One of the most significant bills passed during the 2020 legislative session is expected to go into effect on January 1, 2021. SB 648 adds a dental benefit to the state’s adult Medicaid program, extending this important coverage to an estimated 310,733 West Virginia adults. The legislation provides for each adult Medicaid recipient to be…
Search Results
As the date rolls closer for the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act and in the same week that the U.S. House of Representatives voted for the thirty-odd time to repeal the law, the Wheeling Intelligencer reported on a doctor forced to close his doors due to Obamacare. The reason given is that the…
Read the full report here. Executive Summary There is no doubt to residents and policymakers in West Virginia that the state has a drug epidemic problem that is costly in terms of lives lost annually, as well as expenses incurred for medical and mental health treatment, for law enforcement, and for social services provision. In…
Vote for the Issues You Care About The polls are open both for early voting in West Virginia's primary and for the Our Children Our Future issue ballot. Have you voted? Choose from a selection of topics in three pillars. Your vote is important! It will be shared with legislators so they know your legislative…
Contact: Ted Boettner, 304.720.8682 and Tsedeye Gebreselassie, 212.285.3025 Lobbyist "Headaches" in Minimum Wage Bill Largely Groundless – On March 8, West Virginia lawmakers took an historic step to help thousands of workers by increasing the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.75 by 2016 with passage of House Bill 4283. Now, special interest lobbyists may…
Today is the last day of West Virginia's 2023 Fiscal Year. Undoubtedly in the coming days, Governor Justice will tout the so-called revenue "surplus" from this fiscal year, but it cannot be overlooked that a significant portion of that surplus was only made possible due to the Justice Administration intentionally low-balling revenue estimates, thus all…
Governor Tomblin Signs Minimum Wage Bill into Law Nearly a month after the end of the 2014 Legislative Session, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed into law legislation to raise West Virginia's minimum wage to $8.75 an hour by 2016. Raising the minimum wage will give a raise to over 120,000 working West Virginians, boost the…
Congress is currently negotiating an increase in the "debt ceiling," which must be raised to prevent catastrophic economic consequences. Previously Congress has always acted when called upon to raise the debt limit. Since 1960, Congress has acted 78 separate times to permanently raise, temporarily extend, or revise the definition of the debt limit – 49…
West Virginia University is currently facing a $45 million budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year, expected to balloon to $75 million annually by 2028. During this year’s State of the University address, WVU President Gordon Gee pointed to several factors driving the shortfall including declining college-aged population, lower college-going rates, and rising financial costs.…
Budget Beat for June 7, 2013 Evidence Counts - the WVCBP blog Income inequality and the decline of the middle class were the subject of Ted's blog post this week. To see the direction West Virginia has gone, look no further than the state's top employer, once Weirton Steel, now Wal-Mart. With the shift in…