West Virginia Press Association Staff Report
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The WV Press Association’s (WVPA) 2024 “Legislative Lookahead” was held at Charleston’s Culture Center on Friday. The annual media event serves as a chance for reporters to hear from lawmakers, lobbyists, and stakeholders just ahead of the hectic first week of the fast-approaching Regular Legislative Session.
In what has become tradition, the day’s first panel included leadership from both the State Senate and House of Delegates. Returning from previous years were Senate President and Lt. Governor Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay. However, appearing for the first time was newly-elected House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell.
The prevailing theme was that of positive bipartisan cooperation.
President Blair opened the panel by thanking reporters in attendance for their contributions to the State of West Virginia, and “getting the message out” regarding what actions the legislature is both considering and taking.
“It’s working, ladies and gentleman,” Blair said. “It’s working because of some of the things we’ve done in the past.”
“Tax deductions,” Blair presented as an example of the legislature’s previous success. “Last year, $170 million in tax deductions in the State of West Virginia. That’s tremendous when you look at the fact that our budget is right around $4.9 billion. That’s a huge, huge tax deduction for the people and the businesses of West Virginia. What it does is it makes us attractive to business.”
According to Blair, another example of the legislature’s success was “making it so that our youth can get a great education in the State of West Virginia.”
“I’m all about alternative education,” Blair added. “Church schools, homeschools, private schools. But I’m also about public education, and putting kids in a competitive environment so that all of our students can succeed.”
Next to the podium was House Speaker Hanshaw, who referred to the legislature’s recent successes as being “perhaps the greatest collaborative effort that I’ve ever been involved with in my lifetime.”
“This never would have happened without both bodies of the legislature, and both parties within those bodies,” Hanshaw told those in attendance. “The principal message for me today is that we all need to do more to promote ourselves. We all need to do more to promote the life and quality of the opportunity we have to offer right here in our state.”
“Because we’re here every day – because we live it, see it, touch it, feel it, breathe it all day long everyday – it’s easy for us to overlook the quality of opportunity we have here,” Hanshaw continued. “I’m a West Virginian by choice, as are many of you. We ought to be proud of the choice we’ve made.”
The panel’s final speaker, Minority Leader Hornbuckle, began by praising both Blair and Hanshaw for their commitment to bipartisanship.
“We have slung so much mud and there’s so much rhetoric, and it’s counterproductive to West Virginia moving forward,” Hornbuckle said. “What they set out to do is show that you can do it together – you have to do it together because everybody is involved.”
“Part of being minority leader – what I will be doing this year – is rallying what I think is the best Democratic team in America to be a champion for people,” Hornbuckle continued. “We want to make sure that we’ll be able to put money in people’s pockets, and be able to save money for people. We’re going to lead by working in a bipartisan manner. That’s very, very important to us. But what we will also do is stand up to extremism.”
“All of us know that this is going to be a huge election year,” Hornbuckle added. “Time after time, what you’ll see is that people are going to push things that are counterproductive to everyday West Virginians. That’s what we’re going to have to stand up for.”
This year marked the WVPA’s first presentation of the “Legislative Lookahead” under the leadership of new Executive Director Betsy Miles. The event was made possible through the support of AARP West Virginia, WVU University Relations and WVU Today, Vandalia Health, and the WV Press Association Foundation.
West Virginia’s 2024 Regular Legislative Session is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
