Senate and House leaders want more details about tax cut and pay raise proposals

West Virginia’s Senate president and House speaker want to know more about the governor’s proposals for tax cuts and state employee pay raises.

And Senate President Randy Smith says that chamber’s Republican supermajority has a plan for the session that starts tomorrow, although he indicated that is largely being shaped by committee chairs. Smith’s comments offered few specifics.

That was all ground covered during the annual Issues & Eggs Legislative Breakfast hosted by the Charleston Area Alliance. This year’s moderator for the panel with Senate President Smith and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw was retired MetroNews Talkline host Hoppy Kercheval.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s State of the State speech at 7 p.m. Wednesday will set a tone for the session, and the governor has already proposed additional personal income tax cuts of 5 to 10%. 

The Legislature and the prior administration cut its personal income taxes significantly in recent years through a series of legislative and trigger-based reductions, resulting in a cumulative decrease of more than 20% since 2023.

So while Hanshaw and Smith did not rule out additional tax cuts, they want to know more about the details.

Randy Smith

“Everybody’s always for cutting taxes,” said Smith, R-Tucker. “I’m a big tax cut guy, as well as probably everybody in this room. But the only difference is, the House and the Senate, sometimes we have to be the adults in the room because we have to pay the bills.

“We have to make sure that you know that we’re not going to bankrupt the state, or you know we’re not going to destroy programs. So until we see exactly what — I’m speaking for myself — until we see exactly what he’s wanting to do, it’s hard to say we’re going to support. I support tax cuts, but I support responsible tax cuts.”

Roger Hanshaw

Hanshaw followed up by saying, “I don’t know that I’m a no. We want to be the lowest tax environment we can. I think it would be irresponsible for me to prematurely judge the governor’s proposal until he lays it out tomorrow night.

“Obviously, there’s an appetite for tax reduction in almost any form. We want to be the lowest tax environment we can. I don’t want to prejudge his proposal until he gives us the details about it tomorrow night. We’re certainly not in no, put it that way.”

Both the governor and the Republican majority in the House have proposed some sort of pay raise, but it’s not yet been clear if there’s agreement on an amount or who would be eligible for the raise.

Delegates last month described a pay raise proposal aimed teachers and service personnel.

Morrisey, a few days later, described the outlines of a pay raise for all state employees.

“We discussed our priorities a couple of weeks ago. We talked about the need to continue down the path that we’re on, specific to educators, I believe, I don’t want to misquote the governor, but I believe he called for a broader pay raise a few days later when he gave some public comments,” Hanshaw said.

“So I think there is every reason to believe there’ll be a pay raise of some sort. We have traditionally done increments of five percentage points over time. I don’t know what he’ll call for tomorrow night, but I think it’s safe to say that’s in the mix of conversations.”

Although the House has been explicit about many of its priorities, mostly having to do with economic and workforce development, the Senate so far has been less clear. 

Senator Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, made waves when he made a volunteer appearance at Friday’s Legislative Lookahead preview of the session and told attendees of the West Virginia Press Association event that the Senate has no agenda. Tarr repeated his assessment this week on MetroNews Talkline.

Smith said he took no umbrage but disagreed with the assessment.

“Well, the Senate or the House, either one, can always be a free for all, a chance of it. But, you know, I’ve never read his comments. I’ve had, of course, I’ve had several people (ask). But you know, he’s a state senator. He’s entitled to his his opinion. You know, I like Senator Tarr. He’s a very bright man, you know, he’s got his opinion,” Smith said.

“I’ve got a job to do, and all I can tell you is I’m going to do my job. We do have a plan. I’ve got committee chairs sitting in here that’s been working on this, on things, their agenda since we left last session. So to say that we don’t have a plan is is kind of unfair, because we do have a plan.”

He went on to say, “You know, I put my committee chairs out there because they’re the experts on whatever they’re running. So I’m not going to go out there and, you know, seek publicity or, you know, bash anybody, because my job is to run the state Senate. I’ve got a good team. I’m proud of all my committee chairs, and they’ve worked hard all summer.”

The Senate president described the full volume of bills that will be introduced and considered, and he said many of them don’t receive a public spotlight.

“We have a plan. I mean, maybe I should apologize because I’m not out there, you know, having a press conference or whatever. But I’m old school, a blue collar worker. I believe that just going and getting the job done. I don’t want the credit for it, because I’m just the leader.”

The Senate president concluded by saying, “We’ll be all right. We’ll be all right.”