Chances for passage of a 45-cent-per-pack cigarette tax during the special session took a hit Thursday when the bill (SB 1005) barely survived a 17-16 passage vote in the Senate - and only because staunch anti-tax Sen. Robert Karnes, R-Upshur, left the chamber before the vote.
All but one of the 16 Senate Democrats voted against the bill, on the grounds that the 45-cent increase is insufficient to either deter smoking or close a $270 million gap in the 2016-17 state budget.
"I'm not prepared to let the lunatics take control of the asylum," Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, said after the vote. "We've got to have a full and comprehensive [budget] plan, and that's what we're missing."
Earlier, Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, complained in the Senate Finance Committee that Senate and House leaders have yet to unveil any plans for balancing the 2016-17 budget, four days into the special session, and more than 60 days after the end of the regular session.
"Here we are in special session, burning up more than $35,000 a day of taxpayers' money for something we should have done in the regular session," Unger said, adding, "Until we get a proposal from the leadership . . . , I think this is all a charade."
Senate Democrats had pushed for a $1-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax but were rebuffed by Senate leaders, who insist that a 45-cent increase is the maximum amount that has a chance of passing in the House of Delegates.
"We continue to defer to the lower chamber, to speculate what they may or may not do," Kessler complained.
The bill likely would have been defeated on a 17-17 tie had Karnes, one of more than two-dozen legislators who have signed Grover Norquist's no-tax-increase pledge, not exited the chamber prior to the vote.
"He was standing right there as we were arguing it, then he went out the back door," Kessler said.
Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, closed the voting despite several calls from members that Karnes was in the hallway. Karnes later said he had to run off to the restroom and missed the vote.
"It looks like I'm the deciding vote on it," said Karnes, who said he believes another Democrat would have voted "yes" to pass the bill had he been present.
"This was just a political game," he said.
One Democrat, Sen. Corey Palumbo, D-Kanawha, voted for the bill, while one Republican, Sen. Kent Leonhardt, R-Monongalia, voted against it. Leonhardt is running for agriculture commissioner.
Afterward, Palumbo said of his vote, "I just was not convinced voting it down would result in something better."
He added, "I just think 45 cents is better than zero."
After the vote, a visibly angry Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, called the Democrats' votes "indefensible."
"It's just absolutely ridiculous to vote against this bill," he said. "It's beyond my comprehension why someone would vote no on this vital piece of legislation."
During a floor speech before the vote, Carmichael reached out to senators favoring a $1 increase, saying that voting against the 45-cent proposal could mean that no increase passes during the session.
"If you vote against this bill because you want a higher tax on cigarettes, you're essentially saying, 'If I don't get my way, I don't want anything,' " Carmichael said.
The vote could be ominous for House leadership, trying to hold together what is believed to be a razor-thin 51 votes of support for the bill.
During the regular session, a similar 45-cent cigarette tax hike bill was soundly defeated in the House Finance Committee by a 22-3 margin, when anti-tax Republicans formed a unlikely coalition with Democrats wanting a $1 hike, voting to kill the bill.
On Wednesday, the ultra-conservative Liberty Caucus had a closed-door meeting with House Democrats, raising concerns about a similar coalition being formed on the current legislation.
Asked whether Thursday's Senate vote could influence how House Democrats vote on the tobacco tax, Kessler said, "They've been pretty adamant, from what I've heard, that they want $1, as well."
During a Thursday evening floor session, the House received the bill but did not act on it, other than to waive committee reference, sending it to the House floor for first reading today.
Since neither house is planning to meet over the weekend, that likely would put the bill up for a passage vote on Tuesday.
If the bill passes both houses, it would provide about $78 million a year of new revenue, still leaving a $192 million hole in the 2016-17 budget.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin proposed two other tax increase plans - eliminating the sales tax exemption on telecommunications services and a sales tax increase of up to 1 percent - to close the remainder of the gap, but their fates were signaled on the first day of the special session when Cole removed his name as a co-sponsor of both bills.
"How are we going to fix it? Is it all going to be cuts? Is it all going to be taken out of the Rainy Day fund?" Kessler asked, adding, "We keep blaming the governor. We keep blaming everybody. We keep blaming the House, but we have yet to see a comprehensive plan."
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1220 or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.