Reports & Briefs

January 24, 2017 by Ted Boettner,
Repealing the Affordable Care Act: Hurting Our Health and Our Economy

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…

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December 16, 2016 by WVCBP
Defending Health Care in 2017: What’s at Stake for West Virginia

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…

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December 12, 2016 by Ted Boettner, Sean O'Leary
State of Working West Virginia 2016

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…

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August 18, 2016 by WVCBP
Modernizing West Virginia’s Marijuana Laws: Potential Benefits of Decriminalization, Medical Marijuana and Legalization

Over the last two decades, states across the country have modernized their marijuana laws to reflect the growing evidence that doing so will help reduce criminal justice costs, help treat some medical conditions, and boost tax revenues and their state’s economy. As of 2016, four states and the District of Columbia have legalized the recreational…

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July 15, 2016 by Sean O'Leary
Grading Places: Towards Tri-State Shale Policies for the Public Good

This report card evaluates the current policies of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia in a range of policy areas informed by the research of the Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative (MSSRC). It compares policies across the three states that address the social and economic issues that unconventional drilling delivers to the communities in which it occurs.…

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July 11, 2016 by Sean O'Leary
Lessons for Gas Patch Communities: A Local Government Guide for Dealing with Drilling

This handbook provides recommendations to county and local governments, human and social services, police and emergency services, and other local officials dealing with unconventional gas drilling. These recommendations are based on previous research conducted by the Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative (MSSRC) to document the human and social service impacts of increased drilling. Read PDF of report. The MSSRC…

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April 5, 2016 by Sean O'Leary
Your Guide to the State Budget

The state budget directly affects everyone living in West Virginia. It is the one law that makes state government function. It defines how we plan to use our resources to do the things together that cannot be done alone, such as creating good schools for our children, protecting the environment, making our communities safe, making…

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March 24, 2016 by Ted Boettner, Sean O'Leary
Revenue Options Crucial to Sustaining Public Investments That Promote Shared Prosperity

When lawmakers reconvene this spring to address the state’s looming budget crisis, it is clear that West Virginia should take a balanced approach that includes additional revenue, rather than a cuts-only approach that threatens our state’s struggling economy. Our state’s worsening revenue situation isn’t due entirely to plunging energy prices. Rather, that situation exacerbates the…

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February 16, 2016 by Ted Boettner, Sean O'Leary
Confronting the Fiscal Gap

Governor Tomblin’s plan for closing an estimated $381 million budget gap for the current fiscal year (FY 2016) and a $466 million shortfall for the 2017 state budget (FY 2017) includes a mix of spending cuts and budget reductions, as well as tapping the Rainy Day Fund, using surplus and one-time revenues, and raising taxes…

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