WVCBP in the News

March 26, 2014 by Sean O'Leary
Debate Continues on Bill to Raise State’s Minimum Wage

Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram - Even though the Legislature's proposal to raise the state's minimum wage has moved to Gov. Tomblin's desk, debate over the bill continues. Read In a conference call Tuesday, Brian Peterson, an attorney with Bowles Rice and a member of the firm's Labor and Employment Group, said the bill could have an unintended…

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March 26, 2014 by Ted Boettner
Center Urges Tomblin to Sign Minimum Wage Increase

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy is urging Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to sign the bill passed by the Legislature that would raise West Virginia's minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $8.75 an hour by 2016. Read Earlier this month, the Senate passed its version of the bill 31-1…

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March 26, 2014 by Ted Boettner
Attorney Warns of Flaws in Minimum Wage Bill

Charleston Daily Mail - A Bowles Rice attorney says the Legislature's bill to increase West Virginia's minimum wage has unintended consequences for most state employers. Read Brian Peterson, of the law firm's Martinsburg office, said Tuesday House Bill 4283 not only raises the minimum wage, but also requires employers with six or more employees to…

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March 23, 2014 by WVCBP
Enrollment Numbers Low but Steady as ACA Deadline Nears

Charleston Gazette - The deadline to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and avoid a tax penalty is fast approaching, and while state officials and private insurers say enrollment is up, the numbers fall short of expectations. Read

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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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