Gov. Jim Justice vetoed the legislative budget for West Virginia Thursday, which did not seem to come as a surprise to many around the state.

Speaker of the House Tim Armstead and Senate President Mitch Carmichael released statements on their disappointment towards the governor’s veto.

“Today’s decision by Governor Justice isn’t entirely unexpected, but it’s nonetheless disappointing,” Carmichael said in his release.

Both leaders echoed in their releases how they held up their promise of passing a budget during the duration of the 60-day regular session.

Justice used representations during his press conference to show how he felt about HB 2018.

“The political process is broken and it’s the people who get hurt. We’ve got stop the nonsense! I’ll call bull when I see it,” Justice said in a post on his Twitter.

HB 2018 included large cuts to higher education, including Marshall University. With Marshall University being one of the larger higher education institutions in the state, it would have suffered from higher cuts along with West Virginia University.

Marshall University President Jerome Gilbert issued a press release after the veto expressing his appreciation toward the governor and his decision to veto HB 2018.

“We’ve done the same thing year after year — cuts, cuts and more cuts. Now is time for a different plan,” Gilbert said in his release.

Marshall University associate professor and director of Masters in Marybeth Beller Public Administration, discussed what she felt would be the reaction of most Marshall faculty.

“I think you could interview every single faculty member and find no one is in favor of a 9 percent budget cut,” Beller said.

Besides the included cuts to higher education in HB 2018, there were also no tax increases that would be placed on West Virginians.

Armstead and Carmichael both discussed their shared views on tax reform that do not align with the governor’s tax increase suggestions, according to their releases.

Speaker Armstead notes in his release the veto will ensure a special session, but believes a special session “won’t significantly change the original outcome.”

Kylee Hurley can be reached at [email protected].