Blog

March 28, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Job Impact Statements: Can They Work?

On Tuesday the Senate passed SB 187  that would require the Commerce Department to create a jobs impact statement or study on proposed legislation that could impact the state's economy.  The price tag from the commerce department is $262,000 per year, enough to add two additional staff to its Research Unit to prepare these statements.…

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March 27, 2013 by Ted Boettner
IHS Study Shows Mountain State’s Small Share of Shale Boom

Last Wednesday, Jared Hunt with the Daily Mail reported that a new study by IHS Global Insight projects that West Virginia will see a huge boom in economic growth from unconventional oil and gas activity over the coming decades. According to an IHS Global Insight study, West Virginia's oil and natural gas industry accounted for…

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March 27, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Chained CPI: A Bad Deal for West Virginia Seniors

Over the last several months, federal policymakers have been considering changing the inflation measure used to calculate the annual cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) of Social Security payments from the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) with the chained-CPI.  On Friday, the U.S. Senate voiced opposition  to adopting the chained-CPI, although President Obama…

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March 21, 2013 by WVCBP
Higher Education Should Be A Higher Priority

West Virginia is not alone when it comes to cutting funding to Higher Education. According to a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, from 2008 - 2013, state spending on public colleges and universities dropped by an average of 28 percent or $2,353 per student. All but two states, North Dakota and…

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March 20, 2013 by WVCBP
Improving Infrastructure Good For West Virginia

Infrastructure is an important aspect of this country that is often taken for granted. Every family, community, and business relies on infrastructure to thrive. It is what connects people and goods across this nation. It can measure the quality of life enjoyed by millions. As the Charleston Gazette reported this morning, the American Society for…

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March 19, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Jobs Count Special Edition: Jobs (Mis)Count

Each month, we put out our Jobs Count publication, which reports on the state's jobs numbers, using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics (CES). Each month, the BLS revises the previous month's numbers, but the revisions are typically small, and usually don't change the overall picture. However, at the beginning of each…

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March 14, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
191,000 Workers in WV Would Benefit From a Minimum Wage Increase

A new report from the Economic Policy Institute looks the economic impact of Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, which was introduced in Congress in response to President Obama's call to raise the minimum wage made during this year's State of the Union address. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 would raise the minimum…

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March 6, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Amazon Law Key to FY 2014 Budget

We learned last week from the Associated Press that Governor Tomblin is pushing legislation to require some online retailers with facilities in the state to collect sales taxes. The legislation (HB 2754 & SB 377) is commonly referred to as an  "Amazon law" because in many states, like West Virginia, the online retail giant does…

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March 5, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Is West Virginia Spending $142 Million More on Medicaid?

One of the biggest items of interest in Governor Tomblin's proposed FY 2014 budget is Medicaid. Base budget appropriations for Medicaid totaled $568 million, an increase of $142 million from FY 2013. This increase in base budget appropriations has created the perception that the state is spending $142 million more on Medicaid than it did…

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