Hartman is in his third year of leading the
Rural Caucus, a group designed to focus on
issues important to the voters in West Virginia’s
pastoral counties. The Caucus meets every
Thursday at 11:30 in the McManus Conference
Room at the State Capitol during the West
Virginia legislative session, and is open to all.
“I try to keep politics out of it,” says
Hartman. He wants to promote solidarity
between parties to accomplish the group’s
ultimate goal – looking out for the specific
needs of rural West
Virginians.
“
issues in a more relaxed, informal atmosphere.
Providing lunch helped the delegates make
more efficient use of their tight schedules. So,
the meetings continued, affording the chance
for the legislators to explore and deepen their
knowledge on other important topics. The
focus, however, remained on issues significant
to rural areas, as organizers felt that urban
concerns already received more than their fair
share of attention.
Some key accomplishments of the
Rural Caucus include the aforementioned
involvement with the Tier
2.5/Antidegradation of
Streams legislation to ensure
the protection of private
property rights; heightened
the awareness of oil and gas
issues and surface owners’
rights, which aided in the
completion of common-sense
legislation protecting private
property rights; providing
a forum to keep legislators
abreast of EPA attacks on
agriculture, coal and forestry; assisting in the
defeat of legislation which would have resulted
in a significant increase in insurance premiums;
and playing a key role in informing legislators
on the benefits of deer farming.
We need
to promote
the common
good, and get
away from
partisanship.”
The meetings usually
go something like this:
Delegates filter in one by
one, snagging a box lunch
provided by hosts such as
West Virginia Farm Bureau,
West Virginia Forestry
Association, Allegheny
Wood Products, MeadWestvaco or West Virginia
Royalty Owners Association. The brief
luncheon meeting features a speaker (or two if
time allows), whose purpose is to educate the
group by providing background information
pertaining to issues on the legislative agenda.
Legislators can follow up with questions if time
allows.
The Rural Caucus took its present shape
from casual meetings that began several
years ago during heated legislative debates
regarding water quality vs. private property
rights. West Virginia Farm Bureau, West
Virginia Forestry Association, and MeadWestvaco helped organize these informal
sessions, in an effort to provide a thorough
understanding of the potential impacts of
proposed legislation. Lawmakers liked having
the opportunity to learn about and discuss the
The 2013 session of the West Virginia
Legislature has seen attendance at Rural Caucus
meetings explode. Average attendance by
delegates during this session has been well over
forty. Hartman hopes it endures. “I want to
continue to make it viable, to offer a service to
delegates to keep everyone well-informed,” he
states. “We need to promote the common good,
and get away from partisanship.”
Above left: Delegate Bill Hartman speaks to
a packed house,while Ag Commissioner Walt
Helmick waits to address the crowd.
West Virginia Farm Bureau News 11