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Breaking Down the Budget · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: The state budget is the talk of the Capitol, and
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  Speaker 1: for good reason. Each year one chamber takes the lead.
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  Speaker 1: This is the Senate's here, and its version coming out
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  Speaker 1: of finance makes some big moves. Start with taxes. Governor
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  Speaker 1: Morrissey found about one hundred and twenty five million dollars
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  Speaker 1: in offsets, enough to cover a five percent personal income
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  Speaker 1: tax cut. He left lawmakers to find the rest for
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  Speaker 1: another five percent. With an election year, that's a tough ask.
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  Speaker 1: The appeal of a tax cut versus the reality of
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  Speaker 1: paying for it. Some lawmakers feel they were hung out
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  Speaker 1: to dry. Senate finances answer a vape tax expected to
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  Speaker 1: bring in around twenty two million dollars plus one hundred
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  Speaker 1: three million more in identified offsets. In plain language, offsets
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  Speaker 1: are trade offs cut here, raised there to make the
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  Speaker 1: math work while keeping the budget balanced. Then there's Medicaid.
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  Speaker 1: The Senate puts it at the front of the budget,
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  Speaker 1: funded with general revenue. The Governor's version leaned on surplus
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  Speaker 1: dollars money that may or may not materialize depending on collections.
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  Speaker 1: Given the federal match at stake, Medicaid simply can't come
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  Speaker 1: up short. Moving it to the front is the safer play.
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  Speaker 1: The Hope Scholarship, though, moves the other direction to the
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  Speaker 1: back of the budget. Funded with surplus. Lawmakers trimmed the
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  Speaker 1: request by thirty eight million based on updated participation estimates. Still,
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  Speaker 1: families relying on that program see it as a promise.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what stands out. Both plans. The Governor's budget the
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  Speaker 1: Senate's budget spend almost every dollar the state could reasonably
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  Speaker 1: expect to collect. That leaves very little cushion, and history
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  Speaker 1: says surprises happen. Just look at Hancock County mismanagement by
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  Speaker 1: the board or not they can't pay teachers and other personnel.
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  Speaker 1: Senate Finance passed a bill Tuesday giving them eight million
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  Speaker 1: dollars to pay the bills minus a cushion. Where would
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  Speaker 1: that money come from the next go around for the
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  Speaker 1: next school system or whatever comes West Virginia's way. Timing
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  Speaker 1: matters too. Passing a budget this early gives the House
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  Speaker 1: time to reshape it and perhaps the leverage to override
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  Speaker 1: the Governor's line item vetos if needed. So now attention
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  Speaker 1: turns to House Finance and Chairman Vernon Chris, known for
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  Speaker 1: a cautious fiscal approach. His next steps will say a
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  Speaker 1: lot about whether further tax cuts are realistic. Look for
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  Speaker 1: that discussion during House Finance on Thursday. At the end
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  Speaker 1: of the day, lawmakers face a choice bigger tax cuts
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  Speaker 1: now or stronger funding for roads, special education, and child
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  Speaker 1: welfare with tax relief phased in later. If West Virginia
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  Speaker 1: hits already established triggers, that's the Balancing Act, and that's
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  Speaker 1: the reckoning ahead.