CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has approved legislation that elevates the state’s tourism division and development office to separate cabinet-level departments.
Effective in late May, they will be known as the Department of Tourism and the Department of Economic Development.
Last month Justice appointed former Senate President Mitch Carmichael to become the state’s economic development director. Carmichael, a Jackson County Republican, lost in the June 2020 primary to elementary school teacher Amy Nichole Grady, who went on to win the general election.
Carmichael served as Senate president from 2017 to 2020 and was made the target of teachers who packed the state Capitol during strikes in 2018 and 2019.