The second week of the regular legislative session has concluded, with members of the House of Delegates continuing to introduce and discuss bills each day.
A mid-week presentation from West Virginia University economist John Deskins helped lawmakers keep the state’s big-picture financials front of mind while they look toward their work of finalizing the state’s budget for the next fiscal year.
“We always look forward to presentations from Dr. Deskins and utilizing his research and data in what we do here to help make West Virginia the easy choice,” said House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay. “It was helpful to hear his message of caution to be wise with how we invest the deluge of federal dollars we have coming our way and be sure we’re choosing things with long-term impact and payoff.
“We have momentum on our side from the state’s biggest jobs announcements in history last week, and as we move through this legislative session, we must continue to look at the best ways we can allocate all our available resources.”
The House Finance Committee continues to hear budget presentations from state agencies as it does at the start of most legislative sessions. This week’s update from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission was of note to Committee Chairman Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, who said it seemed especially thoughtful.
HEPC Chancellor Sarah Armstrong Tucker told committee members the state’s higher education system soon would be operating with a new funding formula that will be more incentive-based. Under the new, performance-based method, an institution’s funding will only be affected by its own outcomes and a three-year rolling average will be utilized to protect against large annual swings. The new formula also has provisions to tie in workforce outcomes, which Tucker said would help align degree production outcomes with state priorities.
“I could tell Chancellor Tucker worked hard to build consensus on that proposal,” Householder said. “It’s not easy to make wholesale changes and overhaul a system that has always treated each institution as equal, but rarely does one size fit all in West Virginia, and we think it makes good sense both financially and in terms of workforce readiness to choose to reward positive outcomes with more dollars.”
The House Energy and Manufacturing Committee advanced House Bill 4002 late this week. The measure would create the certified sites and development readiness program, which lead sponsor Clay Riley, R-Harrison, said would help secure the state’s position among site selection consultants to help land the next big economic engine.
“I’ve personally been involved in those interviews with site selection consultants, and I’ve heard them say they want to recommend West Virginia, but we’ve had too many unknowns or it’s not worth it to bring a client to a site without knowing there’s a realistic plan for infrastructure,” Riley said. “This business used to be done by picking up the phone, but now much of it’s done online, just like most other businesses, and with site selection consultants doing 90% of their research, information gathering and filtering before they ever contact a representative from our state, we must be able to give them what they’re looking for and move at the speed of business if we want to have a shot at competing for major projects.”
Riley said 37 other states have site certification and/or site readiness programs, including three of West Virginia’s surrounding states. House Bill 4002 would establish the program to be administered within the Department of Economic Development to generate criteria and site certification levels based upon the developmental readiness of a site. Landowners must apply to participate in the Certified Sites and Development Readiness Program, and if the Department selects a property to evaluate, a report will be provided to the applicant outlining site deficiencies and strengths as well as suggesting a prioritized list of suggested improvements. The program proposal also includes a micro-grant program, which would help sites make improvements.
A total of 957 bills have been introduced in the House, and three House Bills have passed the full House as of Jan. 21. The last day to introduce bills in the House is Feb. 15.
