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The Senate Said 'No' to West Virginia’s Economic Future · Commentary - TJ Meadows

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Here. It is unvarnished. West Virginia is a poor state,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: at least compared to the rest of the country, and
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: issue after issue we talk about around the capital isn't
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: really the problem. It's a symptom. School systems struggling to
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: make payroll, counties unable to fund reliable emergency medical services,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a statewide crisis in special education funding, child welfare needs
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: going unmet, citizens still searching for clean drinking water, teachers
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: leaving for better pay across state lines. All of that symptoms.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: The underlying illness is simple. West Virginia is losing people,
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  Speaker 1: and too many of the people who remain can't find
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: opportunity or don't want to fix that, and many of
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: those symptoms start to fade. But during this legislative session,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: lawmakers spent a lot of time debating the symptoms while
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: avoiding the cure. That cure was called Team West Virginia.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: The idea was straightforward, move the state's economic development efforts
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: into a private corporation similar to Ohio's Jobs Ohio, and
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  Speaker 1: give it one mission aggressively recruit companies and jobs to
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  Speaker 1: West Virginia, jobs that would generate the tax revenue this
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  Speaker 1: state desperately needs jobs that might bring new residents here
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: instead of watching more and more people leave. The House
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: passed the bill. The Senate had two opportunities to move it.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: It didn't. Now the effort is dead for the session.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Supporters say the governor quietly worked the Senate to stop
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: the bill. If that's true, that's his prerogative. But it
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: raises a simple question why, because meanwhile, Ohio Governor Mike
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: DeWine is joking that jobs Ohio works so well, he's
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: not sure he should encourage West Virginia to copy it.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: After all, why would he want the competition. Congratulations Governor Dwine.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Ohio wins, and somewhere right now, another West Virginia business
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: may be getting recruited across the Ohio River. To read
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the full commentary, visit the website wv metronews dot com