According to a study by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, the COVID-19 mortality rate nationwide is twice as high in prisons compared to the general population. Social distancing is difficult if not impossible in correctional facilities due to their congregate nature. This, combined with the reality that incarcerated people are more likely…
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Come work with us! We're hiring two full-time, paid summer fellows. The WVCBP seeks a Criminal Legal Policy Fellow to research and write about best practices for improving the criminal system, with a focus on the areas of excessive sentences and reducing the harms caused by jails and prisons. The WVCBP also seeks an Economic…
West Virginia Next State to Drug Test Welfare Recipients? A bill making its way through the West Virginia Senate would create a three-county pilot program to drug test recipients of cash assistance. At its current projected costs, the drug testing program would cost over $600 per cash assistance recipient. To put that amount into perspective,…
While the last post found that state income taxes have little or no impact on interstate migration, there is also little evidence that slashing or eliminating the personal income tax is a surefire way to boost economic growth in the Mountain State. Most of the states that have followed this path recently have not experienced…
With the legislature adjourned sine die (or without assigning a day for further meeting for those needing all state business to be conducted in English,) now's a good time to look back at some of the bills made into law this past session. Here's a quick recap of some of the major bills passed by…
Engineering News-Record East - West Virginia is gearing up to capture a big part of the booming data center market with new legislation that would allow developers to create independent microgrids to power their data centers. Read the full article. The Power Generation and Consumption Act, which is now awaiting Gov. Patrick Morriseyโs signature to become…
When lawmakers reconvene this spring to address the stateโs looming budget crisis, it is clear that West Virginia should take a balanced approach that includes additional revenue, rather than a cuts-only approach that threatens our stateโs struggling economy. Our stateโs worsening revenue situation isnโt due entirely to plunging energy prices. Rather, that situation exacerbates the…
Last week, Governor Justice unveiled his proposal to make sweeping changes to the stateโs tax system, including a substantial cut to the stateโs personal income tax, while raising a variety of sales and other taxes. The tax reform would create a dramatic change in who pays state taxes in West Virginia, shifting the responsibility onto working families to…
Bill to Drug Test TANF Recipients Passes First Committee The 2015 Legislative Session is now more than halfway over and there are several measures we are keeping an eye on that would impact West Virginia's working families. Yesterday the House held a public hearing on legislation that would require drug testing of Temporary Assistant to…
Contact: Anne Singer, 202-299-1066, ext. 27 or Ted Boettner, 304-720-8682, tboettner@wvpolicy.org Read report New 50-State Study Provides Detailed Profiles and Comparisons of Tax Systems and Distribution Like most state tax systems, West Virginia takes a larger share from middle- and low-income families than from wealthy families, according to the fourth edition of "Who Pays? A…