West Virginia lawmakers strike budget compromise
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CHARLESTON -- For the third year in a row, the West Virginia Legislature passed a budget for the next fiscal year without needing an extended session.
Senate Bill 150, Gov. Jim Justice's general revenue budget for fiscal year 2021 starting July 1, passed the Legislature on Saturday, the final day of the 60-day legislative session for 2020.
There were several differences between the original Justice budget, the Senate version of the budget passed Feb. 29, and the House version of the budget passed March 4. The final version of SB 150 addresses all the desires of the legislative and executive branches, while leaving $4 million in unappropriated funds.
"I believe that we have a good compromise here," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Craig Blair, R-Berkeley.
"I want to commend the work that was done by the staff, the members, the members of the House as we were working on this, and the governor's office when we were trying to allocate things out."
"The budget that the House sent to the Senate did a lot of good. The budget before us now with a little help from realizing the realignment of certain funds I believe allows us to do even more good for our state," said House Finance Committee Chairman Eric Householder, R-Berkeley.
Justice's original general revenue budget was reduced from $4.585 billion to $4.566 billion after a letter was sent to the Legislature on Friday amending his proposed budget downward by $19 million.
Investments by the Consolidated Public Retirement Board also made available an additional $20 million to cover the additional budget requests from the House and Senate, as well as fund several of Justice's priorities. The new compromise general revenue budget is $4.574, an $8 million increase from the governor's amended budget.
"We got the revenue adjustment letter from the governor of $20 million that was available," Blair said. "The reason for it is the performance of our pensions and the return on investment."
The budget compromise includes $17.3 million for Medicaid stabilization, $19 million for the intellectual and developmentally disabled waiver program to clear the wait list, and $16.9 million for House Bill 4092 providing for increased reimbursement for foster and kinship families. The budget includes the $2 million the Senate included for coronavirus preparations.
Lawmakers restored $4 million cut from the Department of Commerce for the Division of Tourism, $2.5 million for the Jobs and Hope substance abuse treatment and job training program, $1.8 million for MARC train funding, and $1.5 million for the Communities in Schools program. Total improvements to the budget total $46 million.
Extra funding in the budget was also made possible with the deaths of several pieces of legislation and other changes, including $7.7 million for Senate Bill 275, the intermediate court of appeals bill. The pay raises for the magistrates, family court judges, and circuit court judges were zeroed out, with the Supreme Court absorbing those pay increases. Total cuts in the new budget total $42.7 million.
"All of this is done without decreasing funding for vital programs or placing any additional hardship on our taxpayers and businesses," Householder said. "This budget now provides for many of the concerns aired during our first considering just a few days ago."
(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)