| A major effort to restructure the debt of West Virginia's pension plans will hinge on what voters decide on June 25th, approving or disapproving a constitutional amendment.
The plan would stabilize state employees' and teachers' pension systems.
Manchin says the plan is the first major effort in years to bring the out-of-control debt back into some kind of manageability.
Manchin says he will lead an intense grassroots campaign to convince voters to approve a constitutional amendment allowing the state to take on a multi-billion dollar debt refinancing plan.
The plan allows the state to refinance its pension systems' debt and pay $350 million a year for 30-years instead of growing annual payments that would have reached $700 million.
State Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin says the best way to get the information out to voters is to tell them the state is doing just like they've done when they've refinanced their mortgages.
He says there's no way the state can move forward with the growing pension debt that now exists.
"The fear factor would be that we're incurring more debt," he said. "All we're doing is managing old debt."
Manchin added, "It's not raising taxes. It's not raising one penny of debt."
"We need the voter's approval to re-finance," he concluded.
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