You heard it here first: Mountain State Spotlight absolutely has an agenda for covering the legislative session.
Usually, “having an agenda” is a term wielded as a weapon: an accusation of bias, of pushing a particular ideology. That’s not what I’m talking about here. Our agenda is simply that we want to bring West Virginians the news they really need about what happens under that gilded Capitol dome.
But that doesn’t just mean the news that politicians or their spokespeople want you to know. It doesn’t mean the verbatim text of a bill, presented without context or analysis, sprinkled with quotes from supporters and opponents. It means as close as we can get to the actual point of what is happening: how elected officials’ actions over the next 60 days will really affect the lives of West Virginians.
We know there’s a demand for this particular legislative agenda. So far, more than 200 of our readers have already taken our survey, telling us what issues they think should be top-of-mind for lawmakers when they gavel in on Wednesday. They want to know what legislators are doing to improve the quality of life for all West Virginians, to fix roads and attract businesses, to fund state agencies and disclose their conflicts of interests.
We have these questions too, and we’ll tackle the reporting in several ways.
Our team of six reporters — covering state government, communities, public health, economic development, economic justice, and the environment — will be at the Capitol, watching floor sessions and committee meetings. These debates are important, and we’ll bring you some of the highlights and relevant context (as well as insights into what’s not being talked about) through our evening newsletter, Statehouse Spotlight. It’ll hit your inbox every Monday through Thursday while the Legislature is in session, and you can sign up here.
But we’ll also be out in your communities, asking about your needs and the impact of proposed legislation, whether positive or negative. We’ll be filing open records requests, trying to shed light on the Legislature’s inner mechanisms, to tell you the story behind what’s said in public. And often, we’ll be telling stories about major challenges West Virginia faces that lawmakers aren’t talking about addressing or are perhaps even making worse.
We know that West Virginia has a lot going for it, from its beautiful natural landscape to its rich cultural heritage and friendly people. But there are lots of challenges here too, from economic inequity to poor school performance, from failing public health systems to increasing injustice, from crumbling infrastructure to safety nets riddled with holes. Mountain State Spotlight reporters will be continuing their in-depth reporting on these issues, whether or not they ever appear on legislative committee agendas.
Stick with us for the next 60 days. Our agenda is to tell our readers (you!) what lawmakers are doing — or not doing — to help the state tackle these challenges.