“There is no stopping West Virginia. We'll be that shining state in the mountains. We'll become the regional and national powerhouse that I know we can be”
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – On Thursday, Governor Patrick Morrisey addressed the West Virginia Chamber’s annual Business Summit to lay out his economic development strategy.
Watch & Download the full speech here.
“We’re going to enhance West Virginia’s investment climate by lowering the regulatory and capital expense barriers to enter our state,” said Governor Morrisey. “We’re also going to more closely scrutinize the return on investment for any taxpayer dollars spent from an economic development perspective. We’re getting serious about the key factors that drive long-term economic growth – such as reducing regulations, reforming our tax system to be even more competitive, building our physical and digital infrastructure, and investing in our workforce.”
Governor Morrisey emphasized the importance of cutting red tape and changing the regulatory environment in West Virginia that is going to attract business investment in key industries.
“If West Virginia is going to get ahead of other states in the region, we have to move at the speed of business,” said Governor Morrisey. “That’s why I made it a key priority to pass HB 2002 during the 2025 general legislative session, which created a “one stop shop” permitting dashboard to facilitate greater transparency, interagency cooperation, and a faster turnaround time for permits and licenses of all kinds.”
“I also prioritized passage of the Universal Licensing Bill, which makes it simple for licensed professionals and holders of an occupancy license in other states to move to West Virginia and immediately get to work, without having to go through lengthy and redundant licensing processes,” Governor Morrisey continued. “We’ve already seen an increase in the number of contractors registered in this state since this time last year and are confident of more to come. 8% more year over year and this will only grow.”
Governor Morrisey said the best present example of his economic development strategy is the Power Generation and Consumption Act (HB 2014), which was signed into law earlier this year.
“HB 2014 combines the best of our economic development strategy: it targets multiple key industries – such as technology, energy, and advanced manufacturing – it lowers regulatory burdens and keeps taxes low, and it does this in a manner that ensures all key sectors of the West Virginian economy will be positively affected,” said Governor Morrisey. “Within just a few months, the transformative strategy embodied in the Microgrids Bill has put West Virginia on the map for data center investments, and I look forward to announcing the results of that interest soon. With the Economic Development Strategy guiding our state’s actions, you can expect big wins with big players in the future.”
Governor Morrisey’s final point of focus was building West Virginia’s workforce.
“The West Virginian workforce has been significantly challenged since the pandemic, which places serious strain on our regional competitiveness,” said Governor Morrisey. “We must reverse that – this is the calling of our time. And that’s why we are now working on a complete overhaul of our Workforce West Virginia website and a new approach to how we can place people into jobs in the mountain state. Recruiting, retention, and retraining must be our hallmark. We want our portal to be an effective tool for the private sector to help companies fill the job needs of tomorrow.”