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I've had several days now to talk with lawmakers, lobbyists and other Capitol dwellers regarding Gov. Jim Justice's eighth and final State of the State address. On the whole, most said Justice's speech left much to be desired.
It was a longer-than-normal speech. State of the State addresses traditionally last between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Justice blew up that tradition a long time ago. As someone who shuns prepared speeches written ahead of time and teleprompters, Justice's speeches have always had an element of improv, making it hard to keep to a specific time.
Given that this was Justice's last State of the State address, you can forgive the length. Justice certainly spent time reminiscing about the condition of the state when he took office in 2017, his initiatives over the last seven years and other successes. That's always a big part of any State of the State speech. It's meant to celebrate the positive while expressing optimism for the next year and into the future.
But beyond that, the people I talked to found the remainder of Justice's speech somewhat lackluster. Much of what Justice proposed involves one-time monies that may not continue beyond Justice's final year in office. A slew of small tax cut proposals seem nakedly aimed at older West Virginians, the bulk of our population and a large voting block.
I'm not saying the tax cuts are not deserved, but talk of exempting all Social Security benefits from the income tax and raising the homestead exemption has been around now for years with no movement and it's pretty low-hanging fruit. These two tax cuts combined with a proposed tax credit for childcare similar to a federal credit would return around $50 million to taxpayers. Why now for those two tax credits?
I don't mean to be a naked cynic, but it is an election year and Justice filed his official paperwork for his U.S. Senate run the same day as his State of the State. And I'm not being critical here. But I'm also not the only one questioning the timing.
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You'd think Justice's toughest competition is U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney in the Republican primary for Senate. But it might be state Senate Finance Committee Chair Eric Tarr, R-Putnam.
No, Tarr isn't jumping into the U.S. Senate race. But since nearly all of Justice's 2024 State of the State initiatives involve supplemental appropriations requests and expenditures to be paid out at the end of the current fiscal year in June, Justice's agenda is hitting the brick wall that is Tarr's Finance Committee.
I've never seen anyone hold a grudge the way Tarr does. Justice's road tour in the summer and fall of 2022 rallying against Amendment 2, the failed constitutional amendment that would have given the Legislature the authority to reduce or eliminate tangible personal property taxes, created a lot of animosity between Senate Republican leaders and Justice at the time. But while Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, was able to move past it, Tarr remained annoyed at the governor.
That annoyance showed Wednesday night following Justice's State of the State address, when Tarr called Justice's budget and appropriations proposals "pretty insane" to WV MetroNews, saying "It's a wish list and a dream list. It's not a reality list."
That prompted Justice to tell Hoppy Kercheval Thursday that "Eric Tarr's got to grow up. For God's sakes a living, last thing on the planet I was doing last night was anything reflective of the Senate run."
If I were Justice, I'd try to somehow, some way, repair that relationship. Because based on the Senate Finance Committee meeting I covered Thursday morning, Tarr is going to be a hindrance to Justice's agenda. Tarr spent that meeting quizzing new interim Department of Revenue Cabinet Secretary Larry Pack about the nature of the funding requests and whether they would grow the budget in the future. Expect more of that as the session continues on.
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The Senate honored the service of Senate President Pro Tempore Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, last week. Boley is now the longest continuously serving state senator. During her time of service, she was at one point the only Republican in the Senate.
At 88, Boley is again seeking re-election to a four-year term representing her home county of Pleasants, as well as Wood, Ritchie, and Wirt counties. If she wins re-election, she will be 92 by the time she is up for re-election again.
Boley has been a mentor to many people over her years of service, including me, taking me under her wing when I was in high school. I learned a lot from Sen. Boley as a young man from St. Marys and I still do now as a reporter who covers her.
(Adams is the state government reporter for Ogden Newspapers. He can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)