Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Friday afternoon signed the 2016-17 West Virginia budget bill (SB 1013) into law with seven line-item vetoes - just two weeks before the new budget year begins July 1.
The signing closes out a month-long drama over passage of what Tomblin in his veto message said was, "one of the most challenging budgets I have worked on in all my years of service to the state."
He approved the $4.187 billion general-revenue spending plan with seven line-item vetoes - six to restore about $3 million in funding cuts and one to remove language that would have designated $10.11 million from the state Lottery profits go strictly for thoroughbred horse racing purses, which was an attempt by the Legislature to cut the subsidy for greyhound racing purses by nearly $4.1 million.
Tomblin noted that the provision was unconstitutional, since the "Legislature may not use an unauthorized insertion in the Budget Bill to undermine general law."
Tomblin's line-item veto means that thoroughbred and greyhound racing purses will share the $4 million cut, with the share of the purse fund revenue generally divided at a 75/25 percent split between thoroughbred racing and greyhound racing, respectively.
In his message, Tomblin noted that the process of completing the 2016-17 budget, which included a 17-day special legislative session and a veto of one proposed budget that would have heavily raided the state's Rainy Day reserve funds, was "exceptionally difficult."
"While we were able to eventually reach a reasonable compromise, and restore certainty for many of our state employees, residents and businesses, it is important to note that serious financial challenges remain in the years ahead," Tomblin stated.
Tomblin noted that the Legislature ultimately approved only one of several revenue measures he'd proposed to stabilize budgets for fiscal 2016-17 and years to come, a $98 million increase in tobacco taxes.
"This revenue helps to address issues with not only the fiscal year 2017 budget, but projected deficits in future years," Tomblin said. "However, it falls well short of eliminating projected deficits of hundreds of millions of dollars that elected officials will have to address in the future."
Otherwise, Tomblin's line-item vetoes restored $500,000 each in funding to six accounts: the state Development Office's marketing fund, the Board of Pharmacy's Controlled Substances Monitoring database, parole services for the Board of Parole, horizontal well-drilling permit fees to the Department of Environmental Protection, funding for water and sewer infrastructure projects at State Parks and federal funding for the Department of Agriculture that Tomblin said could not be redirected for other uses.
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.