CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - With a possible government shutdown looming, West Virginia’s Republican-led Senate held up its end of a deal with Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Saturday by approving a new budget and a bill hiking taxes on cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other tobacco products.
The onus now shifts to the GOP-majority House of Delegates, which has killed every tax increase it has considered this year, including a smaller increase to the tobacco tax. Without a budget, the government will shut down July 1.
Saturday marked the first action taken by the Legislature since Tomblin vetoed a budget offering by lawmakers on Wednesday. That vetoed budget would have taken $183 million from the state Rainy Day Fund. Tomblin had long warned taking a huge chunk out of those savings would be a non-starter.
On Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, directly pointed to the House, saying he hoped the vote would “send a strong, bipartisan message to the other end of this building that this is the right public policy for West Virginia.”
Prior to the governor’s veto, lawmakers spent 13 days concocting a budget in special session at a cost of $455,000, not including the 60-plus days of regular lawmaking session this winter that did not produce a budget.
With lawmakers back in town, the tab for taxpayers started running again Saturday at $35,000 a day.
The new tobacco tax hike includes a 65-cent per-pack increase on cigarettes and higher rates on e-cigarettes and other tobacco products. It would help raise about $100 million annually to cover part of a $270 million budget gap. It passed 24-7, with five Republicans and two Democrats voting against it.
The rest of the budget, which passed the Senate by a 27-4 margin, relies on about $65 million from the Rainy Day Fund, a more palatable amount for Tomblin.
Negotiations imploded during recent budget work when the House killed a $76 million bill raising various tobacco taxes, including a 45-cent per-pack hike on cigarettes.
Plenty of anti-tax Republicans joined with all but one of the Democrats to vote against the bill. Many Democrats argued that the increase should be even higher to address the serious budget problem. Without new revenue, the budget gap for 2018 will grow to $380 million.
In the 100-member House, the GOP drew 43 of its members to vote for the smaller tobacco tax increase. Even fewer Republican delegates would support the bigger tobacco tax increase, said House Majority Leader Daryl Cowles, R-Morgan.
House Minority Leader Tim Miley, D-Harrison, said he could get at least 19 Democrats to vote for the 65-cent increase.
After a committee approved the bill Saturday, a full House vote could happen as soon as Sunday.
An attempt to override Tomblin’s veto of the first budget quickly died Saturday in the House, whose leaders believed they were constitutionally required to bring up for a vote. It would have required a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate.
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