CLARKSBURG, W.Va. – Three term House of Delegates member Republican Ben Queen is currently running unopposed for a seat in the State Senate District 12. The seat is currently held by Democrat Mike Romano who did not seek reelection, but ran and won the nomination for the Harrison County Commission. The Senate district covers Harrison, Lewis, Gilmer, Braxton and Clay counties.
On WAJR’s “Talk of the Town,” Queen said in absence of a challenger in the fall he’s spending time gaining a better understanding of senate and getting to know his new co-workers. The former House of Delegate member from the 48th District said serving in a smaller body in a majority he expects his votes to carry more weight.
“Really tried, really hard the last six months to get to know the new senators and the Republican caucus over there,” Queen said. “I’ve spent several long days with the Senate President just grasp what the senate’s direction is.”
For the first 10 months of Fiscal Year 2022, year-to-date revenue collections have been about $993 million above estimate. That total sets a new all-time record for total surplus in state history.
“I believe this state is headed in the right direction because we’ve passed flay budgets the last four or five years,” Queen said. “My first year we had a $500 million hole and we haven’t grown our state budget nearly to the percentage that other states are doing.”
As the Vice Chair, Committee on Small Business, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development as a Delegate, Queen is in favor of economic development at the state level, but said it’s time to come up with a plan to return some of that money to taxpayers.
“It’s a rewarding factor, but now we have over $1 billion of rainy day in the bank and we need to make a plan going forward to start giving this money back.”
A question on the November ballot, the Property Tax Modernization Amendment, if approved by voters, could exempt personal property used for business activity and personal motor vehicles from being taxed. In 2018, reports indicate that tax produced total revenue of $523.9 million- more than 65 percent went to fund public schools and about 27 percent was allocated to county governments.
“I think there needs to be a very unique equation of how to make counties whole and how to reward counties that continue to grow,” Queen said. “I think that’s a massive issue and I think it’s got to take a creative formula because you don’t want to blow holes in county budgets.”
From Sunday, May 22 through Tuesday, May 24 state lawmakers will hold interim meetings on the WVU campus at the Erickson Alumni Center. During the meetings lawmakers discuss and receive public comment on issues coming up in the next legislative session.
“County commissioners have a right to be a little nervous, especially when the legislature comes to town,” Queen said. ” Because we are a part-time legislature some of these things get ironed out over night, so I’ll be having conversation over the interims.”
Minor party candidates, Mountain, Green and Libertarian parties, have until August 1, 2022 to file candidacy paperwork with the Secretary of State.