The Charleston Gazette:  Good morning and welcome to today’s live chat with House of Delegates Speaker Rick Thompson. We will get started at 9:30 but feel free to go ahead and submit questions.
 
9:17 [Be Right Back Countdown] 10 minutes 
9:31 The Charleston Gazette:  We are ready to get started. I want to thank Mr. Thompson for joining us today.
 
9:34 Richard Thompson:  Good morning. Thanks for inviting me to participate. Welcome everyone. 
9:34 [Comment From Secret Squirrel]
With the economy the way it is, everyone knows there are going to be budget cuts. Where are the obvious budget cuts? 
9:37 Richard Thompson:  First of all West Virginia is one of only six states to have a budget surplus this year. Due to projections of decreased revenue, we may have to make some reductions. These will probably be spread out across all agencies. We hope to minimize  the cuts as much as possible thanks to  some surplus revenue and federal stimulus money.     
9:38 [Comment From Becky]
Good Morning Mr. Speaker, with the ever increasing rate of unemployment in WV and I applaud you and the Legislature for the recent passage of workable unemployment comp legislation...where do we go from here to ensure no more job loss? How can WV move forward in this budgetary crunch? 
9:41 Richard Thompson:  First of all, thank you.  We're proud to have passed legislation that received the support of both the WV Chamber of Commerce, business groups  and labor organizations. As to minimizing future job loss, we hope to utilize federal stimulus money on as many shovel-ready projects as possible in order to keep those sectors of the economy moving forward. We created a select committee on stimulus utilization to make sure we maximize every stimulus dollar that West Virginia  can draw down. 

We will move forward in the midst of this  budgetary crunch and come out stronger on the other side.         
9:41 [Comment From M. HInkle]
Mr. Speaker my understanding is that you did not take a public position on SB 238, the bill to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. What is your position and if you supported it, why didn't you push for it. I know you pushed for other bills. 
9:47 Richard Thompson:  Some bills that reached the House from the Senate were so publicized  and positions became  polarized that the delegates had already reached an opinion on them.  In this case,  there was insufficient support among the members to bring it to the floor.

I think most members oppose discrimination in any form. However, legislation sometimes creates unintended consequences. Many members felt this bill could have done that.       
9:47 [Comment From Jim Jones]
Mr. Thompson, since California made more than one billion dollars in profit from the sale of a harmless herb like marijuana, do you feel it would be appropriate for West Virginia to also take steps towards decriminalizing the planet? 
9:50 Richard Thompson:  As someone who comes from a law enforcement background,  I'm not convinced that marijuana is as harmless as some would have us believe. I'm not in favor of -- and I do not believe the House is in favor of -- making marijuana legal. 
9:50 [Comment From Rose Nelson]
I want to know what is being done about the uninsured in WV. My daughter has no health care at all. 
9:58 Richard Thompson:  The health care situation in West Virginia and the nation has some real problems. Far too many people who get up and go to work every day cannot afford adequate health care. I have seen estimates as high as 300,000 people in West Virginia who fall into this category. We have  made strides in recent years through the CHIP program and through pilot programs to make insurance available through small businesses. 

Just this past session, we passed  a bill creating the Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle Planning, which has the responsibility for oversight of all health care reform initiatives.  We hope this will be a positive first step in addressing the needs of the uninsured. 

 In addition, West Virginia Campaign for a Healthy Future, a coalition of more than 400 participants from all across the state and 50 major organizations, continues to look for ways to make health care more affordable and accessible.       
    
9:59 [Comment From john]
Good Morning Mr. Speaker, the Legislature will be back in session on May 26 to deal with the budget and the Governor has already indicated that he will be sending some bills back for further consideration. What do you expect to happen to those bills and do you anticipate anything controversial coming back before the legislature during that period? 
10:05 Richard Thompson:  The Legislature is in extended session and consideration is limited to the budget, federal stimulus legislation and  legislation passed by both bodies that may need to be corrected. The Governor has indicated that at the conclusion of the extended session, he will call  the Legislature into special session to deal with such matters as he sees fit. 

The items are at his  discretion, but we are already in discussions with the Senate President and the Governor regarding items that may be included in the call. I think all sides are committed to working together to reach agreements on controversial issues and to minimize the amount of time we spend in special session.  In the end, we all seek what is best for West Virginia. 
        
10:06 [Comment From Scott Crichlow]
Mr. Speaker, you didn't answer M. Hinkle's question. Opposing discrimination in general and actually taking action to protect gay and lesbian West Virginians who are at risk of losing their job and their home are two different things. If a version of SB 238 were to come up again in a future session would you, personally, support it? 
10:13 Richard Thompson:  It would depend on the specifics of the legislation. Let me be clear, I personally  support legislation prohibiting discrimination  against those who are at risk of losing their job or their home.   
 
10:13 [Comment From LPWV]
Mr. Thompson, if there is tougher gun control legislation passed by the federal government, would you support a bill declaring West Virginia does not have to abide by any federal gun legislation according to the Constitution? 
10:20 Richard Thompson:  I'm a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and a life member of the NRA. I would  do everything possible to protect the constitutional rights of every West Virginian on this issue. 
10:20 [Comment From Guest]
There's a lot of speculation that you're running for Governorn in 2012. Your minute long professionally done tv commerical that went into the Charleston media market along with others seems to back that up. Are you planning to run for Governor? 
10:26 Richard Thompson:  I am flattered by the great number of expressions of support I have received to consider a run for governor. Right now, I am focused on being the best representative for my district and the best Speaker of the House I can be. 2012 is  still a long time away,  so there is still plenty of time to make a decision on that in the future. 

With respect to my commercial thanking constituents for electing me to serve them, in order to cover  my district, you have to buy the Charleston-Huntington tv   market.     

 
10:27 The Charleston Gazette:  This will be our last question. 
10:27 [Comment From John]
Mr. Speaker, thanks for participating; you are a brave man! There is a personnel law or policy, not sure which, that does not allow State Agencies to fill an employment position until the position is vacant. What are your thoughts on this restriction? FYI, It is my opinion there is a huge learning curve that more than outweighs the cost savings, the state is supposedly saving by not overlapping. 
10:35 Richard Thompson:  I think the restriction is in place to ensure we don't pay two people to do one job. However,  you make an interesting point.  Some positions may  benefit from a period of training before being handed off to a new employee. I think this idea  merits further investigation.

This being the last question, I'd like to thank everyone for participating and the Gazette  for providing this forum.           
10:35 The Charleston Gazette:  Thanks again to everyone for participating in today’s live chat. There were some tough questions out there today and we’d like to thank Speaker Thompson once again for joining us. 
10:36 The Charleston Gazette:  Next Tuesday Gazette environmental reporter Ken Ward will be online at 10:30 a.m. answering questions about the fatal explosion last August at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute. 
10:37 The Charleston Gazette:  This concludes the live chat with Rick Thompson.