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GOP leaders split on Tomblin's tax proposals
By David Gutman and Eric Eyre, The Charleston Gazette-Mail
Republican legislative leaders were split over Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s proposal to partially fill the state’s budget shortfall with tax increases, with Senate President Bill Cole open to the idea and House Speaker Tim Armstead deeply skeptical.
Armstead said House members favor cutting state government spending — not raising taxes. In addition to...
Unions rally at the Capitol during State of the State
By Andrew Brown, Charleston Gazette-Mail
The volume of the crowd grew exponentially louder in the state Capitol and from the far end of the marble-lined Rotunda boos began to mix with the chants of “right-to-work is wrong.”
As Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, made his way toward the House Chamber, his path grew narrower. The walls of unionized teachers, carpenters, electricians and miners squeezed...
Cole won't say if he'll abide by WV Supreme Court decision
By David Gutman, The Charleston Gazette-Mail
West Virginia Senate President Bill Cole on Wednesday refused to say if he would abide by the ruling of the state Supreme Court, if the court rules that a Democrat should fill the vacant seat in the Senate created by the resignation of Democrat-turned-Republican Daniel Hall.
Asked repeatedly if he would abide by the court’s decision, the state’s highest...
Right to Work protests precede State of the State
By Matt Maccaro, WV MetroNews
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin was preparing to deliver his final State of the State address Wednesday night, a large crowd of union members jammed into the rotunda to protest Right to Work.
Republican legislators wasted no time introducing a bill Wednesday on the first day of the 2016 Session to make West Virginia a Right to Work state.
Legislators had to...
Cole, Kessler see State of the State differently
By Jeff Jenkins, WV MetroNews
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Senate President Bill Cole says the Senate will keep up the pace it set in last year’s legislative session when Republicans took over the body for the first time in more than 80 years.
“We got to work (today),” Cole said after Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s State of the State Address Wednesday night. “We didn’t waste a day.”
Issues like right to work...