Leann Ray, West Virginia Watch – Last week, Gov. Jim Justice announced that a special session of the West Virginia Legislature will start on Sept. 30. The purpose of this session is to attempt to pass a childcare tax credit and cut the state’s income tax by another 5%.
However, Justice hasn’t released any bills or told lawmakers of any plans yet. In his video announcement of the special session, he said, “We’ve worked with the legislative leadership over the weekend. We’ve worked countless days in the past weeks. And really and truly, that date seems to be the best for everyone.”
However, Senate Finance Chair Eric Tarr, a Republican representing Putnam County, told MetroNews last week that legislative leadership “had no discussions” with Justice over the weekend like Justice claimed.
Tarr said legislators are willing to listen to the governor’s proposal for an income tax cut, as long as there’s a financial plan to go with it that takes into account the $115 million fewer dollars the state will be receiving in tax revenue.
During his briefing, Justice said he was willing to cut the state budget to be equal to the tax cut “if [lawmakers] can come to me with something they can propose” that will cut things “we’ll look at it.” So sure, he’s willing to cut it if someone else does the work to figure out what to cut.
Justice also wants to help relieve childcare stress with a tax credit, which would pay West Virginia families $600 to $700 a month on child care. For families that make more than $43,000 annually, the tax credit would be about $300 for one child or $600 for two or more children. There’s been no indication from Justice where this money will come from.
While the child tax credit is beneficial, it really won’t do much to help the crisis West Virginians are facing.
The state needs about 20,000 childcare spots. Pandemic-era benefits that helped keep childcare providers afloat over the last few years were scheduled to run out by the end of August. This year alone, dozens of childcare providers have closed — eliminating about 700 spots for children — because of funding issues with the state’s childcare assistance program for eligible families.
There’s been no mention of plans or bills from Justice to help create more childcare spots.
House Democrats held a news conference earlier this month calling on the governor to allow lawmakers to take action on other childcare bills that died during the regular legislative session. Those bills have already been through the House Committee on Health and would provide tax incentives to businesses if they create and provide child care for employees. These bills would help create more childcare openings if passed.
During his weekly virtual administrative briefing on Wednesday, Justice said, “If it blows up, it’s not on me. It’s really and truly on the Legislature. They need to step up and help right now.”
Well, yes, the Legislature does have to pass the bills for them to be put on the governor’s desk to be signed into law. Typically, a governor will work with legislators to get bills passed. Will Justice be at the Capitol during the special session? Will he be meeting with leadership to work out a deal? Or will he do what he’s done in the past and present his bills and then hope all his wishes come true?
Each legislator — 134 in total — is paid an additional $200 per day for a special session and interim meetings, and also receives reimbursements for travel expenses. Justice announced this one on the second day of the September legislative interims that took place in Parkersburg. The next scheduled interims will take place in Charleston on Oct. 6 to 8 — neither of these plans are so urgent that they couldn’t have waited another week.
So why the rush to try to get these bills passed? Why waste taxpayer money when the next interims are so close?
“We could say well let’s just defer it and kick it on down the road. Why? Why would we do that? Are we doing that so somebody after me can take credit?” Justice said during the briefing.
Ahh yes. It’s an election year, and he wants credit for giving voters a few more bucks. During his Sept. 4 briefing, he slipped a couple times and said he wanted to give additional tax cuts to voters instead of taxpayers — remember, not all taxpayers are voters.
Lawmakers and Justice called the May special session a disappointment and a failure. Are we about to see history repeat itself?
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West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com. Follow West Virginia Watch on Facebook and X.
