For Immediate Release: September 12, 2023 Contact: Sara Whitaker, 304-610-6391 Charleston, WV – Since 2015, West Virginia prisons have sent more than $57.1 million out of state to pay for food served in its prisons. Privatizing prison food has resulted in poorer food quality and worse health outcomes. A 2022 class-action lawsuit filed against the Department of Corrections and…
News Releases
New Report Examines the Fiscal and Opportunity Costs of Police Overtime in Charleston, West Virginia
For Immediate Release: August 31, 2023 Contact: Sara Whitaker, 304-610-6391 Charleston, WV – In March 2023, the Charleston City Council approved a $111.6 million budget for the 2024 fiscal year, with one-fifth, or $23.0 million, going to uniformed Charleston Police officers. Of that $23 million, $2.6 million was allocated for ballooning overtime pay. High overtime spending is not…
For Immediate Release: April 18, 2023 Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – During the 2023 West Virginia legislative session, lawmakers had the opportunity to use available revenues to address longstanding needs like ensuring PEIA and Medicaid solvency, filling crisis-level staffing vacancies across state agencies, or increasing investments in neglected areas like higher education and child care. But instead,…
For Immediate Release: March 7, 2023 Contact: Renee Alves, (559)-916-5939 Charleston, WV – Rather than utilizing state revenues to create shared prosperity by investing in programs and services that benefit all West Virginians, HB 2526 enacts permanent tax cuts that undermine public investments and further rig our tax system for the wealthy. Nearly two out of every three dollars of…
For Immediate Release: March 4, 2023 Contact: Kelly Allen, 304-612-4180 Charleston, WV – This week in the West Virginia Legislature reflects politics at its worst. Delegates are being pressured to vote to increase health insurance costs for PEIA members in exchange for a pay raise and a tax cut package. But this isn’t a fair trade at all. The tax…
Media Advisory: January 11, 2023 Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV - As the 2023 legislative session gets underway, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy staff would like to invite you to join us at our 10th Annual Budget Breakfast, taking place on January 20, 2023 at 8am EST. Each year, the WVCBP holds this event…
Media Advisory: January 9, 2023 Contact: Renee Alves, (559)-916-5939 Charleston, WV – After four years of flat budgets failing to keep pace with the needs of West Virginians, Governor Jim Justice has promised another year of the same. This means another year of failing to keep up with inflation and continuing to underfund children's programs, PEIA, public employee salaries, and more – much less…
For Immediate Release: December 14, 2022 Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – Prior to the pandemic, West Virginia experienced a lost decade, with essentially no economic growth from 2009 to 2019. This happened despite years of so-called business friendly policies like tax cuts, right to work, repeal of the prevailing wage, and reductions in state spending that were…
For Immediate Release: November 15, 2022 Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – West Virginia is experiencing an imprisonment crisis, with an incarceration rate higher than that of any country in the world. Thousands of West Virginians are released from prison every year, and these returning citizens face hundreds of collateral consequences — that is, punishments that last even…
For Immediate Release: November 8, 2022 Contact: Kelly Allen, (304)-612-4180 Charleston, WV – Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, released the following statement in response to the defeat of Amendments 2 and 4: “These results are a win for West Virginia workers, families, students, and teachers. Together, West Virginians rejected…