Charleston Gazette-Mail - So far in the 2016 session, conservative legislators have wasted most of their time on gay-hating, pistol-carrying and other far-right topics, while doing little about West Virginia's partly self-induced financial crisis. ReadThanks mostly to huge business tax cuts in the past, plus decline of the coal industry, the state government lacks $381…
WVCBP in the News
Daily Athenaeum - With state budget cuts looming, the West Virginia University Student Government Association took the opportunity to condemn state budget cuts to higher education. ReadMembers of SGA will take a resolution opposing these cuts, passed unanimously Wednesday, to WVU's day at the Capitol on Friday, where students will use it to hopefully sway…
SNL - The West Virginia Coal Association, or WVCA, announced a new study aiming to bolster their argument for a steep reduction in its tax burden, an effort it said could help turn the tide on the state's flailing coal sector. ReadThe trade association hopes the West Virginia legislature will cut the coal severance tax…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - Ted Boettner with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy discusses the group's latest report detailing Governor Tomblin's 2017 budget proposal. Watch/ListenBoettner explains previous tax cuts alongside the declining severance tax collections have hurt the state budget for years in a row. He also focuses in on the importance…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - When state budget officers put together the state's six-year budget forecast in 2012, they projected the state would have a general revenue budget of $5.29 billion in the coming budget year. ReadHowever, because of tax cuts and a sagging economy, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's proposed 2016-17 budget is $600 million smaller than…
West Virginia Public News Service, WTAP - Lawmakers may tighten access to West Virginia safety-net programs but food banks in the state say that would only raise the pressure on already-stretched feeding programs. ReadLegislation would expand work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, formerly food stamps, and add drug testing for some…
Think Progress - A controversial bill that would require West Virginians to show valid photo identification at the polls is making its way through the state's Republican-led Legislature, and opponents say it's likely to advance within the next few months. ReadOn Thursday, the West Virginia House's judiciary committee passed HB4013, which would require voters to…
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Williamson Daily News - The State Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow drug testing of welfare recipients if "reasonable suspicion" of substance abuse exists. ReadAccording to the bill, reasonable suspicion means that a case worker "determines based upon the result of the drug screen that the applicant demonstrates qualities indicative…
Huntington Herald-Dispatch - The West Virginia Senate has approved a bill that could lead to a 3-year pilot program to drug-test certain applicants for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, commonly referred to as TANF. ReadThe Senate approved Senate Bill 6 by a vote of 32-2 Tuesday morning. The bill moves to the House…
Daily Athenaeum - West Virginia University may soon feel the heat of the alarming budget shortfall the state is experiencing, largely due to market forces at work in the energy sector coupled with tax cuts made nearly a decade ago. ReadIn October of last year, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced a 4 percent budget cut…