Tax Reform for the People April 15 is right around the corner and whether you are expecting a refund or writing that check, it's a good time to reflect on the mind-bending systems called our tax code. The federal income tax is progressive, meaning that it doesn't unfairly and disproportionately tax low-income people. West Virginia's…
Budget Beat
2016 Budget Becomes Law After making several line-item vetos, on Monday Governor Tomblin signed the 2016 budget bill into law. As we mentioned last week, legislators made changes to the budget bill, including increasing the amount borrowed from the state's Rainy Day fund to about $23 million to balance the budget. The governor's vetos, however,…
Hits and Misses of 2015 Legislative Session Midnight on Saturday marked the final moment of the 2015 Legislative Session. With new leadership in both the Senate and House of Delegates, there were a lot of initiatives introduced that we have been following with you over the past 60 days. Here's a recap: Good News While…
Senate Passes SCR 13 ~ Calls for a Convention of the States to Pass Balanced Budget Amendment After debate in the Senate Judiciary and Finance Committees, as well as on the Senate floor, the Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 13 yesterday on a voice vote. The measure now moves to the House. If passed,…
Make or Break Time With Just a Week to Go The 2015 Legislation Session is in the home stretch with time running out to pass legislation. We are happy to report that the bill to drug test recipients of TANF benefits is dead. This expensive and inefficient program would have been an unnecessary expense for…
Legislative Session Enters Crunch Time With March right around the corner, and cross-over day looming, time is running out for legislation to pass during the 2015 Legislation Session. Here's a quick recap on keys issues we've been following: Legislation to gut the current Prevailing Wage is now under consideration by the House after a compromise…
Bill to Drug Test TANF Recipients Passes First Committee The 2015 Legislative Session is now more than halfway over and there are several measures we are keeping an eye on that would impact West Virginia's working families. Yesterday the House held a public hearing on legislation that would require drug testing of Temporary Assistant to…
West Virginia Next State to Drug Test Welfare Recipients? A bill making its way through the West Virginia Senate would create a three-county pilot program to drug test recipients of cash assistance. At its current projected costs, the drug testing program would cost over $600 per cash assistance recipient. To put that amount into perspective,…
State Senate Poised to Pass Prevailing Wage On Tuesday, the Senate Government Organization Committee passed out SB 361, legislation to repeal the state's prevailing wage. The single-referenced bill is now in the hands of the full Senate where it was read for a first time today. In follow-up to our report released last week, "West…
State Senate (Almost) Takes Up Bill to Repeal Prevailing Wage This week SB 361, a bill that would repeal the state's prevailing wage, was on the Senate Government Organization Committee agenda. While the controversial bill was not taken up, it likely be next week. According to a new WVCBP report out this week, "West Virginia's…