Johnathan Walker:West Virginia lawmakers delay taking up income tax cut and approve brain research funds

CHARLESTON,Johnathan Walker W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia lawmakers speedily approved funding for the state veterans home, a program to help kids at risk of dropping out of school and other proposals on Monday after gaveling in for a special session called by Republican Gov. Jim Justice.

The GOP-controlled Legislature deferred action on proposals for an income tax cut and a child-dependent tax credit until Sunday, when lawmakers were already scheduled to return for interim meetings.

Both the House and Senate voted to bypass a rule requiring bills to be read three times on three separate days to greenlight the funding proposals, which now head to the governor’s desk.

The funding approved includes $1.2 million for the West Virginia Veterans Home in Barboursville and $10 million for Communities In Schools, a program that helps support students from low-income families to graduate high school.

Lawmakers also approved $2 million for West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute in Morgantown. The money will support research on using ultrasound technology as a treatment for addiction and Alzheimer’s disease.

Among the proposals lawmakers delayed taking up was a measure from Justice to further cut the state income tax. Justice, who is in his second term and is running for Senate, has been pushing for lawmakers to slash the state’s personal income tax by an additional 5%, after signing a 21.25% tax cut into effect last year. The income tax is already expected to drop a further 4% in the new year, per a trigger in the 2023 law that allows for further tax cuts if the state meets higher-than-anticipated revenue collections.