This Week in the House of Delegates
For the week ending Jan. 14, 2022
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Members of the West Virginia House of Delegates wrapped up the first full week of the regular legislative session having already accumulated a bigger economic development win for the state than most Legislatures have claimed in the entirety of their 60 days.
When lawmakers gathered in Charleston Sunday, Jan. 9 for their familiar interim committee meetings, it was already under the shadow of an extraordinary session call from the Executive. Legislators were asked to consider six bills related to economic development, with the West Virginia Industrial Advancement Act generating the most interest. That measure, Senate Bill 1001, creates a new section of tax code that clarifies how existing tax credits for manufacturing would apply to investments of at least $2 billion in property with at least 500 full-time workers.
The bill passed by an overwhelming majority of bipartisan votes after much discussion in the House Finance Committee as well as the floor of the House. It was one of the final steps in securing the largest private investment West Virginia has ever seen.
Nucor Corp., the largest steel producer in the United States, announced Jan. 12 it has selected Mason County as the location for a state-of-the-art sheet steel mill. The Memorandum of Understanding for the $2.7 billion project state officials had negotiated for months hinged on the completion of the WV Industrial Advancement Act, which Delegates delivered Jan. 11.
“Our geographic location, our stable economy, our nimble regulators who serve as facilitators, the fact that we’re a right-to-work state and the ability to get our top leaders on the phone right away are all concrete reasons West Virginia was the easy choice for Nucor,” said House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay.
“We said we would take seriously the job of turning our state’s economy around, and we’re incredibly proud to be able to provide the reasonable accommodations necessary to help secure the state’s biggest project to-date.”
Delegate Johnnie Wamsley, R-Mason, applauded the company’s announcement on the floor of the House, reporting to lawmakers Nucor had introduced itself to the local community by providing a $1 million donation to Mason County Schools and a $100,000 check to area food banks.
“For all those who doubted whether they were really coming to West Virginia, I can report Nucor is real and their checkbook is, too,” Wamsley said. “We should be proud as a Legislature to have played a part in turning the page of West Virginia’s economy and writing this new chapter.”
Gov. Jim Justice provided the Legislature with a nearly flat Fiscal Year 2023 budget proposal for the fourth year in a row while still providing for a 5% pay raise for all state employees, which a majority of Delegates stand ready to support. Justice also announced a $50 million expansion of the partnership between the West Virginia University Health System, which operates under the brand name WVU Medicine, and Owens & Minor Inc., a leading global healthcare solutions company. Owens & Minor and WVU Medicine are expected to work with the state to launch a healthcare products preparedness center in Morgantown that will create more than 125 jobs.
The week’s third big jobs announcement came from GreenPower Motor Company Inc., which has agreed to lease/purchase a 9.5-acre manufacturing facility in South Charleston, including an 80,000-square-foot building. The company will manufacture zero-emission, all-electric school buses there, generating millions of dollars in economic impact. The operation will bring as many as 200 new jobs to the state when manufacturing begins later this year, with the potential workforce to eventually reach up to 900 new jobs when full production is reached in 24 months.
GreenPower allowed Delegate Chris Toney, R-Raleigh, who is a school bus operator, to join company representatives on an electric bus after Friday’s floor session to pilot an extensive test drive for about 15 Delegates, staff members and education officials. (high-resolution photos are available for download here: https://westvirginialegislature.zenfolio.com/p660121529)
“It was really quiet, I could hear everyone’s conversations behind me, and it almost felt like a touring bus,” Toney said. “It did a really good job on our country roads, but it was a model created for California, so once they get our specifications, it will be great, and most importantly they’re being made right here in West Virginia.”
New for this legislative session is the Select Committee on Jails and Prisons, born out of the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, which met during interim sessions. Delegate David Kelly, R-Tyler, will serve as the new committee’s chairman, bringing his 20 years of law enforcement experience to the role.
“We have long known the Regional Jail Authority’s growing debt has reached a crisis level for most of our counties, and this Legislature is not content with letting that grow,” Kelly said. “There are several deep, underlying issues that must be corrected if we expect to truly see changes, and while we recognize we can’t just keep throwing money at the surface problem, now is the time to allocate the surplus funds we do have right now to give us all time to set those comprehensive solutions in motion over the course of the next 12 months.”
A total of 708 bills have been introduced in the House, and the regular session ends at midnight March 12.
Contact: Ann Ali at (304) 340-3323