CHARLESTON – The West Virginia House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday to give priority to economic development and tourism in the state after a long debate over whether the bill is needed.

House Bill 2019, which raised the West Virginia Development Office and Division of Tourism to the cabinet level, passed House 86-13. The bill goes to the Senate.

HB 2019 would rename the WVDO to the Department of Economic Development and the Department of Tourism to the Department of Tourism. The heads of both new departments would have to be confirmed by the Senate, but nothing else would change except for new titles.

Both agencies currently report to the Department of Commerce and Secretary Ed Gaunch. Governor Jim Justice announced the change during his speech to lawmakers on February 10th. If passed by the Senate, the Department of Commerce would remain in charge of the forestry department. the division of labor; the Department of Natural Resources; the geological and economic survey; the Bureau of Health, Safety, and Education of Miners, the Department of Rehabilitation Services, and WorkForce West Virginia.

Chelsea Ruby, Tourism Commissioner since 2017, would keep her role as Secretary of the Department of Tourism, while the new Department of Economic Development would be led by the new WVDO Director, Mitch Carmichael, former President of the Republican Senate and Vice-Governor. He replaced Mike Graney, who became assistant secretary of commerce.

Some Democratic lawmakers expressed support for increasing the tourism division, but questioned the need to increase the WVDO, particularly with Carmichael at the helm. Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, accused Carmichael of pressuring Republican senators to support a signature effort for lawmakers to call a special session on the relevant US dollars of the CARES Act last summer.

“I have to oppose this bill because I basically learned something that I learned in my upbringing, and it wasn’t to reward what I would consider bad behavior.” Said Pushkin. “When a non-partisan super-majority on this body signed a petition to get us back, there was basically one person who stood in the way. And we award this bad behavior with a cabinet position and retirement plan. “

“I don’t agree with everything this person has done” said Brandon Steele, chairman of the Organizing Committee of the House of Representatives, R-Raleigh, in response to Pushkin’s remarks. “I’ve had a lot of bills from this House over the past two years that ended up in the Senate President’s trash can … But I’ll tell you today, I pray it will be an unconditional success. I pray for him every day. If I have to buy his business cards, if I have to buy his fucking lunch, I’ll do it to make him successful. “

Del. John Doyle, D-Jefferson said he would support the bill but also wished that Republican lawmakers had split the bill in two.

“The reason we are changing tourism is that while we have had significant success in tourism in West Virginia in our recent past, I think we would have had more if tourism had been a separate government division.” Said Doyle. “I hope that when it comes to the Senate, people think about it more. And I hope my idea of ​​the development bureau to stay in trade gains strength and is reflected in the bill that the Senate passes. “

Del. Vernon Criss, R-Wood reminded members that former Governor Gaston Caperton created the modern cabinet secretary system in 1989. Changes to cabinet positions and departments are common, including the dissolution of the Ministry of Education and the Arts in 2018.

“We eliminated the Secretary for Arts and Education because it didn’t work properly and it didn’t fit into the model of our government work.” Said Criss. “This is just one more of those improvements we need to make to make these two offices more important than the people.”

(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)

Latest news and more in your inbox

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR