Charleston Daily Mail – Democrats and Republicans agree the process for estimating the cost of proposed legislation is often biased and unreliable, according to a survey by a West Virginia think tank. Read
The West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, a liberal-leaning nonprofit, issued a report Tuesday calling for changes in the creation of fiscal notes that accompany pieces of legislation.
The center surveyed all 134 members of the state Legislature about fiscal notes. Forty-three responded.
That includes seven senators and 36 delegates (18 Republicans and 25 Democrats). Most of those had served at least four years in the Legislature.
More than 90 percent said they read the notes always or more often than not. Only 11 percent of Republicans and 28 percent of Democrats believed fiscal notes are accurate “more often than not.”
By comparison, 48 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of Republicans thought they were either never correct or correct less than half the time.
