7:30AM - 9:00AM, Charleston Marriott The state budget is the most important bill passed each year by the legislature. It directly impacts all West Virginians - from the quality of our schools and highways, to the cost of college education, to working families' access to affordable child care and health care. REGISTER TO ATTEND Although West…
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Nothing highlights the shift in Appalachian coal production more than Boone and Marshall County, West Virginia. For as long as I can remember, Boone County was always #1 in coal production. Today, Marshall County, which is located in the north-west part of the state, is the state's biggest coal producer at 17.2 million tons (compared…
The National Association of Budget Officers (NASBO) has released the Fall 2013 edition of its Fiscal Survey of the States. When we last checked in on the NASBO report, West Virginia was one of eight states cutting its general budget in FY 2014 from Fy 2013, with the second largest cut among the states. With…
The recent budget deal announced by leaders in Congress has left out one very important provision for those struggling to find work, the extension of emergency unemployment insurance benefits. On December 28, 1.3 million long term unemployed workers, including 16,000 West Virginians, will lose their unemployment benefits. As I previously discussed here, these benefits increased…
The lead editorial that ran in the Charleston Daily Mail on Monday was...well, a bunch of malarkey. Or maybe it was hogwash. Either way, it was an inaccurate and misleading piece of partisan hackery (yes, I made that word up*) that was better suited for late-night talk radio and had no business being run in…
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment figures released yesterday have apparently taken some people by surprise (which is a bit mystifying to me considering the absolute media saturation about the poorly functioning healthcare.gov website for weeks). Enrollment numbers were low across most of the country, they were very low in West Virginia as well---only 174…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the enrollment figures for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for the first time today. Across the country, nearly 850,000 applications have been completed through the health insurance Marketplace, around 106,000 of which have enrolled in a health plan. In West Virginia, 174 individuals have selected…
According to a report from the Committee on Ways and Means Democrats, 16,000 long-term unemployed workers in West Virginia could lose their unemployment benefits in the coming months if Congress does not reauthorize the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC). EUC was created in response to the Great Recession and was extended under the American Taxypayer Relief…
The recent defeat of Kanawha County's proposed education excess levy has put the spotlight on property taxes, creating an opportunity to discuss how West Virginia's property taxes compare to the rest of the country. While adding up the number of specific levy rates is a poor way to measure tax burdens, actually comparing property taxes…
In today's Charleston Gazette, two Marshall University professors should get a slap on the back for speaking truth to power. In a forum on cuts to higher education spending, the two professors had the following reactions when Delegate Nancy Guthrie and other legislators said they couldn't raise taxes on coal and soda to fund higher…