By Mannix Porterfield
Register-Herald Reporter
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Adhering to his ideological opposition to targeted tax breaks, Gov. Joe Manchin is not about to place the failed extra 5 percent allocation of severance taxes to the 30 coal-producing counties in West Virginia on his special session call.
Counties have been flooding his office with copies of resolutions designed to convince Manchin to give the issue another go-round in next week’s special legislative session. Raleigh County’s commission sent its version to the governor after its regular meeting on Tuesday.
But an aide emphasized Wednesday the idea isn’t about to get the attention of lawmakers when they return next Thursday to start the session.
“It’s off the table for now,” policy director Jim Pitrolo said.
Rather, the session will focus largely on education issues intended to put West Virginia in a better posture in competition for federal money in the Race to the Top program.
One issue that failed on a technical glitch, the so-called “Bloomberg Bill,” designed to protect gun dealers from out-of-state sting operations, will be reconsidered.
Nothing is set in stone, but there hasn’t been any indication the session will look at new mine safety legislation — an unlikely prospect, given the underground phase of the investigation into the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster in Raleigh County hasn’t even commenced.
Manchin has said he is willing to look at any reforms that might become apparent, once the Massey Energy mine tragedy is thoroughly examined by state and federal regulators.
“We’re still working on it, obviously,” Pitrolo said of the agenda.
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Pitrolo said the governor intends to cull five of the 20 issues outlined in a recent state Board of Education publication that would enable the state to compete better in the Race to the Top program.
West Virginia’s application is due June 1, explaining why the governor is calling the session for next week, rather than wait until this month’s interims, set for May 24-26.
“We couldn’t wait much longer,” Pitrolo said.
At the same time, he explained, Manchin felt it would be necessary to give lawmakers a day between next Tuesday’s primary election, since many likely will sit up late watching the results.
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On a technicality, the severance bill was never enrolled and sent to Manchin’s desk, although it cleared the Legislature on the final night. The problem lay within the language and the conference committee’s failure to address the lone controversial section.
The idea is to allocate the first 5 percent of the severance tax yield over a five-year period and return it to the counties where coal is produced.
In Raleigh County, for instance, the annual bonanza would be $299,017, or nearly $1.5 million more over the five-year span.
Pitrolo said the governor understands that coal-producing counties have a point in wanting a bigger share of the rewards.
“But how far do you carry that?” Pitrolo asked.
“What if Monongalia County says, ‘we produce a higher percentage of the sales tax than anywhere else in the state, so we want a bigger spread of the sales tax?’ We have to look at the whole system in West Virginia. We collect taxes for the common good. He’s afraid if you start dividing that up, then you open the door for some problems.”
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Relying on the same philosophy, Manchin vetoed a bill passed in March that would have allowed an exemption from the sales tax in firearms and ammunition purchases in October.
Named after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his zeal for going after illegal gun sales outside his jurisdiction, a bill pushed by the National Rifle Association would punish anyone enticing a dealer in West Virginia into making an illegal sale.
A longtime NRA member, Manchin vetoed the legislation after the 2010 regular session because of a technical problem.
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Other bills met the same fate, including two Manchin intends to stick on his agenda. One would change the term of “mental retardation” to “intellectual disability.”
Another would make official what already is a matter of practice — rename conservation officers to police officers.
“They feel there are a lot of people coming into this state who don’t recognize them as police officers,” Pitrolo said.
“They already have all the powers and duties of police officers.”
— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com
