Yesterday Governor Tomblin announced his decision to expand Medicaid. Effective January 1, 2014, tens of thousands of West Virginia's working families will now have health insurance. This long-awaited decision is the biggest victory for low-income working West Virginia families in decades. Read more about what the WVCBP had to say about this big news here.…
Budget Beat
The 2013 Legislative Session and FY 2014 Budget are now in the history books. Many of the major pieces of new legislation were the focus of our research over the past year. In addition, as the session unfolded, we responded to issues d'jour as they appeared. Here's how things turned out: FAMILY ECONOMIC SECURITY Arguably the high…
Freedom means different things to different people. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranks West Virginia 42nd in overall freedom and recommends that the state cut employment and corporate income taxes, reform liability laws, and stop mandating full-day kindergarten attendance. Read more in Sean's blog post. The ranking places the priorities of corporations and…
Budget Beat for April 19, 2013 Evidence Counts - the WVCBP blog This week was all about taxes and budgets. While the House and Senate met to work out differences between their budget bills and the one presented by the governor in February, there really wasn't much to talk about as any disparities were minimal.…
Evidence Counts - the WVCBP blog Governor Tomblin has asked the Senate and House leadership to restore a small amount of the 7.5% in budget cuts requested in his FY 2014 budget. For more details on the governor's most recent proposal, read Sean's latest blog post. This week HB 3072 passed out of the Senate…
Medicaid Expansion Forum - This Sunday This Sunday join others from around the state for a forum and training on Medicaid Expansion. Registration and refreshments begin at 1PM, the event starts at 2PM - 3:30PM. Location: Christ Church United Methodist, 1221 Quarrier Street, East, Charleston. Speakers include Senate President Jeff Kessler. To find out about…
Budget Beat for March 29, 2013 At the Capitol Two issues which the WVCBP has researched and provided analyses on in recent months are receiving some legislative attention as the session winds down. Worksharing (HB 2952) passed the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday during one of the committee's marathon late-session meetings. It awaits action in…
Budget Beat for March 22, 2013 We are getting just a little tired of winter, how about you? As the legislation session winds down and winter appears endless, here's what been going on this week at the WVCBP. Ryan Budget Passes, McKinley and Rahall Vote Against It Joining nine other Republicans, West Virginia Congressman David…
Governor's Budget Includes $75 Million in Cuts Yesterday the WVCBP released its analysis of the Governor Tomblin's FY 2014 proposed budget. While the governor called for budget cuts from many state agencies, the state's Rainy Day Fund totals over $900 million and is the third-largest in the nation. Read the full report here. Children and…
Evidence Counts - the WVCBP blog Two blog posts this week looked at the governor's proposed budget in more detail. Ted's blog explained how the passage of this session's "Amazon law," which would tax Internet sales, is key to the governor's revenue projections. Without it, his FY 2014 budget faces a $7 to $10 million…