For Immediate ReleaseContact: Ted Boettner or Sean O'Leary, 304-720-8682(Charleston, WV) – Governor Earl Ray Tomblin's final budget faces a familiar challenge of overcoming a deepening budget gap, while tackling a remaining shortfall from last year, by relying on the state's Rainy Day Fund and another round of harmful spending cuts. "Confronting the Fiscal Gap," released…
News Releases
— Today Congress announced legislation to create the RECLAIM Act (Revitalizing the Economy of Coal Communities by Leveraging Local Activities and Investing More). The legislation would release $1 billion in funding from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund over the next five years to revitalize communities impacted by the decline of the region's coal industry. PDF…
For Immediate ReleaseContact Ted Boettner at 304-720-8682(Charleston, WV) West Virginia legislators debating on whether or not to make West Virginia the next so-called "Right to Work" (RTW) state are relying on a flawed report from West Virginia University. Read PDF of news release. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in a report released today, a…
For Immediate Release Contact Sean O'Leary, 304-720-8682 (Charleston, WV) Too many working families in West Virginia are paid low wages and have trouble making ends meet, with basic living expenses stretching family budgets beyond their limits. With tax overhaul a likely focus of the 2016 Legislative Session, a bottom-up tax cut like a state Earned…
For Immediate ReleaseContact: Linda Frame, 304-720-8682(Charleston, WV) Today the Invest in Working Families Coalition launched its interactive tool to show how a West Virginia Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) can help working families make ends meet while boosting the economy. The coalition is made up of 18 groups from across the state coming together to…
For Immediate Release Contact Sean O'Leary, 304-720-8682 (Charleston, WV) For decades, West Virginia has struggled with the nation's lowest levels of labor force participation. A new report released today by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, "State of Working West Virginia 2015: Answers and Solutions to West Virginia's Low Labor Force Participation" examines…
For Immediate Release Contact: Sean O'Leary, 304-720-8682 (Charleston, WV) Reducing or eliminating property taxes on business personal property would lead to large revenue losses, weakening the ability of local governments to invest in roads, public safety, and recreation. According to a new report from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, replacing the lost…
For Immediate ReleaseContact: Ted Boettner at 304-720-8682 or 304-590-3454( Charleston, WV) The Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative, which monitors the impact of shale drilling in five states, applauds the governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia for signing an agreement Tuesday related to development of shale gas and oil. Read PDF of news release.The agreement provides…
For Immediate Release Contact Sean O'Leary at 304-720-8682 While West Virginia's natural gas industry has grown exponentially, many of its jobs may be going to out-of-state workers and job growth in major natural gas producing counties as been mediocre at best. The state is poised to repeat history with more of its natural resource wealth…
For Immediate ReleaseContact: Sean O'Leary, 304-720-8682(Charleston, WV) Thousands of West Virginians continued to struggle to make ends meet in 2014, according to new data released today from the U.S. Census Bureau, making it clear the need for West Virginia to enact a state earned income tax credit which would make it easier for people to…