Community gets briefing on 2021 W.Va. Legislative Session

May 8—FAIRMONT — U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said he wants West Virginia to set an example for the nation when it comes to using funds from the American Rescue Plan.

"I want West Virginia to be the leader and basically to be the poster child of how you should be responsible for the people's money," said Manchin, addressing guests at the Marion County Chamber of Commerce Legislative Wrap Up event Friday at the Robert H. Mollohan Research Center.

Manchin, a Democrat, said this is the first time money has ever been sent directly to counties and municipalities. He said there is so much flexibility that comes with the money that had never happened before.

Manchin said the country is in challenging times. He said it's not about politics but is about the country.

"We can all be a good Democrat or a good Republican or good Independent but, by God, we've got to shed those labels and be an American, be a West Virginian," Manchin said.

State Sen. Mike Caputo, D-13, was the first local lawmaker to speak. He said navigating the senate was quite different from when he served in the House of Delegates. West Virginia is set receive about $4 billion from the American Rescue Plan, funds he characterized as "desperately needed."

"Our state desperately needs that, but what Joe failed to tell you is he's the only member of the West Virginia delegation that voted yes to that bill to give that money to West Virginia," Caputo said.

Caputo said telemedicine and how it was expanded was one issue he and his colleagues could agree on that was bipartisan in the 2021 Legislative Session.

"We did some overhaul on alcohol bills that's just so antiquated in West Virginia and got together good on that," Caputo said.

One of the most bipartisan efforts was a bill to improve broadband. He said he worked together with his colleagues on House Bill 2002, which dealt with how to spend federal dollars for broadband in the state.

"We have so many areas of West Virginia, right here in Marion County, of folks that just don't have high speed internet and we want people to come here, we want people to work from here regardless of where their work sight might be," Caputo said.

He said the state couldn't move forward with this initiative without high speed internet. A bill he was proud of, which he sponsored, was relating to the training of police officers to deal with individuals who have autism.

"I think everybody's in agreement that yes we need to train our police officers on how to deal with our friends and neighbors who are on the Autism Spectrum," Caputo said.

He mentioned some bills he said were controversial, inclusive of the personal income tax bill the governor proposed passed very narrowly in the Senate. The House of Representative shut the bill down by voting 100-0.

"Everybody wants to reduce income tax. Everybody wants to reduce any kind of tax, but we've got to find a responsible way to do that, and hopefully we'll get there some day," Caputo said.

He said he voted against weakening water standards. He mentioned the transgender athlete bill that was proposed.

"I don't think there was a problem. I hate that we talked about things like that. I think that's why young people don't ever want to come to West Virginia because of some of our attitudes when it comes to people that maybe don't look like us," Caputo said.

Del. Guy Ward, R-White Hall, said lawmakers helped small businesses during the session.

"I think we did a lot of good things for small business down there. We didn't do anything to harm them that's for sure," Ward said.

He said the Jumpstart Savings Program was passed in a partisan effort. He said it is the first program of its kind in the nation and allows those who want to pursue a vocation or a trade to make a tax-free contribution to a savings and investment account up to $25,000 a year.

He said the House was also able to pass Mylissa Smith's Law which allows for family members to visit loved ones in a hospital even through pandemic guidelines. He said he was glad Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community and Technical College were about to separate. He said the state allocated $3 million toward that transition.

Del. Joey Garcia, D-Fairmont, said it was great to have a crowd so big that cared about what is going on in their government. He said he had never seen a more partisan legislative session than the 2021 session.

"I want to take a step back from that because I had a very big appreciation for my colleagues," Garcia said.

He said new legislators are often cautioned to not talk much, but said he broke that rule a lot given there were only 23 Democrats to stand up for what he deemed important.

"I will say although we debated on the floor, debated ideas, there was a profound level of respect and a profound level of working together," Garcia said.

One issue that was of utmost importance was preventing the closure of the John Manchin Sr. Health Care Clinic in Fairmont. He said on a bipartisan level, he echoed the importance of broadband in the state.

"If we can't get entities like Frontier and CityNet to do their job, we have to do it ourselves," Garcia said.

Garcia also expressed his disappointment in dealing with education in the session to which he characterized it as death by one thousand cuts.

"Every time I make a decision about anything in West Virginia I thought, is this going to be something that's going to help bring people here? Is this something that's going to bring an opportunity here?," Garcia said.

Del. Phil Mallow, R-East Side, said it was an honor to be able to do what he and his colleagues did in Charleston. He said he went to Charleston with ideas from people in Marion County and proposed 24 bills.

"We updated a lot of antiquated and old laws that didn't apply anymore," Mallow said.

Mallow said there is a huge competition for jobs and manufacturing opportunities. He said the session was bipartisan even though the majority of the House s Republican.

He also talked about saving the John Manchin Sr. Health Care Clinic and how he and his colleagues put their heads together to save it. He said emails and phones calls from Marion County made a difference in that.

He talked about how tourism is worldwide, and how West Virginia has hidden gems all over. He said that information needs to get out. He said West Virginia needs to accentuated for remote workers.

"It's been a joy and an honor and I hope you guys have nothing but prosperity," Mallow said.

After all the representatives spoke, Fairmont Mayor Tom Mainella said it seemed like in the last two or three years, every year there was more anti-city legislation in the House of Delegates.

"I really can't figure out why because in a rural state like West Virginia you especially have to depend on cities to provide services," Mainella said.

Ward said he kind of agreed with Mainella because he had served as mayor of White Hall. He said there were some bills that were passed against cities.

"I get the feeling that a lot of the delegates in the Republican party are resentful of the Home Rule and I really like [Home] Rule," Ward said.

He said it was a good thing, given that government is for the people. He said the closer the government gets to the people the better the government is. He said he favored Home Rule but didn't think it was necessary for every town and city.

Garcia said Mainella was right, and didn't see why there should be intermingling between Charleston and what's happening in Fairmont.

"I think every part of West Virginia is different and we should have the ability I think locally whether it's I think on some issues related to taxes and spending money and regulations to do it the way locals want to do it," Garcia said.

Mallow said thus far the conversations had are about inconsistencies across the state. He said the eastern panhandle lives within the confines of the border but have a lot more interactions with Virginia.

"We're looking to find out what are our best practices. What are they doing in this area that's working and how do we implement that somewhere else without stepping on anybody's toes," Mallow said.

Reach Sarah Marino at 304-367-2549