positions by both former Senate presidents Bill Cole and Mitch Carmichael . I consider myself very blessed — from 1 of 100 freshman delegates in the minority party to the Senate president in just 18 years .”
These experiences helped form a great foundation to prepare Blair for his role as Senate president and lieutenant governor of West Virginia .
“ There has to be a good understanding and respect between the two chambers of the Legislature ,” he says . “ As different as their goals may be on some issues , at the end of the day , the goal each and every one of us has — whether Republican or Democrat — is working to make sure the people of West Virginia have a great place to call home , work and raise their families . I think the years I spent in the minority taught me a lot about compromise , listening and leaving no ideas off the table . When I was chairman of both the government organization and finance committees , I didn ’ t look at sponsors of bills to see whether they were Democrats or Republicans . The only thing I cared about was whether that bill was going to move West Virginia forward and if it was good for the citizens of this state .”
As Senate president , Blair is the presiding officer of the Senate ’ s daily floor sessions , sets the agenda , appoints committees , leads the members of the Republican caucus and works with House leadership to coordinate on priority bills and resolutions .
“ I spend a lot of time in communication with the speaker of the House and the governor ’ s staff to make sure we are all working together as a team to advance our goals ,” says Blair .
“ I also communicate with a lot of executive agencies and their cabinet secretaries to hear their concerns on top of regular communication with constituents from my district . No matter what my responsibilities may be here in Charleston , I never lose sight of serving the people of the 15th District and the great people of the Eastern Panhandle .”
Upon accepting the position of president , Blair was tasked — alongside House Speaker Roger Hanshaw — with helping make the 2021 legislative session safe for all involved while ensuring it remained on track .
“ The Senate was already a leader in terms of technology and live streaming audio and video of all our committee meetings and floor sessions ,” he says . “ Those meetings and floor sessions are archived , so people can always go back and watch them again or catch the replay if they missed them the first time . We ’ ve had that technology in place since 2017 — little did we know then how much we ’ d need it in 2021 . This year , we added the ability for committee meetings to have guests present remotely , and we ’ ve seen a great response . People have really appreciated the transparency and the ability to participate as much as they could , given the limitations of the pandemic . Our members have had to learn to do things differently , and for a great number of them , it was a bit of a learning curve to conduct meetings and business through video conferencing rather than face to face . I am incredibly pleased with how we ’ ve not only adapted but succeeded in light of those circumstances .”
Overall , Blair is pleased with how the 2021 session commenced .
WWW . WVEXECUTIVE . COM SPRING 2021 29