HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 134
(By Delegates Mr. Speaker (Mr. Thompson), Fleischauer,
Miley, H.K. White, M. Poling, Morgan, Marshall, Beach,
Shook, Susman, Varner, Fragale, Hamilton, Moore, Frazier,
Barker, Guthrie, Paxton, Boggs, Brown, Manchin and Perdue)
Requesting the Joint Committee on Government and Finance study the
issues relating to evaluation of job creation and retention
incentives, penalties and reporting requirements.
Whereas, West Virginian citizens have a strong work ethic and
a tradition of high levels of performance in trades and
professions; and
Whereas, A historic lack of good paying jobs with benefits in
many communities has resulted in many West Virginians migrating
out-of-state for employment; and
Whereas, West Virginians are incredibly loyal to our state and
many of those who moved out-of-state ultimately returned to retire
in the state; and
Whereas, West Virginia parents have been saddened by the exodus
of their children to obtain out-of-state employment; and
Whereas, The loss of any of our state's talent is a loss to the
state of investments made in public and higher education, and a
personal loss to families and communities; and
Whereas, Any effort that the state can launch to retain the
young people of our state by the creation and retention of good
paying jobs with benefits is an investment in the state's future; and
Whereas, The federal government authorized a stimulus program,
the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" designed to revive the
national and state economies; and
Whereas, To date, there remains a large amounts of federal
stimulus money available for job creation and retention projects
that the State of West Virginia has either not applied for or met
the conditions to receive; and
Whereas, The federal government required information relating
to the number of jobs created from stimulus funding, along with the
salary and benefits for each job, be reported to the public and
published on the Internet; and
Whereas, A new decade is a perfect time to evaluate our state's
job promotion and retention efforts to ensure that all federal
grant money is being applied for, to ascertain whether state
investments in job promotion are producing the results that are
intended and to require transparency and accountability for state
investments in job promotion and retention; and therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is hereby
requested to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of all current job
promotion, creation and retention programs. This report shall
include an evaluation of all state statutes, and a study of similar
statutes in other states, that promote the creation or retention of
jobs, train workers, provide incentives for employment and training, or give loans, grants, tax breaks or other types of
incentives for these purposes or provide penalties for failure to
comply with statutory conditions regarding the acceptance of state
job promotion funds, and be it
Further Resolved, That this evaluation shall include a
budgetary analysis comparing the amount being spent on the
foregoing objectives, broken down by category, to the results
actually being produced. This evaluation should include any
recommendations for changes that result from this statutory and
budgetary review, for example, if the financial analysis results in
a conclusion that the investments are not producing the desired
results, recommendations should be made for increasing, decreasing
or eliminating programs; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the evaluation shall include
predictions about where future job growth is likely to occur,
including, but not limited to, the fields of health care, energy
efficiency and green jobs. The training, education requirements
that will be needed to fill these new positions should also be
addressed; and, be it
Further Resolved, That relevant departments and divisions of
the Executive Branch, including, but not limited to, the
Development Office, the Tax Department, Workforce Development, and
the Higher Education Policy Commission, be contacted to cooperate
and collaborate in the collection of data and analysis for the
evaluation; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and
Finance is hereby requested to study the issues relating to
reporting on any remaining stimulus funds including, the relevant
deadlines which may be applicable and the reasons why the funding
has not been sought; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and
Finance is hereby requested to study the issues relating to
creation of new transparency and accountability requirements for
job promotion programs, including publication on the Internet, and
how the code may be amended to require consistent and/or more
extensive reporting and publication of job creation data that would
be applicable to all state programs which promote the creation of
jobs, train workers, provide incentives for employment and
training, or give loans, grants, tax breaks or other types of
incentives for these purposes; and, be it
Further Resolved, That this evaluation include an examination
of the use of and effectiveness of penalties for failure to comply
with incentive laws, including, but not limited to, a review of all
of the different types of penalties which exist and how often, if
ever, they have been used; and be it
Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and
Finance consider such studies be conducted by experts as the Joint
Committee may engage, including the West Virginia Law Institute,
and/or any of the institutions of higher education located in this
state; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and
Finance report to the Legislature, by the first day of the regular
session,
2011, its preliminary findings, conclusions and
recommendations together with drafts of any legislation to
effectuate its recommendations; and, by the first day of the
regular session, 2012, its final findings, conclusions and
recommendations together with drafts of any legislation to
effectuate its recommendations
; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the expenses necessary to conduct this
study, to prepare a report and draft necessary legislation be paid
from legislative appropriations to the Joint Committee on
Government and Finance.