To our readers: This week's issue of Budget Beat focuses heavily on the subject consuming all of us right now. While we take our usual policy-driven approach to the Coronavirus in these articles, please know that we all are keeping you and your loved ones in our thoughts, and hope that you all stay safe and…
Budget Beat
Good Health Policies that Made it Across the Finish Line I/DD Waiver Waitlist- SB 150, the FY 2021 budget bill, was finalized on the last day of the legislative session. The budget sets aside $19.8 million to clear the I/DD waiver waitlist to provide services to the 1,084 individuals currently on the waitlist. This victory…
Lots of action happened at the Capitol this week as we hit day 50, known as Crossover Day. Bills (other than the budget) must pass out of their originating chamber by day 50, otherwise they are dead for the year. Here's what we were watching this week: SJR 9 + SB 837 This week the…
Senate Republicans unveiled their latest proposal to eliminate the business personal property tax this week, passing the proposal out of the Senate Finance Committee. The plan, which builds upon an earlier proposal to eliminate the property tax on manufacturing equipment, machinery, and inventory, would blow a nearly $100 million hole in the state budget, introduce…
On Thursday, SB 648, which would provide for dental benefits for 300,000+ adults who rely on Medicaid, passed the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee. West Virginia is an outlier in not covering this critical health care provision, with 35 states offering more dental benefits under adult Medicaid than West Virginia. Read more about how…
Insulin Copay Caps HB 4543, a proposal to cap the costs of insulin for diabetic West Virginians on private insurance, passed through the House Banking and Insurance and the House Judiciary Committees this week and now goes to the full House! The caps are a positive step forward in addressing the rising costs of insulin…
The biggest news this week at the Capitol was the bipartisan introduction of Senate Bill 648 which would expand adult Medicaid coverage to include dental care. This policy would be a remarkable investment in West Virginia's people, both in the short and long term. Read more about why this is so important here. Thursday saw…
The second full week of the West Virginia Legislature saw several developments, some good, others not so much. The week started off with the Senate Judiciary Committee passing yet another Article V Constitutional Convention Resolution, SCR 4. Under the guise of instituting "Term Limits" on members of Congress, well-funded special interests seek to undermine our…
To get a sense of a state's values, one often need look no further than its tax system. What a state spends its tax dollars on and how it acquires those tax dollars typically reveals a lot about the priorities of its people-what they care about and what they stand for. In theory, it's a…
Legislative leadership appears poised to pass yet another round of corporate tax cuts that will hurt working families, our schools and colleges, and push more money out-of-state to large corporations. It doesn't have to be this way. Lawmakers could instead put their efforts toward investing in our communities, our health, our education, and the workers…