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"THE FORCES OF IGNORANCE...AT THE STATE CAPITOL ARE GOING TO CUT EVERYBODY'S
PAYCHECK - Stuart Caldwell, Charleston Attorney - If a proposed bill passes the West Virginia Legislature, every
working West Virginian might begin to pay fifteen cents an hour (or more), adding up to $300 a year - to stabilize the
Workers' Comp deficit. State workers, whether they make minimum wage or a million dollars, will be paying for years to
come.
The Comp fund deficit has reached at least $3.5 billion, and will go broke by next year.
During the Underwood administration the fund's commissioner excused nearly $400 million of money owed the fund by some
coal companies who claimed they had "contract workers" and should not pay into the fund. The companies were former
business associates of William Viewing and Gov. Cecil Underwood.
Now, Gov. Wise wants to eliminate two state colleges (some say a savings of $20 million by cutting Glenville State) to help
stabilize the fund.
$20 MILLION VA NURSING HOME, NEW VA DIRECTOR - West Virginia's new veterans director took the oath of
office yesterday. Larry Linch of Clarksburg will oversee the Division of Veterans Affairs.
Linch, a former Marine, was awarded the Purple Heart and Navy Commendation Medal. He was a Harrison County
delegate from 1993 to 2000.
Meanwhile, Governor Bob Wise unveiled drawings today for a new $20 million, 120-bed veterans nursing home in
Clarksburg.
Groundbreaking will be held in March or April, with about two-thirds of the project's funding being federal dollars. That
money is being held up by Congress' delay in passing a budget for the current fiscal year.
The facility will be built next to the federal veterans hospital in Clarksburg.
More than 140 State Police troopers have filed a petition
asking the West Virginia Supreme Court to ensure
they receive the retirement plan they say
they were promised when they were hired
in the mid-1990s.
The Consolidated Public Retirement Board changed a legislative directive which was issued to save the state
$75 million.
DON NEHLEN USES FOOTBALL LINGO FOR COAL - The Charleston Gazette says Don Nehlen should stick with
football. "He is well on the way toward embarrassing himself as King Coal's new spokesman," they said.
"Nehlen is to be chief spokesman for a massive public relations campaign paid for by "Friends of Coal." At his inaugural
effort, a speech before the West Virginia Coal Association's annual symposium, the former Mountaineers coach sounded like
a caricature of himself."
"The best defense is a good offense," he said of the PR effort. "You guys are 10 or 11 and 0, and everyone talks like you're
5 and 6. When you're winning, we've got to let people know," he said.
"Let's get some of these doggone regulations eliminated or at least made sound, so guys can mine coal," he said. "I don't
exactly know the regulations, but I'm smart enough to know that in China, they mine for six bucks a ton, and we have got to
be able to compete with them.
Experts say that 10,000 Chinese miners die every year, about the number of miners in West Virginia, because of the lack of
safety regulations with virtually no environmental controls at low wages. .
BILLS HAVE FRIDAY DEADLINE - Senate committees have their instructions: Have the four major bills they received
from the House last week back to the full Senate by Friday.
Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan, said he wants to see the bills â on workers' compensation reform, caps on
medical malpractice insurance awards, reduction of higher education spending through the consolidation of two colleges, and
regulation of all terrain vehicles â out of committee and on floor by Friday.
COAL TRUCK WEIGHT LIMITS RETURNING - UMW Chief Cecil Robert's wrote about Gov. Wise's State of the
State speech: There wasn't "any mention of the debate surrounding the coal industry's desire for a coal truck weight limit
increase, and where the state would find the billions required to build up West Virginia's roads to handle an increase."
Roberts said if weight limits were upped, he was certain that more money would be required to repair the increased damage
to roads inflicted by the heavier trucks.
The industry is moving forward with another effort to try and get a bill through the Legislature that will increase the weight
limits. The industry leaders and politicians who have supported weight increases have declined to tackle the issue of
maintaining the state's highways, few of which are built for the increased loads.
"How much would it cost to "build up" the state's roads to handle a weight increase?" asked Roberts. Last year Norm
Roush, the deputy engineer for the state's Division of Highways, told the governor's coal truck committee it would be $6.5
billion, or $3,500 for every man, woman and child in West Virginia.
"Given the state's budget crisis, the UMW believes that instead of spending billions to fund a proposal that a majority of West
Virginians have already said they don't support, the billions of dollars saved could go to help other financially strapped state
programs," said Roberts.
Overweight trucks have often been running more than twice the legal limit in West Virginia, sometimes near 200,000 pounds,
and have been accused of creating a safety hazard and causing death.
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