The 2024 West Virginia regular legislative session kicked off this past Wednesday, January 10. WVCBP executive director, Kelly Allen, issued the following statement in response to Governor Justice’s State of the State address: Unfortunately, the rosy picture Governor Justice painted is not the reality for many West Virginians in counties all over the state who’ve seen too…
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Earlier this year, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma and the Trump Administration began encouraging states to apply for “block grant” waivers for their Medicaid programs. These waivers would allow states to bypass federal standards and beneficiary protections in exchange for agreeing to caps on the federal Medicaid funding they receive.…
West Virginia has long faced significant health-related challenges, many of which could have been meaningfully addressed by bills introduced during the 2023 legislative session. While a couple of positive health-focused bills were passed by the legislature this year, unfortunately lawmakers focused much of their attention on health-related policies based on fear—not facts. Two bills that…
This blog post was authored by Teri Castle, the 2023 Criminal Legal Reform Summer Research Fellow for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. Seventeen years ago, I was being held in Western Regional Jail, waiting to be transferred to Lakin Correctional Center. I had just been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to…
One in four children in West Virginia lived in poverty in 2022, the second highest rate of any state in the country. With the state pursuing education reform focused on funneling taxpayer funding out of public schools and into the private sector via the Hope Scholarship, West Virginia's voucher program which is growing more expensive…
This week, the Senate Finance Committee took up HB 3300, the House’s personal income tax cut plan, and made significant changes before quickly passing it out of committee. Unlike the House plan, which phased out the income tax over time with no revenue offsets, the Senate’s plan is more similar to the governor’s proposal, making a…
In 2017, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) launched a three-year pilot program that screened drug use among recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Otherwise known as WV WORKS, TANF provides cash assistance for low-income families and helps with child care, skills training, and job searching. As the pilot…
Wednesday night, the full WV Senate took up HB 3300, the House-originated personal income tax cut plan, and made a significant amendment before quickly passing the bill. Senators voted on the legislation without having had adequate time to fully discuss and comprehend its far-reaching implications -- a reckless action given that the bill would impact every…
This past Saturday at midnight, the West Virginia Legislature adjourned sine die after a long sixty days. Going into the session, the WVCBP team’s single largest goal was to protect the personal income tax, our state’s fairest tax and its largest source of revenue. We are thrilled to say that we, in coalition with many…
The health and economic impacts of COVID-19 have exacerbated longstanding economic inequities faced by West Virginians. Thankfully, the recent stimulus and rescue packages have shown us a way to rebuild from the pandemic by investing in families. In particular, the expansions of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in the American Rescue Plan (ARP)…