MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Days of special session debate in Charleston did not yield any resolution of the abortion or tax relief issues facing lawmakers.
On WAJR’s Talk of the Town,” Harrison County Senator Mike Romano expressed frustration at the amount of time he said was wasted by the Republican majority. He said days went by with zero debate or input from the public.
“They could have sent that bill to committee and we could have had experts come in or we could have had citizens come in and voice their opinions,” Romano said. “But, we did nothing until Friday when we went on a marathon session for about 12 hours.”
Romano said the Republican plan with no exceptions would put abortion out of reach financially for many in the state. Also, Romano acknowledged current abortion issues and said the four days of inaction could have been used by lawmakers to explore exceptions and criminal penalties for medical providers.
“If the pregnancy had to be terminated because it would save her life, it was either her life or having the baby,” Romano said. “If that doctor, he or she made the wrong decision they could go to the penitentiary for three to 10 years and that doesn’t make sense.”
“You’re either not going to terminate your pregnancy and you’re going to have your sixth kid or you’re going to some quack in a back alley,” Romano said. “Those are going to be your options.”
The senate plan to cut the personal property tax would be a disaster, according to Romano. He said the first few years of the plan will likely work as planned, but years down the road Romano said we cannot plan for revenue streams to be as robust.
” But, eventually the counties are going to be the first ones hit,” Romano said. “Our public schools are going to be the first ones hit and they’re going to be cutting a lot of jobs and services to our people and it’s going to be a different world.”
Romano said if the proposed personal property tax amendment passes in the fall it will eliminate all local control. He said a responsible plan could increase the corporate net income tax by three percent that would require companies to pay based on profits not gross income. Romano called the plan an “all or nothing” approach to tax relief that could have devastating consequences.
“You’re not going to get those personal property tax revenues at the school board level or the county level and I don’t know how you’re going to make it up,” Romano said. “You’re talking about 20 percent of the budget in Harrison County- how many deputies is that, how many firefighters is that?”