Earlier this week the House Finance committee passed SB 841, hastily drafted legislation that would make major changes to the state’s unemployment insurance system to the detriment of the state’s workers. These changes include cutting the number of weeks of unemployment benefits available to the state’s unemployed workers, reducing overall benefits for many workers, and…
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Now that West Virginia families and businesses are filing their 2023 taxes, the state is beginning to see the full impact of tax changes enacted last year. February's revenue collections were historically weak, coming in 30 percent, or $124 million, below last February's collections. February's revenue numbers are the worst in at least a decade…
After 100 years of progress, child labor violations in the United States are soaring, and corporate interest groups are pushing coordinated efforts across states to roll back critical child labor protections, with at least 12 states enacting harmful rollbacks. In West Virginia, the House of Delegates passed HB 5159, which would weaken child labor protections…
This week we got our first look at the House and Senate versions of the FY 2025 budget. Both the Senate and the House proposed budgets came in far below the governor’s proposed budget, even as the governor’s budget proposal is $450 million below pre-pandemic FY 2019 expenditures after adjusting for inflation. And while legislative…
West Virginia's revenue collections are down $378 million compared to this time last year, in large part due to a collapse in severance tax revenue. At this point in FY 2023 West Virginia had collected $631 million in severance tax revenue, while this year the state has only collected $168 million as a result of…
After five years of flat budgets, lawmakers returned to Charleston for the 2024 legislative session with many important spending priorities to address major needs. Members of the Republican majority have said they want to provide pay raises for public employees and raise starting salaries in sectors with vacancies, increase provider reimbursement rates, and address child…
Earlier this month, the Governor unveiled his proposed FY 2025 budget, which is now in the hands of the Legislature to review, amend, and pass. Proposed and enacted tax cuts continue to crowd out long-needed spending priorities in Governor Justice's budget, which once again relies on one-time surplus revenue that will likely soon dry up…
At the start of the 2024 legislative session, there is a rare moment of consensus. People behind bars, their loved ones, the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR), and lawmakers are all in agreement: West Virginia must address and reduce jail overcrowding. The good news is that lawmakers need not look far for a solution.…
When state lawmakers return to Charleston later this month, enacting a state budget could be more complicated than in past years. As part of the tax cut package enacted in 2023, lawmakers didn’t just slash the personal income tax once—they also set into motion a ticking clock that will eventually fully eliminate the tax without…
For 21 months our state has been embroiled in a preventable jail crisis. During that time, lawmakers never asked for testimony from people living behind bars. They never asked for testimony from the parents, spouses, or children of people living behind bars. Only once did they hear from two people who had been previously incarcerated.…