Sustained economic gains and strong federal and state programs have led to welcome progress in the nationwide fight against poverty over the last several years. This is good news. But West Virginia isn’t sharing in the national progress, as poverty here remains stagnant. And actions from Congress and the Trump administration threaten to increase poverty…
Reports & Briefs
Every year in West Virginia, around 4,000 juveniles will appear before a judge. Pending the judge’s decision, a juvenile may be given an improvement period to address the behavior, put on probation, referred to a special court, or committed to some form of out-of-home placement. However, the state’s juvenile justice system can be confusing and…
Poverty is a persistent problem in West Virginia, where tens of thousands of West Virginians live in poverty because their jobs do not pay a living wage. Read the full report. This 10th annual State of Working West Virginia focuses on low-wage work, including demographics of those who do the work; the industries that employ…
This West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy report, West Virginia Economy Would Suffer Under Proposed Health Care Plans, breaks down the economic gains the state has experienced since the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the devastating impacts its repeal could have in West Virginia, specifically in rural areas with higher concentrations of…
This West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy Issue Brief, On the Brink: Closing West Virginia’s Budget Gap, released today, details the various budget proposals offered by Governor Jim Justice and the West Virginia Legislature to close the state’s nearly $500 million budget deficit. Read the full brief. The legislature passed a budget with major cuts…
Higher education in West Virginia has been hit hard by the state’s recent budget problems. Public colleges and universities across the state have seen multiple years of budget cuts, at a time when the state sorely needs to invest in its workforce. In response, tuitions have sharply increased to compensate for the budget cuts, making…
Even though faced with a $600 million budget deficit, some West Virginia lawmakers are proposing reducing or eliminating the state’s income tax, and replacing that lost revenue with an increase in the sales tax. This plan is unlikely to produce the economic growth, instead it dramatically shifts tax responsibility responsibilities from the wealthy onto low…
This West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy report, Repealing the Affordable Care Act: Hurting Our Health and Our Economy, provides a detailed analysis of the human and economic impact of repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in West Virginia. Read the full report. Repealing the ACA would have far-reaching effects throughout the Mountain State, including…
With a new president and Congress, the health care gains made throughout the last six years face their greatest threat yet. Congress has voted more than 60 times to roll back the historic progress that has been made to expand health coverage to millions of people in this country and to improve coverage for those…
A persistent question for those who pondered West Virginia’s fate is a simple: why, in a state rich in natural resources, are West Virginians so poor? For more than a century several explanations have been developed by natives and interested “outsiders.” Read the report. This report, the ninth annual investigation of The State of Working…