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…
Budget Beat
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…
The 2020 Budget Breakfast is right around the corner on January 15! The early bird discount expires on December 31. Register today to take advantage of the savings! Would you like to sponsor this year's event? Each sponsorship level comes with tickets. Learn more here. Our keynote speaker is Sian Mughan, assistant professor in the…
On December 4, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Trump Administration finalized their rule on SNAP time limit waivers. The rule restricts states' flexibility to waive SNAP's three-month time limit in areas with insufficient jobs and will take basic food assistance from 700,000 Americans including 10,100 West Virginians who struggle to find steady…
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its final rule restricting states' ability to provide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to childless adults living in high-unemployment areas who are struggling to find a steady job. Here is the USDA's fact sheet on the rule. The final rule restricts states' ability to waive…