|
|
|
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The November interim meetings of the West Virginia Legislature started on Sunday, instead of the normal Monday, with a Special Session at noon to certify the results of the special election for Governor. Then at 3 p.m. an inaugural ceremony was held to swear in Earl Ray Tomblin as West Virginia’s 35th Governor.
While it was a proud moment for the state, the new Governor and his family, the taxpayers may see it a little different. If the inauguration had been delayed one day or the interim meeting schedule has been advanced one day to create an overlap, then the taxpayers of West Virginia could have been spared over $30,000 in legislative salaries and expenses. Our government on any level should always be good stewards of the taxpayer’s money; this was not.
Another observation of the inaugural ceremony shows one of the problems with government. As it began, a procession of elected officials and dignitaries were lead to their seats on the front steps of the capitol. First the House, then the Senate followed by the Board of Public Works, each mentioned by name, then Congresswoman Capito, Senator Manchin, and former Governor Bob Wise.
After those introductions, the master of ceremonies made a statement that really caught my attention. He began introducing what he called the leaders of West Virginia. I didn’t immediately recognize the names at first when he began reading them off as they took their seats, but then I began to recognize them. He was introducing “lobbyists!” The lobbyists are not the leaders of West Virginia. The true leaders of West Virginia are its people and government should never forget that.
Monday we began the regular interim meetings. As part of the Join Committee on Government Organization, we reviewed the Department of Environmental Protection’s study on water test sampling procedures. The DEP would like to implement a program that certifies the way in which samples are taken. There is nothing wrong with having standard procedures, but as with any government program there are fees (taxes) associated. Looking at DEP’s numbers, this would take up to $37,500 from those testing water samples. The cost will be passed on to consumers, raising the price of products, such as city water rates. When the state's budget surplus is in the millions of dollars, the consumers do not need to foot the bill. I will fight to have the certifications done within the existing budget.
We had another audit of those under the Institutions for Higher Education and to no surprise there was another failure. This time the Legislative Auditors found that WVU-Parkersburg entered into contracts that violated not only the state law, but also West Virginia’s Constitution. Under West Virginia code §18B-5-4(m) WVU-Parkersburg was required to submit its contracts to the WV Attorney General for review to make sure they were in line with the law. WVU-Parkersburg simply never sent them and entered into illegal contacts, putting the taxpayer on the hook for $235,808.
In another area, college procurement staff were allowed to order, issue payment on, receive and check into inventory materials without overview by another person, allowing for possibility for fraud to exist. The state also requires that any purchases over $25,000 be put out on competitive bid. When a bid came in at $50,000 for a new floor, the company decided to “donate” $25,000 worth of product, bringing the bid down to $25,000 and preventing competition. These types of donations occurred a variety of times with various contractors. While there may need to be minor tweaks done to the state code to correct the problems, the basic overall recommendation of the Legislative Audit comes back to follow the existing law. In fact this is about the fourth of fifth audit in which that general recommendation to follow the exiting law has been made.
In the meeting I pointed out the repeated failed audits for entities under the control of Chancellor James Skidmore and asked, “Are there no internal audits being done to catch these problems before the taxpayer suffers?” The answer was no. The committee chairman then asked if legislation creating the ability to do internal audits would be helpful. Those in higher education thought that would be helpful. As a taxpayer I think it should be required. Entirely too much taxpayer money is being needlessly wasted through the Institutions for higher education because they just don’t seem to check anything.
We also had a review of DEP’s Division of Wastewater Management. Two areas covered the first was with permits for withdrawing water from streams. The audit actually commended the division for its diligence, but noted our withdraw permit levels varied from neighboring states. One area the audit suggested we look at was withdraw rates on smaller streams. It was pointed out by one delegate that those numbers are being changed right now in the upcoming Horizontal Drilling Regulations Bill. The other area of review was of the division’s website and again the division got high marks for transparency and easy of use.
Each citizen under the US Constitution has the right to petition the government for redress of grievances and I wanted to let you know that Val Fisher presented my office with a petition opposing Corridor C alignment of the proposed four-lane US 220. Corridor C is the one that generally follows Knobley Road. There were over 200 names on the petition and it has been turned in to the Clerk of the House to be placed in the official state record and a copy was presented to the Department of Highways.
If you have any comments on what is going on in the state or would just like express your opinion on an issue, then you can call the District office at 304-790-9022. If you prefer, you can e-mail me at Gary.Howell@WVHouse.gov.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The November interim meetings of the West Virginia Legislature started on Sunday, instead of the normal Monday, with a Special Session at noon to certify the results of the special election for Governor. Then at 3 p.m. an inaugural ceremony was held to swear in Earl Ray Tomblin as West Virginia’s 35th Governor.
While it was a proud moment for the state, the new Governor and his family, the taxpayers may see it a little different. If the inauguration had been delayed one day or the interim meeting schedule has been advanced one day to create an overlap, then the taxpayers of West Virginia could have been spared over $30,000 in legislative salaries and expenses. Our government on any level should always be good stewards of the taxpayer’s money; this was not.
Another observation of the inaugural ceremony shows one of the problems with government. As it began, a procession of elected officials and dignitaries were lead to their seats on the front steps of the capitol. First the House, then the Senate followed by the Board of Public Works, each mentioned by name, then Congresswoman Capito, Senator Manchin, and former Governor Bob Wise.
After those introductions, the master of ceremonies made a statement that really caught my attention. He began introducing what he called the leaders of West Virginia. I didn’t immediately recognize the names at first when he began reading them off as they took their seats, but then I began to recognize them. He was introducing “lobbyists!” The lobbyists are not the leaders of West Virginia. The true leaders of West Virginia are its people and government should never forget that.
Monday we began the regular interim meetings. As part of the Join Committee on Government Organization, we reviewed the Department of Environmental Protection’s study on water test sampling procedures. The DEP would like to implement a program that certifies the way in which samples are taken. There is nothing wrong with having standard procedures, but as with any government program there are fees (taxes) associated. Looking at DEP’s numbers, this would take up to $37,500 from those testing water samples. The cost will be passed on to consumers, raising the price of products, such as city water rates. When the state's budget surplus is in the millions of dollars, the consumers do not need to foot the bill. I will fight to have the certifications done within the existing budget.
We had another audit of those under the Institutions for Higher Education and to no surprise there was another failure. This time the Legislative Auditors found that WVU-Parkersburg entered into contracts that violated not only the state law, but also West Virginia’s Constitution. Under West Virginia code §18B-5-4(m) WVU-Parkersburg was required to submit its contracts to the WV Attorney General for review to make sure they were in line with the law. WVU-Parkersburg simply never sent them and entered into illegal contacts, putting the taxpayer on the hook for $235,808.
In another area, college procurement staff were allowed to order, issue payment on, receive and check into inventory materials without overview by another person, allowing for possibility for fraud to exist. The state also requires that any purchases over $25,000 be put out on competitive bid. When a bid came in at $50,000 for a new floor, the company decided to “donate” $25,000 worth of product, bringing the bid down to $25,000 and preventing competition. These types of donations occurred a variety of times with various contractors. While there may need to be minor tweaks done to the state code to correct the problems, the basic overall recommendation of the Legislative Audit comes back to follow the existing law. In fact this is about the fourth of fifth audit in which that general recommendation to follow the exiting law has been made.
In the meeting I pointed out the repeated failed audits for entities under the control of Chancellor James Skidmore and asked, “Are there no internal audits being done to catch these problems before the taxpayer suffers?” The answer was no. The committee chairman then asked if legislation creating the ability to do internal audits would be helpful. Those in higher education thought that would be helpful. As a taxpayer I think it should be required. Entirely too much taxpayer money is being needlessly wasted through the Institutions for higher education because they just don’t seem to check anything.
We also had a review of DEP’s Division of Wastewater Management. Two areas covered the first was with permits for withdrawing water from streams. The audit actually commended the division for its diligence, but noted our withdraw permit levels varied from neighboring states. One area the audit suggested we look at was withdraw rates on smaller streams. It was pointed out by one delegate that those numbers are being changed right now in the upcoming Horizontal Drilling Regulations Bill. The other area of review was of the division’s website and again the division got high marks for transparency and easy of use.
Each citizen under the US Constitution has the right to petition the government for redress of grievances and I wanted to let you know that Val Fisher presented my office with a petition opposing Corridor C alignment of the proposed four-lane US 220. Corridor C is the one that generally follows Knobley Road. There were over 200 names on the petition and it has been turned in to the Clerk of the House to be placed in the official state record and a copy was presented to the Department of Highways.
If you have any comments on what is going on in the state or would just like express your opinion on an issue, then you can call the District office at 304-790-9022. If you prefer, you can e-mail me at Gary.Howell@WVHouse.gov.
