REACTING – Democratic leaders in the West Virginia Legislature leveled criticisms at Gov. Patrick Morrisey and his State of the State speech delivered to lawmakers Wednesday night. -- Steven Allen Adams

CHARLESTON — Democratic lawmakers in the West Virginia Senate and House of Delegates had thoughts about Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s first State of the State, specifically about the issues the 37th Governor did not address.

Morrisey presented his State of the State address Wednesday night to a joint session of the West Virginia Legislature, outlining a plan for the state’s economic revitalization, emphasizing fiscal responsibility, deregulation to attract business, and tackling issues like health care access and the opioid crisis.

Speaking before Thursday’s floor session, Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, praised Morrisey for giving a clear speech and being more hands-on and proactive with lawmakers compared to former governor – now U.S. Senator – Jim Justice, who was known for being disengaged during legislative sessions.

“Governor Morrisey is bright, well educated, articulate. He’s a good speaker. He is going to be a hard worker. He’s going to be present here,” Woelfel said. “Whether you agree or disagree with Governor Morrisey, he’s going to show up and he’s going to work hard.”

Key components of Morrisey’s speech included boosting the energy sector, utilizing coal, gas, nuclear, and encouraging data centers to locate to the state; reforming education to improve workforce participation, and addressing the state’s budget deficit.

“I like the fact that we’re stressing our energy and we’re going to market our energy and that will drive revenues that will support programs that are necessary in the state and allow us hopefully to fully fund them,” Woelfel said.

But Woelfel pointed out that Morrisey’s State of the State speech included no references to the lack of affordable and available child care that would allow more people to enter the workforce, or references to the state’s large number of children in foster care and other forms of state custody.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t hear more about a child care tax credit. We didn’t hear anything about that,” Woelfel said. “We didn’t hear about our foster care children that are in a system that’s broken, although I do believe Governor Morrisey is on that… I’m going to give him the benefit of doubt on that.

“Just with our workforce being dead last, (Morrisey) was honest about that,” Woelfel continued. “We’re the least educated state in the country; he was honest about that. But child poverty is at 20% to 25%. We didn’t hear about that.”

In a video response to the State of the State address released Wednesday night by House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, and House Minority Whip Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, both concurred that Morrisey’s speech did not address issues that everyday West Virginians face, such as child care, rising utility costs, access to clean drinking water, and affordable health care.

“What we didn’t hear from the Governor…are real policies that impact you,” Hornbuckle said. “Our Democratic caucus is focusing on what you’ve been talking about, not politicians. We want to prioritize things that matter to all of us.”

Democratic leaders were also concerned with Morrisey’s focus on social conservative issues they feel divide rather than bring people together. These policies include weeding out Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies within state government, and introducing the Riley Gaines Act that would define sex-based terms in State Code for “woman,” “girl” and “mother” to refer to cisgender females with narrow exceptions.

“For the next 60 days we’re going to hear a lot of B.S. come out of this Capitol, designed to divide us, not unite us,” Fluharty said. “For a generation now, the Republican supermajority has taken us to the bottom in health care, child care, and young people continue to flee this state. The only way we’re going to make West Virginia first is by listening to you and putting your families first.”

(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)