Morrisey signs $5.5B WV budget bill, sends it back to Legislature with 12 vetoes

• Reducing funds from the Division of Human Services by $250,000

• Removing a restriction on the transfer of funds to a “Personal Services and Employee Benefitsâ€� appropriation

• Cutting funding to international trade offices from $1 million to $750,000

• Cutting all $1 million in new funds to the Elevator Safety Fund

Morrisey’s objections

Of Morrisey’s 12 line-item vetoes, three vetoes were explained as “duplicative,� or corrections due to “drafting errors,� and six vetoes the governor called “burdensome� to the functions on executive offices. Morrisey’s final three vetoes were issued based on the governor’s stated expectation and reliance on federal aid and external grant funding.

For the second consecutive year, Morrisey slashed the Legislature’s intended funding amount to the Court-appointed Special Advocates Program — a program designed to provide legal aid to minors experiencing abuse or neglect. Morrisey’s veto reduces funding from the Legislature’s prescribed amount of $1.1 million, to $700,000. In the previous fiscal year, Morrisey reduced funding to the program by $800,000, which Morrisey touted as a victory, noting, “Even with this reduction, CASA will receive $400,000 more than its FY 2026 appropriation.�

Morrisey further stated the program “operates a proven model built on trained community volunteers,� and that his veto “reflects confidence in the organization’s ability to leverage its competitive grant success.�

What the Legislature intended as a $2.55 million investment into the development of an Upper Kanawha Valley development project — which includes the Appalachian Outlaw Trails, a UTV off-road trail system in Belle — was reduced to $2.3 million. Morrisey cited “the project’s active pursuit of the Abandoned Mine Lands Economic Revitalization grant� as his motivation for the reduction, stating that, “It is prudent to right-size the state’s investment while the federal grant process is underway.� However, Morrisey’s veto presents no recourse in the event the project is not awarded federal grant funds.

In his third grant-related veto, Morrisey reduced the Legislature’s $1 million appropriation to the Marshall University Research Corporation by half, matching its appropriation from the previous fiscal year. Morrisey justified his veto by referring to the corporation as “a thriving enterprise that received $73.3 million in external awards in FY 2024, and $67.7 million in FY 2025 across hundreds of federal, foundation, and private grants.�

As resistance to what he described as “burdensome,� Morrisey vetoed the 5% cap that the Legislature imposed on departmental transfers from within the general fund. In his veto letter to Senate President and Lt. Gov. Randy Smith, R-Preston, Morrisey stated that the restriction would “hamper the ability of state agencies to be responsive to the changing demands placed upon them.� Morrisey further contends that his veto of the 5% transfer cap marks a “return to established budget practices that have been in place for many years.�

What’s next?

Two Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee told the Gazette-Mail Friday they expect no attempts will be made to override any of Morrisey's vetoes.

Last year, Morrisey vetoed a total of 29 items presented. Should lawmakers wish to override any of Morrisey’s vetoes for fiscal year 2027, they can do so with a simple majority vote in both the House of Delegates and the Senate. The legislative session is scheduled to conclude at 11:59 p.m. Saturday.

Earlier Thursday, during a news conference on the grounds of the State Fair of West Virginia in Fairlea, Greenbrier County, Morrisey urged lawmakers to deliver an across-the-board income tax reduction before the end of the legislative session on Saturday.

“If the state is running a surplus then there’s room to provide taxpayers with relief,� Morrisey said.

The Senate initially included Morrisey’s requested 10% in its version of the budget bill but only presented offsets covering a small portion of the $125 million needed to pay for the cuts. The House of Delegates, in its version of the budget, proposed no additional cuts beyond the 5% Morrisey included within his revenue projections. The final budget bill was approved and sent to Morrisey on March 5.

In a statement released Thursday night by Morrisey’s office, the governor lauded the “difficult decisions� made by his administration during the last fiscal year as being the driving force for the newly signed “fiscally prudent budget.� Specifically, Morrisey praised the nearly $300 million in funding for the HOPE Scholarship, as well as an initial $5 million being placed into the state’s Flood Resiliency Fund.