Justice calls special session after road bond, but roads not on agenda

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice issued a call Thursday afternoon for a special session of the West Virginia Legislature beginning Monday — but without the purported key reason for calling the special session in the first place.

During a news conference this past Monday to tout passage of the road bond amendment, Justice confirmed that he would call a special session beginning this coming Monday, with the pressing issue being streamlining state personnel hiring policies, to quickly fill about 500 vacancies in the Division of Highways for the pending surge in road construction projects.

“To hire somebody for the state today, you’ve got to go through the most bureaucratic process that bogs everything down,” Justice said. “Hiring an employee in the state today may take six to nine months.”

However, as it stood Thursday afternoon, the call consisted of two items:

• Fully exempting military pensions from state income taxes.
• Expanding state tax credits for rehabilitating historic buildings.

Governors may amend special session calls to add items to be considered, and the Governor’s Office issued a statement Thursday from chief of staff Mike Hall advising, “Additional legislation, including a bill that addresses Department of Transportation hiring policies, is currently being worked on and may be presented next week or at another time in the very near future.”

The two items that are on the call were discussed extensively during the regular and/or extended session earlier this year.

During the extended budget session, the House and Senate versions of the state budget plan included provisions to fully exempt military pensions, but the proposal ultimately was lost, a victim of the 44-day budget impasse.

Under existing law, the first $22,000 a year in military pensions is exempt from state income taxes.

Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow told legislators in September that fully exempting the pensions would benefit about 3,800 of the 10,000 West Virginians who receive military pensions, consisting predominately of retired officers and 20-plus-year career military veterans.

At an average tax savings of $800, Muchow said the exemption would cost the state about $3.1 million a year in lost tax revenue.

On Monday, Justice said he is hopeful the exemption will encourage military veterans to move to West Virginia to retire.

“We want to bring veterans to this state,” he said.

Likewise, legislation to increase tax credits for rehabilitating historic buildings nearly passed the Legislature in the regular session, dying on the final night, when the House and Senate could not agree on whether to cap the total amount of credits available at $6 million or $7.5 million a year.

Both chambers’ bills would have increased the existing 10 percent credit to 25 percent, phased in over three years.

Proponents of the measure contend that the 10 percent credit does not provide enough financial incentive to encourage people to invest in rehabbing historic buildings.

Legislators are scheduled to be in Charleston for monthly interim meetings from Sunday through Tuesday, which should minimize costs of holding the special session. If the Governor’s Office is unable to get the personnel legislation ready by then, the next window of opportunity comes Nov. 12-14, when more interim meetings are scheduled.