WV Legislature Passes 'Fictional' 2016-17 Budget

The West Virginia Legislature passed a budget for the 2016-17 year based on a huge raid of the State's rainy day savings account.

The legislature was faced with a $270 million dollar deficit to fill in the budget.  Over $203 million of that amount will come from raiding the rainy day fund.  The balance of the budget deficit was filled by nearly equal one time sweeps of leftover account balances ($35.5 million) and small actual budget cuts ($30.5 million).  No new taxes are included in the budget.

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has indicated he would veto any budget that so heavily dips into the rainy day fund.  The $203 million raid of the rainy day fund amounts to 20 percent of its current balance, which will reduce negatively the State's bond rating.  Balancing a budget by spending savings fails to address the revenue shortages caused by the declining coal industry and fails to address Republican claims of waste in state government.  Nevertheless, along party lines, the Senate approved the budget 18 to 16 (all democrats voting no) and the House of Delegates approved the budget 60 to 37 (local Delegate Dana Lynch joined with most Democrats in voting no).

It is highly likely that if the Governor makes good on his promise to veto this budget, the Legislature will continue its party line bickering at the rate of $35,000.00 per day cost for the special session and come up with no budget leading to a state government shutdown on July 1.

House Speaker's Announcement on Budget Passage