Good and bad: State lawmakers reflect on 2021 session

Apr. 19—FAIRMONT — State legislators who represent Marion County said the 2021 legislative session was a mix of both good and bad.

Del. Joey Garcia, D-Fairmont, said he is glad to have worked to bring more broadband to West Virginia and getting some of the red tape out of the way to allow broadband to deploy quicker.

"I believe there are going to be opportunities coming with the American Rescue Plan funding with potential infrastructure funding from the Biden administration and hopefully other funding for the state government," said Garcia.

Garcia said he's cautiously optimistic the state will be making some headway when it comes to broadband.

"I also was happy that there was a resolution with the situation with Fairmont State, with Pierpont and that both of the schools are going to be fully funded in the budget. I think that was a really important thing for me," said Garcia.

He said the best thing that impacted Marion County was the successful effort to prevent the closure of the John Manchin Sr. Health Care Center long-term care facility. As written House Bill 2626 called for closing it and three state-run long-term care centers.

"I think that was extremely important because of how that facility not only provides care for our seniors but it also provides for the Meals on Wheels and other help for the senior centers that we have," said Garcia.

On the bad side, Garcia there were bills that defunded education and attacked teachers and public education.

"The governor's income tax plan and the Republican tax plan ended up failing and so, I think, for now that's a good thing," said Garcia.

He said one thing that he feels turned out poorly in the end is a bill that will end up closing the harm reduction program that's run by the Marion County Health Department.

"That was I think a really short-sighted policy decision by a number of people in the legislature that I think it's going to end up causing increases in drug use, increases is hepatitis, HIV and other diseases," said Garcia.

As an attorney who once worked in the governor's office, Garcia said he did not have a voice and was the governor's voice.

"I didn't get to do what I thought was right. I got to be the messenger and I was really honored that the people of Marion County allowed me to be a voice for their needs and for their viewpoints," said Garcia.

Del. Guy Ward, R-White Hall, said he thinks the budget looked good, and reported the house passed a second amendment protection act as well.

"I think it was a good thing because West Virginians wanted that," said Ward.

Overall, he said, he would give the session a B- or C rating. He said he was a little disappointed in some things. He said the session focused too much on the personal income tax elimination, which failed.

"That was kind of a waste of time. It wasted a lot of time," said Ward.

Ward said he thinks leadership took advantage of their numbers, but at the same time there were bills that didn't get across that should have. He said there were over 2,000 bill introduced, and around only 390 passed at least one chamber. Of those bills, 114 of them died. For the first time, the Republican Party has a supermajority in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature.

"We lost a lot of good bills and one of them was HB 2003 which was going to limit the governor's executive authority and I think most everybody in the state of West Virginia wanted that," said Ward.

He said, in Marion County, he felt that a large part of the time was spent fighting the bill that would have closed the John Manchin Sr. Center. The bill didn't make it over the threshold to go to the senate, said Ward.

He said Fairmont State and Pierpont Community and Technical College's separation will be good in the long run as well.

Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Rivesville, said he was honored to be one of the senators representing the 13th senatorial district.

"I felt like I was able to contribute and to be a part of the process over there," said Caputo, who previously served for 18 years in the West Virginia House.

One thing he believes was one of the most important issues was the broadband bill. He said in both the house and the senate the bill seemed to be the most bipartisan this session.

"Hopefully that bill will support the expansion of broadband and the legislature expects that federal dollars will be devoted to carrying out broadband initiatives because West Virginia is way behind the curve on broadband," said Caputo.

Caputo echoed Ward's comments on the personal income tax elimination bill that was at the top of the governor's list. He said he didn't support any tax plan presented at this point.

This fall, once the census numbers are in, there will be 100 single member house districts in West Virginia and senate districts will have to be re-drawn.

The difference Caputo saw from serving in the senate after coming from the house is the smaller number of representatives and the time spent in committees. He said even though he was in the minority, he felt he could contribute to legislation and was able to get some amendments passed in the judiciary committee.

He said one bill he passed as a lead sponsor was dealing with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Senate Bill 634. The bill requires training for law enforcement to deal with those who have Autism Spectrum Disorder. He said it came as an idea from a constituent who has a child who is on the spectrum.

"There was a few good things, there were, in my opinion, a lot of bad things that happened with the Republican supermajority," he said.

Caputo said he thinks they passed some bad bills taking away authority from local government, particularly public health.

"They weakened some water standards, which I was not pleased with. One thing they did I think was just a huge mistake in a taxpayer funded burden is creating the intermediate court of appeals," said Caputo.

He said an entirely new court system was created in West Virginia that will have to be staffed. He said it adds another layer of bureaucracy. He said he also voted against the budget this year which he said he doesn't believe he had ever done before.

"I just didn't like the process. I felt very uncomfortable with the process and I voted against the state's budget this year," said Caputo.

He said some laws were weakened that dealt with contractors and licensing. He also said there was an attack on education where there were bill passed making it illegal for teachers to strike. He said there was a lot of retribution on teachers this year and "...the passage of the charter schools bill and the Hope Scholarship bill which is going to take a lot of money out of public schools," said Caputo.

He said telemedicine was expanded in the state, which was a good thing and alcohol laws were modernized.

Del. Phil Mallow, R-East Side, could not be reached in time for this report.