Between changes to food policy and a local food pantry closure, hunger is alarmingly high in Kanawha County. As a state, West Virginia struggles with some of the highest food insecurity in the country. Statewide, 14 percent of households are considered food insecure, compared to 10.2 percent of the U.S. population. With the end of…
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For the first four months of FY 2024, West Virginia's General Revenue collections are down $210.7 million compared to the same period in FY 2023, despite the state exceeding the fairly modest revenue estimates set by the Governor Justice administration in an effort to maintain a 'flat budget.' The combination of self-inflicted tax cuts and…
Over the last year and a half, the public has learned what people behind bars have known for years: that the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitations (DCR) consistently fails to keep people in its custody safe. Since the beginning of 2020, 217 people have died in a West Virginia jail or prison. This…
West Virginia places four times as many children per capita into the foster care system as the United States as a whole. Most foster care entries in West Virginia are related to substance use or neglect—not abuse. Poverty and lack of access to substance use treatment are major drivers of foster care entry.[i] To solve…
The first quarter of FY 2024 ended with West Virginia collecting $109 million less than it collected in the first quarter of FY 2023, though the state did exceed the artificially low revenue estimates set by Governor Justice's administration. Most of the gap compared with last year was due to a collapse in severance tax…
According to the Census Bureau's official poverty estimates, West Virginia saw its child poverty rate increase from 20.7 percent to 25.0 percent between 2021 and 2022, the only state to see an increase by the official measure (along with Puerto Rico). In 2022, West Virginia's child poverty rate was the second highest among the 50…
With the unofficial end of summer passing with Labor Day, now is a good time to check in on West Virginia's economy. And while the nation as a whole has experienced a strong recovery from the pandemic, West Virginia is lagging behind on several key indicators over the past year. The national economy has added…
After months of preparation by the state’s health agency, advocates, and other stakeholders, the COVID-19 continuous coverage rules keeping many children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) ended in April 2023. Between April 2023 and April 2024, the state must unwind (or redetermine eligibility for) all Medicaid enrollees and remove ineligible…
This blog post was authored by Teri Castle, our 2023 Criminal Legal Reform Summer Research Fellow. One year after Governor Justice declared a state of emergency in West Virginia’s Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR), state government took action to address the agency’s high staff vacancies. This week, lawmakers passed a series of bills (SB…
On July 1, 2023, West Virginia restarted pre-pandemic time limits for adults receiving food stamps via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The time limits apply to adults between 18 and 49 without a documented disability and without children under 18 in the household, often referred to as able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs), though this…