Charleston Gazette - Regardless of who is elected president, the coal industry of southern West Virginia will continue vanishing, former Sen. Jay Rockefeller warned a National Energy Conference last week in Morgantown. Federal pollution laws will be upheld by courts, he said, no matter how much they're attacked by coal-state politicians. ReadHis sobering words were…
WVCBP in the News
Beckley Register-Herald - For over 40 years, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has supported families who work for lower wages. It is time that West Virginia join the 26 other states in enacting a state Earned Income Tax Credit. The EITC is one of the most effective tools in combating poverty and it…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - The state's plan to make some food stamp recipients in nine counties work or train or face losing those benefits will ultimately increase the burden on West Virginia's food banks, pantries and soup kitchens, advocates say. ReadThe state Department of Health and Human Resources announced late last year it would reinstate a…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - Two weeks after the Legislature left Charleston without approving a budget for the 2017 fiscal year that begins July 1, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy is urging lawmakers to not just consider cuts when they return to complete the funding bill. Read/Listen"West Virginia should take a balanced…
Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram - With apologies to Charles Dickens, it was the best of legislative sessions or the worst of legislative sessions, depending on who's giving the critique. ReadA session that saw West Virginia become a right-to-work state and prevailing wage dropped from public construction projects is getting kudos from the business community, boos from organized…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - Food-stamp recipients in nine West Virginia counties have another month to tell to state officials they're either working or in training before they lose those benefits. Read"Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents" who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance in Berkeley, Cabell, Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, Marion, Monongalia, Morgan and Putnam counties are required to call the…
Daily Athenaeum - Senate Bill 420—which would raise taxes on all tobacco products—was stalled in the House Finance Committee this past legislative session. However, there is still a chance for a recovery in a special legislative session this spring, and its implications would be tremendous for the state but devastating for one specific business. ReadThe…
Even before the 2016 gubernatorial race begins in earnest, Senate President Bill Cole (R – Mercer) has already received substantial contributions from oil and gas interests in West Virginia. He has been endorsed by a super PAC that has so far raised $70,600 ($10,000 from oil and gas interests), and he has been backed by…
Huntington Herald-Dispatch - The West Virginia House of Delegates has approved a bill that would establish a three-year pilot program to drug screen and test certain applicants for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, commonly referred to as TANF. ReadThe House voted 91-8 Wednesday to approve Senate Bill 6, which would require officials with…
Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram - As fiscal conservatives and social advocates, we're as angry as the majority of people when we hear of welfare recipients who abuse the system, taking advantage of what should be a hand up and exploiting it for an unintended use. ReadWith that being said, it would seem that drug testing welfare recipients…