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…
News Releases
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…
For Immediate Release: August 24, 2022 Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – Despite West Virginia’s crime rate and total population declining in recent decades, the state jail population has increased over that period, and at the end of Fiscal Year 2022, state jails were nearly 1,000 people above capacity. One contributing factor driving this counterintuitive trend is West…
For Immediate Release: August 4, 2022 Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – Amendment Two, or the Property Tax Modernization Amendment, will be on the ballot this November for West Virginia voters to consider. If passed, it would amend the constitution to give the state legislature the authority to exempt business machinery and equipment, business inventory, and personal…
For Immediate Release: May 25, 2022 Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – Medicaid is a critical economic and health program in West Virginia, serving over 616,000 people, including children, seniors, low-income adults, pregnant and postpartum women, persons with disabilities, and more. Medicaid’s flexibility and reach has never been more clear than during the pandemic recession, when it provided…
For Immediate Release: February 23, 2022Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – For the second year in a row, Governor Jim Justice has proposed a “flat” budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, with only minor changes from the FY 2022 budget. While the state is currently enjoying large budget surpluses, those surpluses are the result of billions in federal…