The second full week of the West Virginia Legislature saw several developments, some good, others not so much. The week started off with the Senate Judiciary Committee passing yet another Article V Constitutional Convention Resolution, SCR 4. Under the guise of instituting "Term Limits" on members of Congress, well-funded special interests seek to undermine our…
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In July 2023, West Virginia reimplemented pre-pandemic time limits for some adults receiving food assistance via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The time limits apply to adults between 18 and 52 (up to 54 in September 2024) without a documented disability and without children under 18 in the household, often referred to as “able-bodied…
Since taking office in January 2025, the Trump Administration, DOGE, and Congress have taken a "chainsaw" to government grants, programs, and services, though by many metrics, DOGE has actually increased spending and the deficit through the costs of botched firings and rehirings, lost productivity, and hundreds of billions in lost tax revenue annually due to…
Thank You for Voting! Future Fund and Higher Minimum Wage Make the Top Five This week many of you voted on the issues you want the Our Children Our Future campaign to focus on during the 2014 Legislative Session. Two of the WVCBP's major initiatives, Increasing the Minimum Wage and Creating a Future Fund, made…
It’s Halloween week — time to get spooky! Who needs ghost stories when you have spine-tingling bars and trend lines? Our newest blog post highlights five ghoulish charts about West Virginia in 2021 that should make you shudder (and fight for needed change!). Topics explored include state job loss, ongoing unemployment, prematurely terminated federally-funded unemployment…
Two plans to eliminate West Virginia's state income tax are now under consideration, one proposed by Governor Justice and the other by the West Virginia House of Delegates. The two proposals differ significantly, but they both disproportionately benefit the wealthiest West Virginians and create vast holes in the state budget, necessitating massive, painful cuts to critical public services. The…
The Economic Policy Institute has updated its Family Budget Calculator for 2013. The Family Budget Calculator measures the income level necessary for families to secure an adequate but modest living standard by estimating community-specific costs of housing, food, child care, transportation, health care, other necessities, and taxes. The calculator gives a broader measure of economic welfare than…
Children in West Virginia are constitutionally guaranteed a thorough and efficient system of free schools provided by the legislature. In recent years, our public education system has faced mounting challenges including declining enrollment, declining state revenues due to tax cuts, increased disinvestment through the Hope Scholarship, and threats to federal funding and support for public…
Just a month into peak flu season, the CDC has already declared a national epidemic due to the flu's widespread activity and the deadly nature of this year's virus. West Virginia is no exception. The outbreak is considered widespread across our state, as you can see from the the map below. While preventing the spread of the…
The pressure on the state budget from the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic fallout continues to mount. In April, state revenue collections were $192 million below estimates, setting the stage for what could be a total $500 million shortfall by the end of the fiscal year. Moreover, recent economic projections from the Congressional Budget Office…