Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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November 17, 2009

Lawmakers expect quick action as special session gets underway

By Mannix Porterfield

CHARLESTON — West Virginia lawmakers began tackling Gov. Joe Manchin’s special session agenda Tuesday amid optimism by Democratic leaders that all issues should be cleared by the end of this week’s interims.

“Three days at the most,” Senate Majority Leader Truman Chafin, D-Mingo, predicted before a brief floor session in his chamber.

A key item before legislators is an attempt to shore up ailing municipal police and fire pension accounts by freezing such funds and putting any fresh hires into a new one.

But lawmakers also are dealing with a proposal by Manchin to stabilize the built-in escalator in the gasoline tax, one that is figured in the price of fuel between July and October each year.

Twice, in recent years, the escalator has been dropped, and the state witnessed the loss of $140 million in money that normally goes to the state highway fund.

“I think things will go pretty smooth,” House Majority Leader Brent Boggs, D-Braxton, said after the delegates met only briefly, planning to return today at 5 p.m.

House members cleared one item on Manchin’s agenda — a resolution honoring Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., who today carves his special niche in history as the longest serving member of Congress.

Byrd won a House seat in 1952 before moving to the Senate, where he has distinguished himself historically as the member with the most tenure. A special ceremony honoring his service is planned today at the rotunda.

“I’m very optimistic that we’ll be able to get out by the appointed time by the end of interims on Thursday,” Boggs said.

“I’ve heard very little opposition to any of them (issues.). I think possibly on the gas tax there might be a lot of questions about that. Other than that, I think it’s pretty straight forward and it has a good chance of moving forward pretty quickly.”

House Republican Leader Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, said his caucus is concerned about reviving the automatic gas tax increase.

“We really feel like this is not the time to be putting an additional burden on West Virginians,” he said.

“And that bill will, in fact, not only eliminate a tax reduction in the short term, but in January, in the long term, certainly make gas prices higher in West Virginia. We think that’s the wrong route to take.”

For months, Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, has spearheaded a group seeking to reform pensions to bail out 50-plus municipalities.

A key hurdle the group cleared in the legislation before lawmakers was that no money is being poured into the so-called “Huntington Plan,” the senator said.

“Huntington, in particular, assured us they feel, given their actuarial calculations, even without the money, the other important aspects of the legislation, although it will be a little challenging, can make it and move toward a sustainable future in terms of pension liabilities,” Foster said.

Foster acknowledged the state is hardly the poster child for best pension management practices.

Yet, Manchin and this Legislature have moved to pay down debts after years of neglect, he emphasized.

“Despite the financial turmoil we’ve had in the last 12 to 15 months, we’re still in much better shape than we were five to 10 years ago,” he said.

Foster, who chairs the Senate Pensions Committee, said Huntington is in the worst shape of all, with a meager funding range of 3 to 8 percent in pensions.

“They’re already under water,” Foster said of the riverfront city, considering Huntington’s assets and liabilities.

“If we don’t do something, Huntington’s chances of receivership — bankruptcy — are very high.”

The plan would amortize the troubled accounts over a 40-year period.

Suppose, within a few years, even with this plan, a retired officer or firefighter awoke some morning to find the monthly stipend missing from the mailbox?

“I don’t have a crystal ball as to what’s going to happen in the future,” Foster said.

“I feel that’s a more likelihood of that happening if we don’t do something than if we do something. The price of inaction, I think, is unacceptable.”

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