KEYSER, W.Va. (WV News) — The largest tax cut in West Virginia history topped the list of legislation of which Mineral County’s delegation said they were most proud, as three of the four representing the county participated in the Mineral County Chamber of Commerce’s annual legislative dinner May 18.
Sen. Randy Smith, Sen. Jay Taylor and Del. Rick Hillenbrand each spoke to the crowd gathered at WVU Potomac State College’s Davis Center during the program.
Smith has represented West Virginia’s 14th Senatorial District since being elected in 2016; Taylor and Hillenbrand are both in the first year of their first terms.
Mineral County’s other representative, Del. Gary Howell of the 87th Delegate District, was unable to attend but sent a letter which was read by emcee Patsy Koontz.
Smith opened his remarks by noting that the 2023 legislative session was a particularly busy one.
“Usually we pass about 200 bills; this year it was 340,” he said.
He admitted, however, that number was “too many,” as some of the pieces of legislation don’t get as much attention by the senators and delegates as they should.
In addition to the tax cut, Smith said one of the biggest issues the legislators took on this year was the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR), which they divided in order for the smaller departments to better handle the issues at hand.
Touching on the state of business in the Mountain State, Smith said he feels West Virginia should put more time and money into retaining its existing businesses rather than recruiting the larger ones like Nucor, which announced it would be building a large sheet mill in Mason County.
“We need to take care of our West Virginia businesses first,” he said. “We need to do better to promote West Virginia businesses; we need to do a better job of helping them.”
Taylor, who also represents Senatorial District 14, called being able to participate in implementing the biggest tax cut in West Virginia history “pretty special.”
He then spoke of Senate Bill 220, which regulates cannabinoid products such as Delta 8, 9, and 10, and prohibits the sale to minors, saying he was “really proud” of that one.
“I’m happy it will help keep some of this stuff out of our kids’ hands,” he said.
One piece of legislation that Taylor said is “’still in the works,” is the reformation of the School Building Authority. Saying the current SBA is “all about consolidation and building new schools,” Taylor said he feels the state needs to take care of its smaller schools.
“We need to take care of what we’ve got and maintain it,” he said.
Both Taylor and Hillenbrand, who represents the 88th Delegate District, expressed their disappointment in the legislature’s failure to pass the Fire and EMS bill, which would help provide badly-needed funding to the state’s volunteer emergency agencies. They anticipate it will be addressed in a future interim session.
“I am cautiously optimistic,” Hillenbrand said.
One of the bills which Hillenbrand said he was particularly pleased with was HB2007, which addresses irreversible gender altering surgery for minors.
“The other one, of course, was the big tax cut,” he said.
He also spoke of the drug bill, noting that, as of June 9, if a child takes “a product they shouldn’t have” from the home, “you as an adult will be held responsible.
“This is serious stuff,” he said.
In the letter from Del. Howell, he also noted that the legislators were “very excited to be able to provide the largest tax cut in West Virginia history.”
He also noted that he was “especially proud” of legislation that requires high school students to complete a course in personal finance,” and that he was happy to be able to secure some funding for WVU Potomac State College.
The legislators took some questions from the audience at the conclusion of the meeting.
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