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…
News Releases
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…
For Immediate Release: February 14, 2022Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – In May 2016, West Virginia implemented a pilot program that placed time limits on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility for adults without children in the home (officially referred to as "abled-bodied adults without dependents" or "ABAWDs") across nine counties. Under these time limits, those affected were…
For Immediate Release: February 10, 2022Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – On Thursday February 10, Health Care for All WV, a statewide coalition of health advocacy organizations and individuals working to improve access to health care for West Virginians, held a press conference at the WV State Capitol Complex in support of HB 3001. The legislation, introduced by…
Media Advisory: February 9, 2022Contact: Renee Alves, 304-720-8682 Charleston, WV – On Thursday February 10, Health Care for All WV, a statewide coalition of health advocacy organizations and individuals working to improve access to health care for West Virginians, will hold a press conference at the WV State Capitol Complex in support of HB 3001. The legislation,…
Media Advisory: January 19, 2022Contact: Renee Alves, 304-720-8682 Charleston, WV – As the 2022 legislative session gets underway, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy would like to invite you to join us at our 9th annual Budget Breakfast, taking place this Friday, January 21 at 8:00am EST. Each year, the WVCBP holds this event to provide…
For Immediate Release: January 11, 2022Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – West Virginia is a national outlier in regard to rising incarceration. From 2009 to 2019, West Virginia’s imprisonment rate grew 10 percent while the state imprisonment rate fell 16 percent nationally. This rapid growth in incarceration has continued unabated during the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbating dangerous overcrowding…
For Immediate Release: December 20, 2021Contact: Kelly Allen, 304-612-4180 Charleston, WV – Senator Manchin’s announcement that he will not support the Build Back Better Act is a major blow to West Virginia’s families, workers, small businesses, and state economy. Failing to pass a social infrastructure package and an extension of the improved Child Tax Credit – including the…