If we want to understand what is happening in West Virginia jails and prisons, we must listen to the people inside them. The Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) has taken a step in that direction. On Monday, the agency released a new policy that allows people behind bars to submit their grievances electronically. A…
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On Wednesday, Mark Holdren stood in a Charleston courtroom and told a federal judge that he was guilty of a civil rights conspiracy that resulted in the death of Quantez Burks. Mr. Burks, who would have been 40 years old next month, was arrested by Beckley police on February 28, 2022. Unable to post the…
A few months ago, lawmakers on West Virginia’s jail oversight committee heard a familiar complaint: the jail bills are too high. One county commissioner after another appeared before the committee with the same request: please don’t make us bear the full cost of our jail bill. The jail bill saga started decades ago. In 1985,…
The Hope Scholarship Program was established in West Virginia in 2021 as an expanded school voucher-style program which diverts taxpayer funds from the public school system to families who can use them for private school or homeschool-related costs. Research shows that these programs primarily benefit families whose children were never enrolled in public schools. After…
As we enter the final quarter of 2024, a number of economic indicators show West Virginia's economy both slowing down and lagging behind the rest of the country. Growth in gross domestic product (GDP), personal income, wages and salaries, and employment have all shown signs of slowing, while business tax revenue collections are below that…
A weak September for General Revenue collections underscored the heavy price of 2023's tax cuts on the state's budget and should serve as a warning against Governor Justice and lawmakers moving ahead with even deeper cuts to revenue. Weak September Numbers September General Revenue collections totaled $567.7 million, which is $104.4 million below September 2023's…
West Virginia has some of the worst birthing outcomes in the nation. The WVCBP has previously focused on racial disparities in infant and maternal mortality, but the state must also address infant and maternal morbidity, or serious health complications that do not result in death. These are far more common and have a significant bearing on quality of…
285,780 West Virginians lived in poverty in 2023, including nearly 70,000 children, according to the new estimates out today from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey. West Virginia's official poverty rate in 2023 was 16.7 percent, a decrease from 17.9 percent in 2022. West Virginia's poverty rate was 5.6 percentage points higher than…
This week, Governor Justice announced a special session to be held at the end of September to override tax cut triggers enacted as part of the 2023 tax law and slash taxes by an additional $114 million. As we highlighted recently, the proposal ignores realities and defies fiscal responsibility. While policymakers are still learning the…
Tax filing can be a costly and complicated process for families and small businesses. The reason the system is so complicated is because for years, paid tax preparation corporations have profited by charging families to fulfill their legal obligation to file taxes each year. These companies, including Intuit and H&R Block, have conducted massive lobbying efforts…