SCORE Initiative Announced Yesterday at the state Capitol, Senate President Jeff Kessler announced the kick-off of his SCORE initiative, Southern Coalfields Organizing and Revitalizing the Economy. In a statement released yesterday, Senator Kessler cited these goals for SCORE: Increase funding for tourism advertising and development Education and workforce development and retraining initiatives Dedicating monies for…
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Every day in West Virginia, thousands of low-income families rely on public child care assistance. In 2011, the West Virginia Child Care Program – which is funded primarily through the federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and state matching funds – provided financial assistance to more than 24,000 children whose parents…
Governor Tomblin exercised his line item veto power today, trimming over $64 million from the budget sent to him by the legislature earlier this week. While the legislature had restored many of the cuts to children and family support programs that were in the FY 2015 budget proposal, the governor vetoed that funding, keeping the…
Good Health Policies that Made it Across the Finish Line I/DD Waiver Waitlist- SB 150, the FY 2021 budget bill, was finalized on the last day of the legislative session. The budget sets aside $19.8 million to clear the I/DD waiver waitlist to provide services to the 1,084 individuals currently on the waitlist. This victory…
Charleston Gazette - On the same day the Governor recently cut programs to prevent child abuse and domestic violence, he held a ceremony signing a bill that would give the Greenbrier Resort up to $25 million in tax credits. Unfortunately, some lawmakers and members of the media failed to see a connection between the two…
To our readers: This week's issue of Budget Beat focuses heavily on the subject consuming all of us right now. While we take our usual policy-driven approach to the Coronavirus in these articles, please know that we all are keeping you and your loved ones in our thoughts, and hope that you all stay safe and…
Infants and birthing parents are dying at alarming rates in West Virginia. Infant and maternal mortality rates are essential statistics measuring overall societal health. In particular, the disparities in life outcomes between Black and white babies and mothers raise questions about health equity and the ability of our health care system to respond to both…
We could all use a little good news right about now! And we are happy to report that this week Governor Justice signed legislation to expand Medicaid to include dental care for adult recipients and to cap insulin co-pays! SB 648 will provide dental coverage to over 300,000 Medicaid-enrolled adults over 21 years old. Investing money…
95,000 low-income West Virginians are at risk of losing Medicaid coverage. Contact your delegates in the West Virginia House and ask them to oppose HB 3136, a bill that originated in the House Finance Committee this week, quickly making it to the House floor for first reading today. This risky and untested proposal to take…
The 2019 regular legislative session ended this past Saturday. Overall, it was one of the more successful legislative sessions in recent years, all things considered. There were also a string of disappointments along with some surprising victories and the defeat of many bad bills. On the fiscal side, most of the regressive tax policy legislation…