Published: January 10, 2008 01:52 am      

County hopes to land one of two technical training centers

Local lawmakers give governor high marks for fourth State of the State address

FAIRMONT — Marion County has a good chance of landing one of the two state-of-the-art technical training centers that Gov. Joe Manchin wants to fill the needs of existing and new businesses, local lawmakers believe.

Manchin said he sees the new centers working “directly with industry to design and deliver high-quality instruction” in various fields.

Delegate Tim Manchin, D-Marion and the governor’s cousin, said, “We have a tremendous need for welders, jobs in the construction and building trades, just a lot of good blue-collar jobs that we are not educating our youth for and which offer careers, good jobs with good salaries and benefits.”

“These two training centers are going to find out what the needs of employers are, and then we’re going to train the people who are interested in those fields,” he said.

Manchin, House Majority Whip Mike Caputo and Delegate Linda Longstreth, all D-Marion and all members of the 43rd House District, said they have a site in mind for one of the new training centers.

“We think we’ve got a great place for it right there in the armory,” Manchin said after the governor’s speech.

The Pentagon has plans for a new joint services armory or “readiness center” in Marion County. It would replace the Woody Williams Armory on Mary Lou Retton Drive in Fairmont.

Manchin, Caputo and Longstreth think the armory could be renovated for one of the new training centers.

The three delegates and state Sens. Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, and Mike Oliverio, D-Monongalia and Marion, gave the governor high marks for his fourth State of the State speech.

Manchin’s initiative to begin a kindergarten health-screening program drew praise from Prezioso, the chairman of the Senate Health and Human Resources program.

Every uninsured child would get a medical screening under the new “Kids First” program, the governor said. The costs of such screenings are already covered by the state Public Employees Insurance Agency, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Mountain State Blue Cross/Blue Shield has already offered to donate $1.5 million toward the program, the governor announced.

“I’m really excited,” said Prezioso, adding the follow-up screenings are critical to the program’s success. Under Manchin’s plan, students would also be screened as they grow up and as they enter the second, fifth and eighth grades.

WVRx, a new prescription program for uninsured adults proposed by the governor, also got Prezioso’s endorsement.

“There are a lot of people who can’t afford their prescriptions,” he said. Helping them obtain their medicines would hold down the state’s health-care costs because many of them delay getting treatment until they have to go to a hospital emergency room for their chronic conditions, he noted.

A member of the Senate Finance Conference Committee, Prezioso said he plans to burrow into the governor’s proposed budget to see where the money is for pay hikes for teachers and state employees. Like all of the local delegation, he supports pay hikes for teachers and state workers, but he wants to see where the money is first, Prezioso noted.

Sen. Oliverio said the Senate plans to refine SB 749 dealing with the gradual phase out of the business franchise tax and a new combined reporting requirement for large corporations.

“We have some very large corporations doing business in West Virginia who are escaping state income taxes on the profits they make in the state,” Oliverio said.

“We think by tightening requirements on them to pay their fair share of taxes that we can accelerate the phase out of the business franchise tax,” he said.

Oliverio also said the governor’s plan to create a $50 million endowment fund for researchers at West Virginia University and Marshall University should benefit North Central West Virginia and its high-tech community.

Caputo, Manchin and Longstreth also said they welcomed the governor’s remarks on these issues:

• Coal mine safety. Said Caputo, “I guess it’s kind of bittersweet when you look at why the Legislature responded the way it did. But we’ve got to make sure our miners didn’t die in vain at Sago and Aracoma, and all the other recent mining accidents.”

Lawmakers have adopted new regulations requiring faster notice of serious accidents, upped the supply of underground oxygen supplies, increased the number of mine inspectors, strengthened the quality of blocks used in mine seals and taken a number of other steps.

An international representative for the United Mine Workers of America, Caputo said he was cheered by the governor’s announcement that tracking systems and rescue chambers would be installed in all underground mines in the state by the end of the year.

• Pay raises for teachers and state workers. “I was happy to see him recognize state employees and teachers,” Manchin said. “They’ve had to sacrifice somewhat while we have put our financial house in order. We’re hopeful he’s committed to some raises that would get them into competitive pay” with their peers in other states, he said.

The governor’s request to mandate that extra money in the School Aid Formula to counties be used only for pay raises for classroom teachers also got the local lawmakers’ endorsement.

• Requiring high school students to get passing grades to keep their driver’s licenses also is a good step, they said. And penalizing unruly students, especially those who assault teachers and other students, by revoking their licenses is also a good step, they said.

• Workforce development. Delegate Longstreth, who spent 18 years in allied health-care education, said she was happy the governor is stressing that field. “I’m glad to see where we are back to reinvesting in those fields.”

• Noting the Legislature has worked well together for the past three years with Manchin, Caputo said the local delegates take pride in all the accomplishments the governor cited in his speech. Record-low unemployment, record-high job numbers, cutting the state’s unfunded pension obligations for teachers and other state workers, attracting new businesses — Manchin listed all of those accomplishments in his speech.

“We’re proud we’ve had a role in the governor’s ‘Responsible Government’ program,” Caputo said.

“We all want to continue that. And we’re all happy that the ‘Wild and Wonderful West Virginia’ signs will be going back up” on the state’s borders, he said with a good-natured chuckle.

E-mail Bill Byrd at bbyrd@timeswv.com.