Marion Co., West Virginia, representatives review legislative session at wrap up event

“We try to talk with our representatives ahead of the session about our vision and goals and wants and needs for Marion County from the business sector, and it’s important to hear what they were able to accomplish … not only legislatively, but maybe in garnering some support for some of the same issues we have in Marion County that they maybe have in Mason County or Wyoming County,” Rogers said. “How are they being dealt with on a state level? Our members are able to hear that first-hand from the representatives.”

The representatives were each given time to speak about what they found most important about the session, with many choosing to talk about the passage of the campus carry bill, the reduction in personal income tax and PEIA premium increases.

“The tax cut was a big deal to make us more competitive with other states,” Del. Phil Mallow said. “They’ve already done it. Some of the things we did this session we probably should have done 12 or 15 years ago as incremental increases instead of all of a sudden making a change that’s do or die. …

“For 60,000 state employees and their families, we had to make the move (on PEIA). We could have very easily put in another $51 million and kicked it down the road, and three years from now come back and say, ‘Folks, we’re sorry, but you don’t have a program now. We wish you the best.’”

Del. Mike DeVault also spoke about his support for the PEIA changes, and shared his support for the campus carry bill, as well.

“If you look at all of these school shootings, they look for soft targets,” DeVault said. “They look for no guns. … Will our campus carry stop shootings? I hope, and I hope we never know about it because that means they did not materialize. Unfortunately, we may have shootings or suicides. That’s going to be the, ‘I told you that would happen.’ I pray that it doesn’t happen, but it may. But, you can’t look at it that way. We may be stopping things.”

Sen. Mike Caputo said that he was against the campus carry bill, saying he has a “pit in his stomach” over its passage. He added that he believes the state Legislature should stop spending time fighting over social justice issues and focus on being inclusive and propping up West Virginians.

“The things that bother me most about the session are always the divisive issues dealing with transgender folks and gay rights and things like that,” Caputo said. “I’ve been here a long time, and these issues are always going to come up, and there are arguments are both sides. I just think the more inclusive (we are), we make West Virginia more successful. In my opinion, we should quit fighting over things like that.”