[{"_1":2,"_112":-5,"_113":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88,100],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6326631,"mediaKeyId","2323849-65dc28031f292c759db6b4ab4339507e","parentId",2323849,"title","Attorney General’s office asks Senate finance committee for $600,000 to replenish front-office expenses","audioSeconds",346,"startMs",236000,"endMs",582000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2323849-65dc28031f292c759db6b4ab4339507e&start=236&end=582","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2323849-65dc28031f292c759db6b4ab4339507e/thumbnail_236000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6326631/West-Virginia/Attorney-Generals-office-asks-Senate-finance-committee-for-600000-to-replenish-front-office-expenses","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6326631-c14c8fa9e07653a13a6e68e00b54de56/orig.mp4?Expires=1771148481&Signature=l3UUwG8UF7e5d4jKv7eFSGoLzyiF1Odm-MMQbQ9DJcrFdT~bRTT0lJ8Q4L69GR1kZGpasVQUetVwgelRTDROilNu~t5V0OYmgogTwSb0pHQPaxYhKzNHKmv64hCOpfg~kbuY92S0VCvMp35KgWkLN-0PlDdi8YUclZG-i81mZ7FymucLv5iOh9q76HQHWCxe30ClyOv19njzNUCFpNx4Wa12GfeLNnEB9qUZhPaK0sDIIceL-ZH7JU1yNRxPTptQOQTdjV7QcaoqhH~XQadK~Cz60OdbiU6W7YyRyWOp1W47067pYGUwkWfGpu6BRHlzFTUKkBc~vNqojt16AJdX1g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","West Virginia Legislature","date","2025-02-17T00:00:00Z","article","The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office asked the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 13, 2025, for a $600,000 increase to its front-office current expenses to help cover outside counsel and other operating needs.

The request, made by Jeff Wabright, chief of staff for Attorney General JB McCuskey, came during the committee’s budget presentations. Wabright said McCuskey was out of town and sent his “apologies” but that the office faces pressure on special revenue funds and needs staffing and outside counsel capacity to “defend the state in many different ways.”

Wabright said the office met with the governor’s staff and that the governor’s proposed budget included roughly a 14% increase in some areas but did not fully close the gap the office described. “One of the things that we wanted was a $600,000 increase to replenish, our front office current expenses,” Wabright said, adding that outside counsel had been a “big drain” on that account.

Wabright said the attorney general’s office must maintain lawyers and staff able to respond to lawsuits against the state, including suits naming the governor, the legislature, constitutional officers and challenges to recently passed statutes. He brought Darren Green, identified in the hearing as the office chief financial officer, to answer technical questions if senators had them.

Committee members did not take immediate action on the request during the hearing; Wabright concluded his presentation after taking no follow-up questions from the panel.

The presentation occurred as part of a broader round of agency budget hearings the committee scheduled for the remainder of the session; committee staff had presented members with side-by-side budget materials prepared by analyst Chris Dewitt, the committee chair noted before the presentations began.

Looking ahead, the Attorney General’s Office will be part of the committee’s budget review process and its formal appropriation needs will be considered as the committee and the Legislature weigh recommended changes to the governor’s proposal.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Senate Finance Committee Feb 17, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","Chief of staff Jeff Wabright told the Senate Finance Committee the Attorney General’s office seeks a $600,000 increase to its front-office current expenses to cover outside counsel and ongoing obligations tied to special revenue shortfalls.","taxTitle","2025 Legislature WV, West Virginia","taxId",77714,"location","West Virginia","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6326636,"Senate Finance Committee approves minutes, adjourns after agency budget presentations",3742,166000,3908000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2323849-65dc28031f292c759db6b4ab4339507e&start=166&end=3908","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2323849-65dc28031f292c759db6b4ab4339507e/thumbnail_166000.jpg","/articles/6326636/West-Virginia/Senate-Finance-Committee-approves-minutes-adjourns-after-agency-budget-presentations","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6326636-6f93faab26084d6c8be16a09baa347dd/orig.mp4?Expires=1771148481&Signature=DmE0kxbNMm~xahM16tgKRa3rSn7Dk9gfhhet2xi9BLsbrt6eOAowEKhzHtSpaZlE2PwQancZZW1DzUV0PhRL3cfiRENYBKqvDXCzi4ykDQVxWx-1mPsnhxLJCSTrlvY1YWL2j6teFZSCze~1Y2vJEJ2~ti5zRB0EIFYuu-V-btuoiF1ZwMRrNT8-39-k36~0GF44U1p9FD5z4TVSsXsUS4at5PYBbzR9UShKXUwSZEF0qRX~upU0UOxrIvxFOy~59RyBnHBtN6QWdLtG2X4-t9SxRkKCfqPLqNvN1pjWqxG1bWdPEaW~FfmbEr4R2ga4NmXRwzbAeiM7OIVpHW8VEA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Senate Finance Committee conducted two recorded procedural voice votes during the Feb. 13, 2025, session: approval of minutes from a prior meeting and a motion to adjourn after scheduled budget presentations.

The committee first voted to approve minutes from the Thursday, Feb. 13 meeting following a motion from the vice chair. The vice chair moved ‘‘I move to approve the minutes for Thursday, February 13, '3 o'clock meeting,’’ and the chair called for all in favor; a voice vote of “Aye” followed and the chair stated, “Motion carries.”

At the end of the session, after presentations from the Attorney General's Office, the Auditor and the Secretary of State's Office, the vice chair moved to adjourn. The chair called for those in favor and a voice “Aye” was recorded; the committee adjourned.

No roll-call tallies with individual names were recorded in the transcript; both actions were handled by voice vote and noted as carried by the chair.","The committee approved the minutes from Feb. 13 and later voted to adjourn by voice vote at the conclusion of budget presentations.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6326641,"Secretary of State asks for $2.5 million to upgrade voter-registration and campaign-finance systems",1386,2058000,3444000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2323849-65dc28031f292c759db6b4ab4339507e&start=2058&end=3444","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2323849-65dc28031f292c759db6b4ab4339507e/thumbnail_2058000.jpg","/articles/6326641/West-Virginia/Secretary-of-State-asks-for-25-million-to-upgrade-voter-registration-and-campaign-finance-systems","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6326641-def60314d4198df3bf42e7c3dcd8fa42/orig.mp4?Expires=1771148481&Signature=RotoffL76iKL0WqFArlqBryinnLxlXiBxkvt30eEaxpJL~x~Gb-R-uaCdM3guXo-p58IdRiOsMikcRknIF4nY3xD5sKdrHmFEe6VLQAgB2HEUrGtKsi-zBq3FUPCdGrviIG9Z9a4auTZOzThjr9DHav2jYDG8NOcYrMoWz9whZwE8R-n3gJ8PNbVx~LDJDAj6gU6UxeFkWthYnmu~MvcVKKmXQlkyE9SlMtgO9CLF7tFeMu3y8J2XTi0fVCUr-b2VEXGb-wUkp-Ss2unzG1yGKsj9RzVw4IaKWAbFJj2VLTsZK3T2PYhFGBQm-dGgwkh952XtJMxt0C0Wce7yo1VJw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Secretary of State Warner and senior staff told the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 13, 2025, that the office seeks a one-time $2.5 million appropriation to buy and implement new voter-registration and campaign-finance systems and to obtain source code access from a vendor.

“That's the 2 and a half million dollars,” Donald Kersey, chief of staff to the secretary of state, said during his presentation of the office's technology and modernization priorities. Kersey said the office has a vendor currently in breach of contract since 2019 and argued the state should own the source code for critical election systems so staff can maintain, patch and secure the systems in perpetuity.

Delilah Barker, the office's chief financial officer, provided staffing and operating details: the secretary of state's office has 52 FTEs and 50 positions filled, with two vacancies the office did not expect to fill immediately. Barker laid out overtime and expedited-fee revenue figures the office uses to support its three West Virginia One Stop business centers in Charleston, Clarksburg and Martinsburg.

Kersey said the requested funds would keep the office's special-revenue cushion intact. He described the cushion as $4.5 million in special revenue that the office relies on for infrastructure and emergency replacements. “If we don't get the money, ... we're gonna have to spend our special revenue, which takes our special revenue down from about 4 and a half million dollars a year to $2,000,000,” Kersey said.

Kersey described the office's need to maintain paper-trail voting machines and to avoid connecting voting machines to the internet; he said West Virginia law does not permit those machines to be Internet-connected and that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has expressed interest in auditing West Virginia’s system.

Committee members asked about county funding for election security, whether counties could be required to use the state P-card and whether the office could bring more technology work in-house. Kersey said counties receive a portion of property-excess tax transfers earmarked for record-room and election purposes and that most counties need assistance for equipment and training. He said bringing development fully in-house would require additional staff and infrastructure.

If the Legislature does not fund the one-time request, Kersey said the office would draw on special revenue but that doing so would reduce the cushion available for unplanned needs or a large-scale replacement should the federal government decertify equipment or new federal standards require costly updates.

The committee did not take an immediate vote on the request; the presentation was part of a sequence of agency budget hearings scheduled for the session.","Secretary of State Warner and staff told the Senate Finance Committee that a $2.5 million one-time appropriation would allow the office to replace aging vendor systems for voter registration and campaign finance, secure source code access and avoid drawing down special-revenue reserves used for election infrastructure.",{"_33":101,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":102,"_41":103,"_43":104,"_45":105,"_47":106,"_49":107,"_51":108,"_53":109,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":110,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":111,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6326646,"State auditor pitches fee increases, P-card expansion and privatized delinquent-land sales to generate revenue",612,478000,1090000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2323849-65dc28031f292c759db6b4ab4339507e&start=478&end=1090","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2323849-65dc28031f292c759db6b4ab4339507e/thumbnail_478000.jpg","/articles/6326646/West-Virginia/State-auditor-pitches-fee-increases-P-card-expansion-and-privatized-delinquent-land-sales-to-generate-revenue","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6326646-98d347928e989e06f2843272ac17fb5f/orig.mp4?Expires=1771148481&Signature=SU~jUVO5rhH5phhjsU7dhQB3LNXuHExYi54p~1zat9IJUpG5mOWhJwW8R11F82aW7WfTqR8Qv5NnqR1vJ5ys8QpZ0JpwdLCicWQ5dlOibLtOXHhvNJrleA03ox2ckICN-PzqTwNG4SUOINPlxrGIIVZGbji1DilVqPWmF2OlPMYrwMvhHtYYRRcHGJh47eGxIpuimo806OIbVeAAikYC9XQ4wgSIhnHkcPbW6CDpKdX9IPOAqr~B1S3DnUIH6V3DsqrAIZ3vY7In~FrYOXIMGCXrfDgcT5XYGLCa1xq9HHTs-xpzLrf8-e7Xn3N9X3~J73EUE7RuEkfo8A5~ZSTBag__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","State Auditor Mark Hunt told the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 13, 2025, that his office can raise significant revenue for the state by increasing securities-review fees, expanding use of the state purchasing card (P-card) and changing how delinquent land is marketed and sold.

Hunt, newly in office, said the auditor’s office produces “income for the State of West Virginia in excess of $300,000,000 a year” and that the office’s operating budget is about $23 million, of which roughly $2.7 million comes from general revenue. He described several “low-hanging fruit” proposals he said would boost receipts to the General Revenue Fund and provide additional special revenue for the auditor’s office.

On securities-review fees, Hunt said a modest increase in per-offering fees would raise revenue and would be borne by large investment houses rather than West Virginians. He said an increase of about $528 per offering would generate an additional $1.7 million for the auditor’s office and $1.7 million for the General Revenue Fund.

Hunt urged wider use of the state P-card, saying the state currently spends roughly $500 million a year on P-card purchases and receives about $10 million in rebate payments now. “If we got some of the other entities and agencies on board that are not using the P card, we could double that to possibly a billion dollars and we could double that that amount,” Hunt said, adding the auditor’s office monitors P-card transactions in real time with U.S. Bank and treats misuse as a criminal offense.

Hunt also proposed altering the sale process for delinquent land, which he said is now routinely purchased by a small group of buyers for low base amounts. “What I would like to see is a real auction process on the front end,” he said, suggesting the auditor contract with a vendor to market parcels statewide so that bids better reflect market value; under Hunt’s proposal some of the excess above the tax base would be split between counties, general revenue and the auditor’s office.

Hunt criticized the state's expenditures on two technology contracts. He said OASIS has cost the state in the hundreds of millions and that a predecessor signed “a new 10 year contract for $40,000,000 a year.” He also said the OpenGov transparent-checkbook service receives roughly $9 million a year for limited usage, noting last year the site had 1,600 hits.

Senators asked follow-up questions about whether vendors would add convenience fees for card purchases, whether counties and colleges could be required to use the P-card and how the proposed delinquent-land auction would handle redemption and survey costs. Hunt said the state code designates the P-card as the preferred method of payment but that there is no statutory penalty for not using it; he also said new policies will allow cash, checks and credit cards for property redemptions starting May 1 to make redemption easier for homeowners.

Hunt said some of his proposals would take two to three years to fully materialize and that fee changes or statute changes would require legislative action. He did not present formal bills during the hearing but said a securities-fee increase and legislation to privatize certain delinquent-land marketing are pending under other lawmakers’ sponsorships.

The auditor took no immediate committee vote on the proposals; they were presented as options the office believes would increase special revenue and reduce reliance on general revenue allocations.","State Auditor Mark Hunt told the Senate Finance Committee his office can grow special revenue through modest securities-fee increases, better use of the P-card and privatized marketing of delinquent land sales, and outlined concerns about costly contracts for OASIS and OpenGov.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Attorney General’s office asks Senate finance committee for $600,000 to replenish front-office expenses

Senate Finance Committee approves minutes, adjourns after agency budget presentations

Secretary of State asks for $2.5 million to upgrade voter-registration and campaign-finance systems

State auditor pitches fee increases, P-card expansion and privatized delinquent-land sales to generate revenue