In 2012, SB 532/HB 4387 was introduced requiring all West Virginia voters to present official government-issued photo identification in order to vote. The Voter ID law was reintroduced for the 2013 legislative session (SB 13/HB 2215). Based on national data and the experiences of other states, it is estimated that the implementation costs of a…
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Beckley Register-Herald - Proponents of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) unveiled a new tool Monday to help lawmakers see what the credit would do in their districts. ReadThe invest in Working Families Coalition launched the interactive web site www.investinwvfamilies.org, during a press conference at the Capitol. The site allows users to search the state…
Beckley Register-Herald - The state health department will soon be required to assess if more than 600,000 Medicaid users – more than a third of the state’s population – are still eligible for free or low-cost health insurance. Read the full article. The undertaking comes as the department, which is facing mounting criticism for its…
Poor oral health is widespread in West Virginia. It significantly affects the employability of our workforce, contributes to higher emergency room utilization, and is often both an indicator of and a contributor to other chronic health conditions. According to a 2014 report, only 40 percent of West Virginians have dental insurance.[1] While Medicaid expansion has…
Contact: Sean O'Leary - 304-720-8682, soleary@wvpolicy.org In order to decide whether or not to vote for a piece of legislation, West Virginia's legislators often rely on fiscal notes. Calculated by various state agencies, fiscal notes are intended to give legislators information on the financial impact of a particular bill, how much a new law will…
WOWK - West Virginia University is dealing with a serious budget short fall, but right now there is no agreement on how to fix it. There is plenty of finger-pointing going on, and that means a solution is not on the table right now. Read the full article. As West Virginia University gears up for…
Daily Athenaeum - The Biden Administration launched a beta version of its student loan relief program late Friday night, allowing borrowers to submit applications before the website is officially launched later this month. Read the full article. Thousands of students at West Virginia University could see some level of loan forgiveness as part of the federal…
WOWK TV - Sometimes the best way to exchange ideas is to break bread with others. That’s what happened at Friday’s annual “Budget Breakfast” from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. Watch the full segment. A lot of people are focused on the state’s budget surplus, which may balloon to $700. Democrats say…
Two weeks ago, the House Industry and Labor committee passed out HB 4104 that would make it easier for employers to classify workers as independent contractors when it comes to Unemployment Insurance and Workers Compensation eligibility. A similar bill passed the House last year, but died in the Senate. The determination of whether a worker…
Today the Governor officially ordered Workforce WV to begin drug testing those enrolled in job training programs (see below press release). What was not mentioned was that these programs are completely funded by federal dollars and that they mostly go to the "disadvantaged and at-risk youth, adults, and dislocated workers." However, the big question is…