During his State of the State address this year, Gov. Jim Justice took the time to pat himself and the Republican legislature on the back for the last seven years.
But at one point, Justice told the Legislature to get its act together. Bringing up last year’s bill that led to a transfer portal in high school sports — which the governor allowed to become law without his signature — Justice asked lawmakers to reverse it.
“And we have made this situation to where we are going to absolutely, if we don’t watch out, we are going to ruin, and I said ruin, high school sports in West Virginia,” Justice said.
Nearly halfway through the session, a bill that would reverse the changes made last year has yet to make it onto a committee agenda. But the lead sponsor, Del. Dana Ferrell, R-Kanawha, said he’s confident he has the votes to get the bill through the education committee and onto the House floor within the coming weeks.
Justice did not — as he does with many other bills each year — submit his own bill. A request for comment was not returned.
HB 5011 would close the transfer portal lawmakers opened last year by passing a bill allowing high school athletes to transfer after their freshman year and not lose eligibility.
During last year’s football season, the results were extremely noticeable. There were 13 football games with a 70-point margin of victory, triple what it was two seasons prior, according to a statistical analysis by Mountain State Spotlight. Before that, the high in the last 14 years was only five games.
“I think when we were fighting this last year, it was all theoretical,” Ferrell said. “Now we have the numbers and the data to show what’s happened.”
Ferrell said the blowouts during the 2023 football season lent credence to his argument that the change was detrimental to high school sports.
Along with the governor, Ferrell has also found an ally in House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, who is a cosponsor of the bill.
“When it gets to the Senate, that’s when it’s going to get choppy,” Ferrell said.
Last year, the Senate tied the transfer portal change to a House bill that would allow Hope Scholarship recipients to compete in public school athletics. Lawmakers in the House were forced to either vote against a Hope Scholarship bill that many had supported or let the transfer rule pass.
The Republican caucus fractured, with one faction supporting the right of a parent to decide where their child goes to school and the other asking if allowing transfers would harm the work ethic taught in high school sports.
“What are we teaching our children here?” Ferrell said. “To step on someone else to get ahead or do what Jesus taught and put others before yourself?”
