Listen... Governor Manchin speaks about Sharon's important presence in the House of Delegates, here.  Elizabeth Spencer talks about why her mother is a great choice to represent the people of Kanawha County. Listen to Sharon's radio ad here. (mp3 audio file, 504 KB)

Hello, and welcome to my website. For the past twenty two years, it has been my honor and privilege to serve the people of Kanawha County in the West Virginia House of Delegates. While serving in the legislature, I have worked hard to make state government both efficient as well as responsive to the needs of our citizens.
 

The legislature completed the work of the 2009 session.  As the Chairperson of the Pensions and Retirement Committee, we completed our work on the Merger Bill of TERS and TDC and saved the state 22 million dollars. I am proud to have sponsored the EMS Retirement Bill and the Deputy Sheriffs Plan B which were both passed. I have been appointed to the Select Committee on Senior Issues and we have much to do.  As the only Kawaha County member on Recruitment and Retention of Volunteer Firefighters I wqs determined to find soluions to keeping our citizens safe and keeping the cost of insurance down. 

 Home care of the elderly has been enhanced since last session and we will continue to put our dollars to assist our seniors.    We must stimulate our economy, create jobs and not just jobs but jobs with benefits and health insurance.  Minimum wage jobs are no longer satisfactory and training at our colleges and universities must make our state attractive to our out of state businesses.  We must market our people as well as our resources.  After all, our most valuable resource in West Virginia is its people.

As a member of the Legislative Intern Committee, I have treated the  Regular Session interns like my own children.  I have told the interns to call me anytime, day or night about any problems.  I told the interns that I would keep her cell phone on my pillow and to call her anytime they needed help.  I thought it appropriate that all delegates in the House be afforded training to prevent sexual harrassment.  I gave that number to them as I also have given it to my constituents 304 552-8353 to be accessible at any time.
 

This website will serve as the internet home to keep constituents informed. Please take a moment to learn about issues that are important to me, my background, and view updates from the legislature. I would enjoy hearing from you and reading any feedback you may have, so feel free to contact me using my contact page. Thank you for stopping by!

Delegate Sharon Spencer

Sharon Spencer: At a Glance• Sharon has faithfully served the citizens of the 30th District in Kanawha County in the House of Delegates for more than twenty-two years.  She wrote pre-school handicapped and handicapped parking as two of her first two bills in 1982. Since then she worked to eradicate the Jim Crow Laws.   She believes that discrimination should never be tolerated.

• Sharon believes that one of the most important, if not the most important, things the State of West Virginia can do is finally eliminate the regressive food tax.   Sharon supports eliminating the tax as quickly as feasibly possible and has twice before sponsored legislation to eliminate the tax. Had that legislation been passed previously, the food tax would long since have been gone.  Sharon believes health care should be a right not a luxury.  All too often health care is not provided by low paying jobs or health care for small business owners to provide for their employees is far beyond their reach. 

The state of the economy is a real issue.  So many have lost their jobs, are afraid of losing their homes and worry about if their reitrement will be there when it is time.  She has fought big government pay raises when so many state workers make under $15,000 a year and have a family to support..   We must become energy independent.  We must have clean technology that is cost efficient and I am committed to finding solutions.  Within two days of the special session, three corporate jets had notified Yeager Airport in Kanawha of their intention to lease space but id fuel is too expensive jobs will not relocate here..  This would have meant jobs and also would have meant  that those employees would be paying taxes to improve our schools and build infrastructure.  Since that time we have seen the cost of fuels escalate.  We must take the lead with alternative fuels.   We must  not have to choose between feeding our children and putting gas in the car to get to our job.  We also must not be taxed to dealth.

We passed new tax legislation to be competitive to attract companies and assist those here to expand.  Again, this means high paying jobs for West Virginians.  With the downturn of the economy, this means very little in 2009 unless the stimulus package puts people to work with infrastructure jobs thus attracting new businesses.

I believes that our seniors are our most valuable resource.  We can learn much from our seniors.  As a member of the Select member on Senior Issues I am is investigating how we can provide help and support for seniors in their homes.  I support respit care, meals on wheels, transportations services for dialysis and other medical services.  I wants to provide them the quality of life they deserve.  Speaker Thompson is commited to make life easier and better in all ways including health care and additional social programs for seniors while he is serving in the House.  Through our work we will continue developing new programs for access to services. 

• I strongly believes in the protection of the right to keep and bear arms. Private gun ownership is not only a strong deterrent to crime, but it is also a crucial part of our rich Appalachian sportsmen's tradition and must be preserved.

I is a member of the Select Committee on the Retention and Recruitment of Volunteer firefighters and  is working as Chair of Pensions on Municipal Pensions to maintain  public pension solvency,  This past session the house found a way to not raise taxes and support the losap program.  It is up to the Senate to do the rightr thing.
 

 Sharon is the proud mother of seven children and two grand-daughters and another grand-child in September.  She attends the Bible Center Church in  Charleston where she volunteers in the nursery..  She is also an extra class amateur operator and a major in the Civil Air Patrol.  She seeks input through this website and is eager for constituent input.  Her cell phone is listed so you can call her and reach her at any time.

Legislation comes from good ideas from the public.  Don't be afraid to call or email.  It also is critical that critical that you participate in the process.  When you feel strongly about an issue, let me know.

Don't forget, it is the people's house.