WVCBP in the News

March 21, 2014 by Ted Boettner
Tomblin Cuts $67 Million from Budget

Charleston Daily Mail - Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin cut nearly $67 million from the 2015 budget before signing the measure into law Thursday. Read While Tomblin and other state leaders celebrated a bill later in the day that includes a potential tax credit for The Greenbrier with cake, a National Football League coach and a…

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March 13, 2014 by Ted Boettner
Analyst: Future Fund Will Need Miracle to Grow

Wheeling Intelligencer - West Virginia's newly created Future Fund could still be sitting empty five years from now unless the state finds a way to grow its Rainy Day Fund by about $126 million by then, according to West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy Executive Director Ted Boettner. Read During the final days of…

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March 12, 2014 by WVCBP
West Virginia Enrollment in ACA Increases to 10,600

Charleston Gazette - Health insurance signups through the Affordable Care Act marketplace have risen to more than 10,600 individuals in West Virginia, according to numbers released Tuesday. Read Representatives for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, the only insurance company currently participating in the state's insurance marketplace, told the Gazette last month that 8,711 people had…

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March 11, 2014 by Ted Boettner
Inside West Virginia’s Struggle To Break Its Coal Addiction

Think Progress - If there's one thing January's massive chemical spill in West Virginia taught Jeremy Richardson, it's this: no matter what his power bill says every month, coal is "not cheap." Read "This was a chemical used to process coal," said Richardson, senior energy analyst and West Virginia specialist at the Union of Concerned…

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March 11, 2014 by WVCBP
Open Enrollment Deadline Nears for Affordable Care Act

Clarksburg Exponent Telegram — Most individuals who don't have health insurance are down to about two weeks to sign up or face a penalty under the Affordable Care Act. Read March 31 is the end of the open enrollment period until November, said Brandon Merritt, health policy analyst for the West Virginia Center on Budget…

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March 11, 2014 by Ted Boettner
Policy Groups Push for Marcellus Severance Tax in Tristate Region

Pittsburgh Business Times - Policy groups in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia are advocating for a common approach to taxation on oil and gas drilling throughout the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. Read Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, Policy Matters Ohio and West Virginia Center on Budget and Public Policy urged governors of each state…

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March 11, 2014 by Ted Boettner
Policy Groups Seek Common Gas Severance Tax for WV, PA and Ohio

The State Journal - Public policy groups in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio are asking the governors of the three states to adopt West Virginia's severance tax on gas and oil. Read "Given our states' shared experience with natural gas and oil extraction, a common rate and structure of taxation would be a smart approach.…

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March 11, 2014 by WVCBP
Groups Push for Severance Tax on Oil and Gas Drilling

Beaver County Times - Pennsylvania and Ohio should be more like West Virginia -- at least in terms of a severance tax on oil and gas, some policymakers and legislators say. Read Officials from Policy Matters Ohio, the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy are arguing that…

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March 6, 2014 by Ted Boettner
Minimum Wage Boost “Would Help Me and My Kids”

West Virginia Public News Service - As lawmakers consider raising the state minimum wage, they're hearing from West Virginians who say that would help them and their children. Read Morgantown mother Jamie Gudiel works two low-wage retail jobs. Her husband works full-time at a low-wage landscaping position. She says one of the hardest parts of…

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