That title pretty much sums up the bulk of the activity of the West Virginia Legislature’s 2023 General Session.

Senate Bill 10, the “campus carry bill,” passed the House of Delegates on Feb. 21. It had previously passed the Senate, and Governor Jim Justice said he would sign it. The bill orders all colleges and universities in West Virginia to permit students to carry firearms while they are on campus.

The vote was almost party-line. Two Republicans, Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw (Clay County) and Delegate Erikka Storch (Ohio County) voted against the bill. Delegate Elliot Pritt (Fayette County), the only freshman House Democrat, voted for it.

This bill has been before the Legislature before and failed. But with huge Republican supermajorities in both Houses (88-12 in the House, 31-3 in the Senate), the bill’s passage this year was guaranteed. Many of our state’s colleges and universities (including West Virginia University, Marshall University and Shepherd University) publicly opposed the bill, but to no avail.

I think this bill encompasses a terrible idea. But elections have consequences, and this is one of the consequences of the 2022 election.

On another matter, the Legislature seems to have rejected a proposal by Governor Justice to cut the state income tax in half. Instead, it looks like a smaller income tax cut will pass, accompanied by other tax cuts.

The Senate proposed a cut of 15 percent across the board, as opposed to the governor’s 50 percent cut for everybody (which passed the House). But its plan included other cuts, primarily to large businesses like coal and natural gas companies. By early this week, the Senate had apparently compromised with Justice to reduce the personal income tax by just over 20 percent across the board, including some of the Senate’s other cuts. This plan will cost the state treasury about $720 million.

Governor Justice wishes to eliminate the income tax entirely, saying that this will so vigorously stimulate the state’s economy that the additional activity will make up the loss to the treasury. That’s nuts.

Remember when Kansas tried slashing taxes by a lot 10 years ago? State troopers, human service workers and teachers were laid off by the thousands, and public schools were reduced to a four-day week. Eliminate the income tax entirely? The governor’s original proposal of just a 50 percent cut would cause reductions like that.

Cutting the income tax by the same percentage for everybody favors for higher-income earners over lower-income folks. And no tax cut pays for itself. Some increased economic activity results, but not enough to make up the entirety of the lost revenue.

We have a large budget surplus, well over $1.5 billion. A lot of that is contrived, and much of the part that is real is available only on a one-time basis. I think the budget could afford a hit of $300 million maximum. But we could afford that much, only if we continue to pay our teachers, troopers and other state workers less than they deserve.

John Doyle is a 26-year former member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. He can be reached at rjohndoyle@comcast.net.