WV Governor: Preparing for Our Bright Future

Whether in our personal or professional lives, it is important to prepare for the future, today. As your governor, I take this responsibility very seriously, and I continually strive to ensure our state is prepared for the days, weeks, months and years ahead. If we are prepared today, we will be well equipped for the opportunities of tomorrow.

In preparing for West Virginia’s future, we must consider the foundation our communities and state are built upon—our infrastructure. In an effort to encourage economic development, we must have infrastructure in place to support our daily activities, long-term growth and ever changing needs. With West Virginia currently maintaining the sixth largest highway system in the country, our states roadways—over 36,000 miles—represent a significant portion of our infrastructure.

Earlier this week, I took a very important step toward making sure we are prepared to care for our roadways and address our state’s growing transportation needs. I issued an executive order creating the Blue Ribbon Highway Commission, which will bring together some of the greatest minds in the industry in an effort to develop a plan for the maintenance, construction and expansion of our state’s highways. The Commission will study the condition and needs of our state’s current system and develop a long-term strategic plan with funding recommendations.

I understand there will challenges as we prepare for our future.
A major challenge we face with our highways is the rising cost of maintenance and construction paired with a lower percentage of federal assistance. While our maintenance costs have risen, our aid from the federal government has remained the same since 1999. We must also prepare for future economic growth and the growth of our communities. I know this Commission will help develop a resourceful and innovative plan to ensure we have reliable and safe highways throughout the Mountain State.

I’m very grateful for the outpouring of support I received this week. In addition to the support by our Senate President Jeff Kessler and our Speaker of the House Rick Thompson, 32 organizations have voiced their support of this new Commission. We all agree, our infrastructure must be a priority, and I’m proud to say we are on our way to creating a plan for long-term sustainability.

I look forward to receiving the recommendations of the Commission and working with our legislature to make sure we prepare financially for our future. Strengthening our state’s infrastructure will not only benefit our communities today, it will further sustain development in the future—ensuring a bright future for all West Virginians.

Governor, W.V. Department of Highways workers are demoralized.  The W.V. Department of Education is failing statistically across the board on a national level.  You asked for budget cuts across the board but the State HEPC wants to extend their control during this time of austerity to for profit institutions which will require more personnel and revenue. Do you really think we can afford one more Commission or Board?

Article 7 of the West Virginia Constitution establishes a Board of Education, with nine members appointed by the Governor. The Governor is legislated President of the SBA.  Yet when you phone his aides to make contact both his legal aide and aide to the constituency will inform you “the Governor has nothing to do with education”.  Sir, if certain political contributors are in charge of your office, then please give their names as a matter of record so the people know whom to hold responsible for decisions made against their will and the abuse of power that was delegated to you.

The West Virginia Legislature has now increased its oversight of higher education, including the private colleges and universities as well as those publicly funded. A bill passed at the 2012 regular session earlier this year will ultimately require them to provide annual reports on their performance.
Any college or university that fails to provide this information or submits data that shows it is not meeting minimum standards could face state action to revoke that school’s authority to issue degrees.

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