Introduction Amid an extended period of high inflation and a slowing economy, voters and politicians alike are looking for policies to make life more affordable for workers and families. READ THE FULL POLICY BRIEF. During the summer of 2025, Congress passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (H.R. 1), which included a temporary “no tax on…
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This month, West Virginia residents, charitable organizations, small businesses, and the state government joined together in an effort to stem widespread hunger during the first delay in SNAP benefit distribution in history. The state’s 211 helpline saw a staggering 1,680 percent increase in calls of people needing help—largely with accessing food—compared to the same period…
West Virginians who get their health coverage through the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Marketplace are beginning to see just how much Congress' inaction will cost them next year. As the state with the highest commercial health care costs in the country, West Virginia is among the states most impacted if Congress fails to extend the…
Proponents of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (HR 1), including all four of West Virginia’s members of Congress, have repeatedly touted the tax provisions of the legislation as benefiting most or all West Virginia families. The WVCBP has already covered in detail how the SNAP and Medicaid provisions of HR 1 are particularly harmful for…
More than one in seven West Virginians (286,737 residents) lived in poverty in 2024, including over 73,000 children, according to new estimates out today from U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey. West Virginia’s official poverty rate in 2024 was 16.7 percent, unchanged from 2023. West Virginia’s poverty rate was 4.6 percentage points higher than…
Updated estimates from the West Virginia State Treasurer’s Office now estimate the cost of the expanded Hope Scholarship in FY 2027 to be about $245 million rather than the $315 million projected earlier this year. While their office has framed this as a "cost savings," in reality this still reflects exponential program growth far beyond…
Over the Labor Day weekend, West Virginia’s Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) quietly implemented a new plan for feeding the thousands of people under its control. On Saturdays and Sundays, DCR would no longer serve three meals per day – as it has done for more than a decade. Instead, the more than 9,500…
Back to school season always brings excitement and hope. This month as West Virginia’s students head back to school, many families and school staff will also have to navigate the effects of shrinking state K-12 funds, which are falling well below past levels this year. Inadequate state K-12 education funding is having clear impacts including…
The children of West Virginia are guaranteed a thorough and efficient system of free schools by our state constitution. However, due to the growing Hope Scholarship, declining state revenues, and disruptions to federal funding and support, this guarantee is at risk for the nearly 90 percent of school-aged children in the Mountain State that are…
After years of flat budgets that fail to account for the cost of inflation on public services, West Virginia’s state spending on Medicaid, child care assistance, public education, and higher education have all declined. Meanwhile, other areas of the budget, namely spending on jails, prisons, and foster care, have increased dramatically. This is an expected…