CHARLESTON — Gov. Patrick Morrisey laid out his legislative agenda and presented lawmakers a balanced budget after previously raising alarms about a potential $400 million budget hole in his first State of the State address as West Virginia’s 37th Governor.
Morrisey gave his first State of the State address Wednesday night in the House of Delegates chamber to a joint session of the House and state Senate, as Morrisey’s cabinet officials, Board of Public Works members, justices, and guests looked on.
Morrisey was elected in November as governor, succeeding now-U.S. Sen. Jim Justice. A former three-term attorney general, Morrisey took office on Jan. 13.
Starting off with a story about asking students attending West Virginia Boys State whether they plan to stay in West Virginia following graduation, Morrisey said his mission as governor is to work to make the state a place young people want to stay, work, and raise a family.
“The first question is: how many people here want to go to college? When I ask that question, nearly every hand goes up,” Morrisey said. “Then I follow up and ask: how many people think there will be a good job available for you here in West Virginia once you graduate? Every year, about 20% of the hands go up. Think about that. It’s heartbreaking: four out of five of these kids feel they need to leave the state to find a job.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey presented lawmakers his legislative agenda in a nearly hour-long State of the State address Wednesday. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)
“Tonight, I want to share my vision for how to make those hands go up and help kids and grandkids make West Virginia home forever,” Morrisey continued.
Morrisey said he wants to leverage West Virginia’s rich history as an energy state and abundance of coal and natural gas. Morrisey also wants to grow the perception that West Virginia is an all-of-the-above energy state, willing to embrace micro-grids for manufacturing and small modular nuclear reactors in order for the nation to compete globally with countries, such as China.
“China already generates half of the world’s coal fired power, which gives it a huge advantage in the arms race for computing power and intelligence,” Morrisey said. “America can either find a way to dramatically increase its power production, or China will eclipse our nation in a technological battle that will determine our national security. West Virginia will play a critical role in this competition.”
Morrisey said he will establish the West Virginia POWER (Powering Our Workforce through Energy and Revolutionary) Tech Center, a public-private partnership involving higher education to work on initiatives to promote West Virginia’s energy sector and grow employment in the state.
“This new center will not only help drive state and national thinking on data and energy needs, but it will create new opportunities for the type of advanced manufacturing jobs that provide long-term economic security for our state,” Morrisey said. “This Center will teach our students in these new fields and also play a crucial role in our state’s vo-tech renaissance.”
Morrisey presented lawmakers his bill for a balanced general revenue budget with a revenue estimate of $5.323 billion for fiscal year 2026 beginning in July. This comes after Morrisey announced in January that his revenue officials estimated a $400 million hole in the fiscal year 2026 budget.
“The most basic rule of budgeting, whether you’re a family sitting at the kitchen table, or you’re the state of West Virginia, is that you can’t spend more money than you make,” Morrisey said. “The budget that I inherited would have put us approximately $400 million into the red for fiscal year 2026. And over $500 million into the red for 2027, and over $550 million to $600 million annually after that.”
Morrisey’s budget represents a 1.1% increase from the general revenue estimate for the current fiscal year of $5.264 billion, or an increase of $58.6 million. State revenue officials who spoke on background Wednesday said the budget was balanced without using the $1.3 billion in the state Rainy Day Fund or the more than $460 million in the personal income tax reserve fund.
“Tonight, I’m submitting the Mountain State Comeback Budget, a balanced budget which represents a down payment on a multi-year plan to solve our state’s financial challenges,” Morrisey said. “Under my administration, our hallmark will be fiscal responsibility. Our budget will not propose new ongoing programs without new ongoing revenue.”
Though targeted cuts were made – approximately 2% in general revenue reductions – available unappropriated surplus tax collections helped fill the nearly $400 million hole. Morrisey has also proposed consolidation of several cabinet departments, as well as audits of state departments and agencies to discover waste, fraud, abuse, redundancies, and inefficiencies.
Programs within the Department of Human Services, the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the school aid formula that provides state funding to county school systems, and the Hope Scholarship educational voucher program remain fully funded.
However, no pay raises are contemplated for fiscal year 2026 for public employees paid through the general revenue budget, though future financial projections contemplate an average 3% raise for public employees in future fiscal years. Morrisey also asked lawmakers to work with him this session to develop short-term and long-term solutions for the Public Employees Insurance Agency.
“Tonight, I ask the Legislature to work with me to develop short and long-term solutions to PEIA and to find ways to help retirees on fixed incomes — without pushing our problems into the future,” Morrisey said.
During his campaign and during the first weeks in office, Morrisey has proposed a “Backyard Brawl” to be competitive with neighboring states when it comes to rules, regulations, and tax structure. Morrisey wants to empower state economic development officials to work on industrial site selection and workforce training. He wants to work with the administration of President Donald Trump on broadband expansion in the state.
Morrisey wants to allow for occupational licensing reciprocity so that people from other states who move to West Virginia can begin work without going through a new licensing process. He wants to eliminate the certificate of need program for health care facilities. And Morrisey also wants to remove red tape slowing down permitting projects for energy and infrastructure projects, including a dashboard where projects can be tracked.
“We must increase efficiency in the permitting processes, so that our transportation, manufacturing, and energy construction projects are not bogged down in a sea of red tape,” Morrisey said. “We’re drafting legislation that will create a ‘one-stop shop’ system for permitting approvals. So, when you want to expand a business or build a manufacturing facility – you come to one office to help to coordinate and expedite all the various permits you need to start your project.”
Citing recent national scores showing improvement by West Virginia students in returning to pre-COVID 19 pandemic reading and mathematics scores, Morrisey said much work remains to bring the state’s test scores up. He supports continued funding and expansion of the Hope Scholarship, working to pay teachers at rates competitive with neighboring states, and making improvements to the school aid formula for the first time in more than 20 years.
“This year, I will be asking the Legislature to work with me to open up the antiquated school aid formula so that we can address all of our financial needs at once: those of our families, our taxpayers, and our teachers,” Morrisey said. “This is another area where we should collaborate with the Trump Administration. West Virginia needs more flexibility from the federal government to administer its school aid monies and help our kids excel in math, science, reading, and other subjects.”
Morrisey also called for a ban on cell phones in classrooms, expanding vocational programs in schools, focusing on 21st-century skills in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), coding, and digital literacy.
In his first weeks in office, Morrisey signed executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in state government and banning state funding for such programs, which Morrisey has said grants special privileges for special classes of people. Morrisey has also been vocal against transgender procedures for children and allowing transgender student athletes to participate in girl’s and women’s sports.
Morrisey said Wednesday he would call on the Legislature to pass the Riley Gaines Act, named for a former college swimmer at the University of Kentucky and the ambassador for Independent Women’s Voice, a conservative advocacy group. Known last year as the Women’s Bill of Rights Act, the Riley Gaines Act would define sex-based terms in State Code for “woman,” “girl” and “mother” to refer to cisgender females with narrow exceptions.
In closing, Morrisey referred to the Super Bowl last Sunday, where a commercial used the John Denver classic “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” with the song highlighting West Virginia also being sung by attendees at the Superdome in New Orleans.
“To many around the country, and the world, ‘Country Roads’ is all that comes to mind when they think about our wild and wonderful state in the mountains – and that’s a real shame,” Morrisey said. “There is so much more to West Virginia than our beloved John Denver song.
“In a few years’ time, when ‘Country Roads’ plays in Morgantown, thousands of students will be singing not only with pride in a Mountaineer victory. They will sing with pride knowing that their job, their family, and their future will be right here in West Virginia,” Morrisey continued. “Ladies and gentlemen, the Mountain State Comeback is here – and it starts right now.”
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com
