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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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…
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…
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…
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…
This guest blog post was authored by Brent Radabaugh. Brent is serving a life with mercy sentence at Huttonsville Correctional Center. He is a graduate of the Bible College, a peer mentor, and a proud father of two young men. There was a time in my life when I don’t think I could have changed…
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…
Each year the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy releases our annual State of Working West Virginia report, which examines the Mountain State’s economy through the lens of its workers—the people who power our state and economy. While each year’s report has a slightly different focus, one consistent theme is the need to ask this simple question:…
The COVID-19 pandemic has now been ongoing for two years. Opioid overdose deaths are rising. Maternal and infant mortality rates are alarming. The number of children in the foster care system across our state continues to outpace the rest of the nation. Despite these realities, the West Virginia Legislature did very little to pass proactive health-…