This is the final week of West Virginia’s 60-day legislative session. Lawmakers are expected to wrap up their business on Saturday, March 8.
The legislative body has been very creative in finding ways to fill the holes in the upcoming state budget, and the budget will likely consume the majority of the time left during the 2014 legislative session.
The House of Delegates passed and sent to the Senate a bill that scrounges up $39 million dollars in an attempt to balance the state fiscal 2015 budget, which begins on July 1. The bill passed by the House (HB 4333) helps close a hole of at least $140 million in next year’s budget by taking $20 million from an infrastructure fund and trimming lottery allocations to save another $19 million for a one year period.
A long-term fix will still have to be addressed in the very near future. Even if the Senate approves the House suggested cuts, the state must still dip into the Rainy Day Fund for as much as $100 million.
We have been working to fight for your small business during this legislative session and will update you once everything has wrapped up here in Charleston!
PHOTO: O Palsson/Wikimedia Commons
