West Virginia Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin of Greenbrier County held a virtual town hall on the evening of Thursday, February 25 to discuss ideas, and answer questions asked by his constituents. The virtual discussion was held via Zoom teleconferencing.
According to a statement from Baldwin prior to the town hall, “My goal is to listen and share information. This will be a civil conversation where we will all respect one another’s opinions and let each other speak.”
To kick off the town hall, Baldwin said, “The idea is to try and break the Charleston legislative COVID-bubble, and hear from you all about what your questions are, what your concerns are, what your ideas are as the session unfolds.”
The first question Baldwin took was regarding ways that the average citizen can be involved in the legislative process, to which he responded that calling, emailing or contact through social media with senators, delegates and representatives is the best way to remain active throughout the process, and the best way to make your opinions heard. Baldwin then praised Delegates Barry Bruce and Todd Longanacre for being both receptive and responsive to communication from constituents.
“I hear from folks who agree with me and I hear from folks who disagree with me, and I really find that helpful,” Baldwin said. “I want to get a sense of what’s going on in the community. I would encourage you to reach out even if you think you may believe differently than the people you are calling.”
The next question was in reference to the current state income tax reform proposals.
“With the proposals to reform or maybe eliminate the state income tax, and then coupled with some of the bills to take control away from county-level education boards and health departments, I’m wondering if you’re seeing, in any of this legislation, plans to fund that if we’re eliminating a big funding source with the income tax, but then centralizing control in Charleston,” the participant asked.
“First, on the income tax, we really don’t know what that’s going to look like yet,” Baldwin began. “If you watched the State of the State, then you know as much as legislators know about the income tax proposal. [] There was some talk that we may see something on paper today, but we haven’t seen anything yet. It’s really hard to say at this point. [] If you don’t know what the numbers are going to look like, then you don’t know how possible it is, or how much revenue is going to be replaced.”
Baldwin continued to say, “Part of your question was about local health departments []. The county health departments have done a good job, and the governor has done a good job with COVID leadership. The proposals that are before us, in terms of how they would affect the local health departments, they don’t take any funding away, at least at this point. But they also don’t give them any additional funding. [] Health departments have seen their resources plummet. They’ve taken huge hits over the past couple of years. [] more and more is being asked of them. [] The proposals that are before us now, they’re not asking them to do more, they are taking their authority away at the local health department. Right now, at this very moment, there’s a debate going on in the health committee about harm-reduction programs. Needle exchange programs. And it essentially would make it so difficult to have a needle exchange program that we wouldn’t have one. No harm reduction happening in the state of West Virginia. [] They’re really concerned that they might not be able to continue that program if this legislation moves forward.”
A question was raised, by a retired education-professional, about the introduction of House Bill 2595, which is intended to “prohibit the teaching of divisive acts.”
“The devil is in the details,” the participant said. “It’s such a nebulous piece of legislation, the way it’s written. To me, it’s a slippery-slope and a ‘Pandora’s box” for censorship on certain topics, like sexism and racism.”
“I know a lot of people are really upset about that (HB2595),” Baldwin responded. “There are thousands of bills introduced every year. Hundreds of them are introduced to try and satisfy particular people, and they have no chance of ever seeing the light of day. And they’re not even intended to see the light of day. They’re just intended to try and get some attention, to try and get people talking about them and make somebody happy. That’s one of those bills. That’s one of those divisive bills that’s not gonna go anywhere. I wouldn’t worry about the bill. I’d worry about the concept behind the bill and why people think that that’s necessary. But that bill is not going to go anywhere.”
Baldwin concluded the town hall by asking for suggestions for future towns halls, saying, “I’d like to do it in an effective way, and this was kind of a test run.”
The full 60-minute town hall is available for viewing in its entirety on Senator Stephen Baldwin’s YouTube channel.
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