Huntington Herald-Dispatch - It has been a long-standing joke between older members of the West Virginia Legislature and legislative staffers who are also veterans of the system that fiscal notes attached to proposed bills indicating the potential costs of that particular piece of legislation are often designed to reflect the desires of the bill's sponsors. Read…
WVCBP in the News
Wheeling Intelligencer - West Virginia legislators, not to mention taxpayers, deserve accurate estimates of what proposed new laws will cost. Lawmakers are not getting them - and know it -according to a report issued this week. Read Changes are needed in how the costs of legislative proposals are calculated, the West Virginia Center on Budget…
Wheeling Intelligencer - State budget cuts are making it harder for young people to obtain college degrees in West Virginia at a time when more employers won't let them get a foot in the door without one, West Liberty University students, staff and parents told legislators Wednesday. Read The conversation over lunch at the university's…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - A new report says the Legislature should change the way fiscal notes are prepared for legislation. Read The report from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy says fiscal notes are generally inaccurate, often biased, inconsistent and lacking in details.
Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram - Elected officials and business leaders in West Virginia often point to taxes as a detriment to attracting new businesses and jobs to our state. As a result, a myriad of tax breaks and special incentives is offered as economic development tools to attract new investment. Read However, a recent study on business…
Charleston Daily Mail, MedCity News - About 8,800 West Virginia residents stand to lose their health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act's new requirements for insurance plans. Read The health care reform law, passed in 2010, requires U.S. citizens to enroll in health insurance but also includes a list of requirements for health insurance plans.…
Charleston Gazette - West Virginia lawmakers are passing bills with inaccurate and biased estimates of how much the proposals will cost, and little is being done about it, according to a report released Tuesday. Read Legislators often attach price tags, called "fiscal notes," to their bills. But agency officials who prepare the fiscal notes sometimes…
The Republic - The Legislature should change the way fiscal notes are prepared for legislation because these cost estimates are often inaccurate, biased and lacking in details, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy said in a report. Read These flaws stem from West Virginia's lack of a formal process that includes defined criteria…
The State Journal - In order to decide whether or not to vote for a piece of legislation, West Virginia's legislators often rely on fiscal notes. Read Calculated by various state agencies, fiscal notes are intended to give legislators information on the financial impact of a particular bill, how much a new law will cost…
Washington Post - Fiscal notes, legislative analysis, cost estimates — call it what you want, but the official price tags attached to bills are a key part of legislating at every level of government. Read Many states have dedicated legislative analysts, and virtually every state has at least some way of estimating the fiscal impact…