Senate President Bill Cole and House Speaker Tim Armstead have asked Gov. Tomblin to expand his call for the current special budget session to include additional measure that will result in cuts to state programs.
In a letter sent to Tomblin Tuesday, legislative leaders have asked the governor to expand the call to include:
- Legislation ending discretionary funds to the Licensed Racetrack Modernization Fund- $10.2 million
- Legislation decreasing the distribution to the West Virginia Infrastructure Fund- $10 million
- Legislation eliminating the Secretary of Education and the Arts- $851,753
- Legislation revising the school aid formula- $14.8 million
- Legislation defunding the West Virginia Greyhound Breeding Development Fund- $21.2 million
- Additional supplemental appropriations
Most of the measures included in the request for an expanded call were bills that were either tried and failed during the regular session or were introduced and never considered, many of which were requested by Gov. Tomblin.
The total savings, around $56 million, will go toward closing the more than $270 million budget gap in the 2017 fiscal year.
In the letter, Armstead and Cole say Tomblin's call has left lawmakers with two choices, to greatly increase taxes or significantly cut programs. They believe expanding the call will help lawmakers achieve a mix of raising taxes, cutting programs, and relying on one-time funds to balance the 2017 budget.
Tomblin responded with a letter of his own Wednesday saying he would consider adding the requested bills to the call.
“But before I place any item on an amended call, it must be clear how the item fits into your overall plan to balance the budget,” he wrote
Tomblin said Wednesday he added additional revenue increasing measures to the call to give lawmakers more options, but since those are not being considered, Tomblin said he wants to see a list of the proposed cuts to state programs.
“You know, if we’re going to have cuts, show me what they are," he said. "They’ve talked about making cuts since the first of the year, but nothing specific.”
Armstead disagreed with the governor's statement saying he has been provided a list of potential cuts several times during the past two months of negotiations. In fact, Armstead said, leadership has asked Tomblin to help vet the cuts within state agencies to make sure they won't cause any undue harm.
“Have we said this is the exact list and everyone 100 percent agrees, we’ve been trying to work with him and see what his response is to some of these," he said, "but there’s nothing on these cuts that I think should be a surprise to him."
You can read Senate President Cole and Speaker Armstead's letter in full here: