Gov. Justice will not call a special session for gas tax holiday

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) - Gov. Justice announced during Wednesday’s briefing that he will not be calling a special session to discuss a temporary pause of the state gas tax.

This comes after careful consideration since revisiting the topic in Monday’s briefing.

“People are hurting, but the bottom line to the whole thing is just this: the blame lies right at the feet of the administration in Washington, D.C.,” Gov. Justice said.

Gov. Justice further blamed the majority of the legislature.

“From the standpoint of calling a special session in regard to a gas tax holiday, it is absolutely going to be two things: a total waste of time and, on top of that, it will absolutely cost the taxpayers money,” Gov. Justice said. “We’ve heard from the majority of the Legislature, and they do not have an interest. It’s dead. It’s gone.”

Justice also said providing a gas tax holiday would take away money intended for building and repairing existing roads.

“A gas tax holiday would involve us pulling out $36 million to $40 million that could be going toward building roads, fixing slips, and everything else under the sun. At the end of the day that money will give us decades and decades of benefit. We can’t afford to be frivolous with it,” Gov. Justice said.