Efforts to put together a 2016-17 state budget took a dramatic turn Thursday evening, as Delegate Ron Walters, R-Kanawha, offered symbolic amendments to strip funding out of various accounts in the budget bill (HB 101), including eliminating funding for West Virginia University Institute of Technology and Fairmont State University.
The amendments caused such an uproar on the House floor that Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, was compelled to leave the podium to address delegates, urging them to "Get together, put our heads together, and stop game-playing."
After withdrawing the amendments, Walters said he wanted to make a point on the crisis looming if the Legislature fails to come up with a balanced budget - one that won't be vetoed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin - before the new budget year starts July 1.
"Come July 1, if a budget isn't passed, 760,000 West Virginians will lose their health insurance," Walters said. "On July 1, the State Police don't work. Public employees quit working. We don't renew licenses. We don't do environmental inspections."
Walters said the Legislature must come up with a budget that Tomblin will sign, suggesting the current version of the House budget bill, which uses $143 million of Rainy Day reserve funds to help close a $270 million revenue shortfall, is well beyond what Tomblin will accept.
"If we don't work together and we don't find a resolution to solve these issues, the result will be so catastrophic we will never recover," he said.
Delegate Jim Morgan, D-Cabell, was also highly critical of the proposed budget bill, which dips heavily into the Rainy Day fund in lieu of revenue from a tobacco tax increase that was rejected by the House on Tuesday.
"To think that we have been here for nine days now, and this is the best any of us can come up with?" Morgan said, adding, "It's just a shame 100 grown people can't get together in some room some place and find an answer to this."
House leadership heard a motion to suspend the rules to vote on the budget Thursday night, but didn't have bipartisan support to do so. The House will reconvene today at 10 a.m.
The Senate, meanwhile, laid over its version of the budget bill (SB 1001) for a second straight day, with amendments pending.
Also during the ninth day of the special session Thursday:
n The House passed 94-1 an amended version of a $63.7 million supplemental appropriation bill (SB 1002), the last piece of several spending transfers to close the current 2015-16 budget year shortfall. Delegate Michael Folk, R-Berkeley, was the lone no vote.
As amended, the bill takes $32 million from the Rainy Day funds to close the gap, which would bring the total amount of Rainy Day funding used to close the current shortfall to $98.6 million.
n The House passed 64-31 a bill to eliminate the Racetrack Modernization Fund (HB 105), which provides $9 million a year of matching funds for racetrack casino operators to upgrade their gaming areas.
That was over objections from delegates who have racetrack casinos in their districts, and over constitutional questions of whether the bill can be taken up in special session since it is not part of the governor's call.
"In many ways, this is penny wise and pound foolish," said Delegate Paul Espinosa, R-Jefferson, who argued it was the wrong time to end a program that helps state facilities compete with casinos in neighboring Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland, particularly with the $1.3 billion MGM National Harbor Casino complex set to open outside of Washington later this year.
That casino will directly compete with Hollywood Casino and Racetrack in Charles Town, by far the largest and most lucrative casino in West Virginia.
Espinosa noted that Hollywood Casino alone provided $203 million of state revenue in the 2014-15 budget year - more than the state collected in oil and natural gas severance taxes ($162 million).
Proponents contended that a $9 million matching fund to assist the state's casino industry is a luxury the state cannot afford in the midst of a budget crisis.
"I think it is wholly reasonable for us as policymakers to say, "We've helped you out for a few years, but you're a billion-dollar industry and we need that money back," said Delegate Patrick Lane, R-Kanawha.
Prior to the vote, delegates debated whether they could even consider the bill at all, since it is not on the special session called issued by Gov. Tomblin.
Lane argued that state Supreme Court decisions have given the Legislature broad latitude to interpret the governor's call, and said the bill is valid under the call to pass a balanced budget, since the $9 million would go to that end.
However, Delegate Stephen Skinner, D-Jefferson, said the court has given the Legislature some leeway, such as changing percentages in a tax bill proposed by the governor, but the Constitution is clear the Legislature can "enter into no business except that stated in the proclamation."
"The call doesn't say anything about racing, doesn't say anything about gaming," Skinner said. "This is clearly outside the call."
Delegate Justin Marcum, D-Mingo, argued that, under the circumstances, the Legislature should not put itself in a position where it may have to defend its actions in court.
"We are in a budget crisis, and we're going to end up in court if we take action on this," he warned.
n Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, introduced legislation to legalize marijuana (HB 114) in hopes of opening a dialogue on the economic prospects it could bring. Talk is all that is likely to come of the bill this session, as the bill would have to be advanced by three separate House committees in order to have consideration on the House floor.
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.