SB1005 SFA Carmichael 5-16 #1

Sutherland 7932

     Senator Carmichael moved to amend the bill on page one, section three, after the section heading, by inserting the following:

      The Legislature finds and declared that the State of West Virginia is in the midst of a fiscal crisis.  The crisis has manifested itself with declines in the general revenues of the state, jeopardizing the funding of programs and operations of government important to the citizens of West Virginia, including, but not limited to, the funding of PEIA, the full funding of the school aid formula for public education, the funding of the PROMISE Scholarship and the funding of the operation of the West Virginia State Police, to mention a few.

            In the interest of meeting the Legislature’s Constitutional obligation to enact a balanced budget, the Legislature is undertaking to cut government expenditures in areas where it can, but the Legislature has found that in order to balance the state’s budget, it is necessary to increase the revenues to the state.

            While specific programs mentioned above are among the expenditures made which are important to the citizens of West Virginia, the revenue to be generated by the increase in the tax on tobacco products contained in this enactment is not dedicated to specific programs, but rather to the State General Revenue Fund, by which the Legislature funds the general operations of state government, including PEIA, PROMISE Scholarship, the State Police, public education and all other operations.

Adopted

Rejected