Virginia for the future while addressing the needs of communities across the state,” said Morrisey. “From expanding digital literacy to strengthening education to improving our roads and building greater flood resilience, we are making smart investments that will help West Virginians succeed and protect our communities for years to come.”

Morrisey included a number of line-item vetoes in the message sent to the House and Senate Thursday night. He rejected language in the budget bill that limited intra-department transfers of appropriations to not more than 5%.

“I am advised that this insertion of new language will be overly burdensome and restrictive for the operation of state agencies,” Morrisey wrote. “Restricting the dollar amount of transfers within the same funds will hamper the ability of state agencies to be responsive to the changing demands placed upon them.”

Morrisey objected to language in SB 250 that prohibits the transfer of funds for personal services and employee benefits unless those funds are going to a different personal services and employee benefits line item within a department or agency.

Line-item vetoes include lowering funding for the Marshall University Research Corporation from $1 million to $500,000; lowering funding for state international trade offices from $1 million to $750,000; lowering a $2.6 million appropriation for the Department of Tourism industry development line item to $2.3 million and removing language directing $250,000 to the Appalachian Outlaw Trails project; and lowering the Court Appointed Special Advocates line item from $1.1 million to $700,000.

“I am very supportive of CASA’s mission to represent the best interests of abused and neglected children in court,” Morrisey wrote. “Even with this reduction, CASA will receive $400,000 more than its FY26 appropriation. … This action reflects confidence in the organization’s ability to leverage its competitive grant success while still providing a meaningful increase in state support over the prior year.”

Morrisey also vetoed a $2 million directed transfer from the State Auditor’s Office’s Securities Regulation Fund, lowering the transfer to $1.8 million; and a directed transfer of $1 million from the Elevator Safety Fund.

If the Legislature chooses to override Morrisey’s line-item vetoes between Friday and the end of the 2026 session at midnight on Saturday, it will take a two-thirds vote of the House and the Senate.