WV lawmakers rush budget to governor early to deal with any of his potential vetoes

by Amelia Ferrell Knisely, West Virginia Watch
March 5, 2026

The budget bill will land before the governor earlier than usual in the legislative process, a move that could help lawmakers override any vetoes. 

The rush highlights the contentious relationship between Gov. Patrick Morrisey and some members of the GOP-supermajority in the Legislature. 

Last year, Morrisey made 29 line-item vetoes to the budget, surprising lawmakers who’d already left town.  

“We wanted the budget out so that we have the opportunity for the governor to take a look at it, and if he decides to do line-item vetoes, that we have the opportunity to override those vetoes,” said House Finance Chairman Vernon Criss, R-Wood.

He continued, “We had no knowledge of how this administration was going to act towards a budget. And so we learned in the process of the 29 veto items that he did in the current budget that we needed to have the ability to voice our opinions about those 29 line-item vetoes.”

It takes a vote of two-thirds of legislative members to override a governor’s veto.

Lawmakers signed off on their compromised Fiscal Year 2027 budget bill on Thursday, with the Senate passing it in the morning followed by the House in the evening. 

It includes special first-time funding for emergency medical services and flood relief. It also contains some things Morrisey asked for, like fully funding the Hope Scholarship with $300 million. 

It notably didn’t include the governor’s priority request of a 10% personal income tax cut.

Lawmakers settled on a budget that accounts for a 5% tax cut. It would cost about $125 million in revenue for the state. 

The Senate’s original proposed budget was in line with the governor and included a 10% tax cut. The House originally said no to any tax cut, pointing to expenses like Medicaid and the Hope Scholarship when they passed their budget. 

“I think a lot of folks believed that we would settle at 5%,” said Senate Finance Chair Jason Barrett, R-Berkeley. “We were in line with the governor on the 10% cut. I just don’t believe the House had an appetite to go that far.”

House members haven’t yet approved a Senate bill that would implement a personal income tax cut. It would become effective July 1. If they choose not to fund it, the $125 million baked into the budget for a 5% tax cut will become surplus funds.

West Virginia has a trigger system in place to accelerate tax cuts, and that formula didn’t trigger a tax cut this year because the state didn’t meet the revenue goal during the past fiscal year. 

Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate voted against the budget, citing a lack of investment in foster care, public education and roads while prioritizing a potential tax cut. 

“We have our friends in Southern West Virginia who turn on the tap and get black water coming out of there. We’ve got foster kids living in hotels,” said Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia. “Our people deserve to be invested in, and I’m afraid that this doesn’t do that.”

Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, and Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, the Senate’s two Democratic members, said in a joint statement that their priorities were not reflected in the budget, like improving the state’s troubled foster care system and public education.

“They prioritized funding the HOPE Scholarship and a 5% tax break that will go mostly to the wealthy donor class, while failing to increase any funding for public education,” they wrote. “We stand by our vote; the people of this state deserve better.”

Hope Scholarship funding increases by more than 400%

The budget compromise — contained in Senate Bill 250 — allocated $300 million for the Hope Scholarship, the state’s education voucher program that will be available to all students for the first time this year. It’s more than a 400% increase from the current funding level. 

“I’m extremely pleased with where we’re at,” Barrett said. “I think a lot of credit goes to the governor for pre-funding Hope for fiscal year (2028). That’s an idea that he presented to us on the first day of session, and it was extremely well received in the Senate.”

House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, noted that the Hope Scholarship as well as Medicaid were funded through supplemental and surplus funding.

“Hope keeps ballooning the cost, and then we’re doing it all through supplements in the back of the budget, so I don’t think it’s fiscally responsible to do that,” he said. “We’re going to have to, again, shift our focus on public education.”

Members of the House Finance Committee considered putting restrictions on how the Hope Scholarship could be spent in an effort to shave millions of dollars off the estimated cost. House members ultimately sidelined that measure. 

The budget includes a 3% pay raise for teachers and state employees. 

Lawmakers are still considering proposed changes to the state’s complex school funding formula in an effort to stabilize dire public school finances, but they pushed the possible funding tweaks out for three years. 

“It’s more clear than ever that the effort is to defund public education. People will continue to lose schools in their district,” said Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha.

The budget also includes increased funding for dual enrollment so high school students can access higher education.

First time funding for emergency medical services, flood relief 

The Legislature is poised to for the first time to fund flood prevention and relief by allocating $5 million to the West Virginia Flood Resiliency Office Trust Fund — a fund created by the Legislature in 2023 but never funded.

House Democrats successfully amended the budget to include $25 million for the fund; the compromised budget with the Senate knocked it down to $5 million.

“I did want to recognize that this an important step for this Legislature to take in order to … make sure that flooding occurs less frequently, and when it does occur, it’s less costly and less deadly,” said Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia.

The compromised budget also included a House priority of permanent state funding for emergency medical services in West Virginia, which have decreased due to financial issues. The proposed $12 million in funds, which would be the first state support of its kind, would support EMS workers across the state as long as receiving counties can match the allocated funds.

Sen. Ben Queen, R-Harrison, praised lawmakers’ investment into state roads through the budget, including funding a paving program.

“We will spend over $2 billion in roads and infrastructure this year in West Virginia,” he said. “Safe and reliable infrastructure, I believe, is one of the most important priorities this body works together on.”

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