SISSONVILLE, W.Va. – Three West Virginia state legislators held a town meeting at the Sissonville Public Library Tuesday to hear public concerns.
Delegate Ron Walters, R-Kanawha, was joined by Sens. Ed Gaunch, R-Kanawha, and Glenn Jeffries, D-Putnam, to answer questions about a multitude of issues, including the state’s budget deficit.
Nick Casey, chief of staff for Governor Jim Justice, has said between $390 million and $606 million in spending will need to be cut from the upcoming budget.
Gaunch said he has met with Justice, who told Gaunch he is looking for anything to cut from the budget before sending a budget to the legislature. Gaunch has one possible solution for solving the state’s budget crisis: tax reform.
“My goal would be to ultimately over a period of time do away with personal income tax, replace it with a much broader sales tax, which I believe is much fairer to everyone and more attractive to out-of-state businesses and individuals wishing to move here,”Gaunch said.
Walters said he will ask various commissions to look into consolidating numerous agencies in order to save money. He added he will look at eliminating overbearing regulations in order to attract businesses to West Virginia.
“We are the most overregulated state in the nation,” Walters said.
Walters also mentioned the possibility of placing tolls on either Interstate 71 or 80, adding the possible generate revenue could result in a decrease of the gas tax, which currently sits at 32.2 cents a gallon.
Mary Nichols from Cross Lanes said budget cuts are needed, but lawmakers should be careful about what programs to eliminate. Nichols also said that the biggest problem the state is facing is not the budget.
“The basic problem is we just don’t have a tax base to support the services that we are providing,” Nichols said. “Something has to be done to bring businesses in that are bringing people jobs that allow them to have money to spend in the economy.”
Jeffries said businesses interested in moving to the state are concerned about numerous issues, including high-quality schools and infrastructure. Yet Jeffries said the number one problem businesses have in hiring people is drug abuse, adding Procter & Gamble did not start operations in West Virginia because the company felt the state lacked an adequate workforce.
Another topic brought up was medical marijuana. Jeffries said the legalization medical marijuana has “a good chance of passing” the Senate, though he does not see legalizing the plant for recreational use happening anytime soon.
One main concern mentioned at the meeting was the fear that marijuana is a gateway drug to more addictive substances.
The subject came up following a comment from Don Smith, a Tornado businessman involved in three cannabis companies. Smith said marijuana could become the state’s largest cash crop if the drug was fully legalized.
“The real money to be made right now, if the state is curious about making money, would be the recreational business,” Smith said. “The recreational business would bring about a lot of tourism dollars. Whenever you look at the reality of medical cannabis, that is needed, needed market, but you don’t want to tax somebody that’s sick.”
Smith said industrial hemp is being grown in the state for the first time since World War II, but investors are weary to support farmers because of rules later vetoed by then-Governor Earl Ray Tomblin that would have placed regulations on growing hemp.
The legislature begins its 60-day session Feb. 8.