A West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy statewide poll shows seventy percent of West Virginians are willing to pay more in taxes to protect funding for education, public safety, and roads and bridges. Read the story here.
Continued cuts to vital services citizens use daily will cause even further harm to our communities and state’s future. Together we must hold lawmakers accountable for real budget solutions that don’t leave West Virginians behind. Join our coalition to Protect West Virginia today!
In The News
Brad McElhinny writes about early disagreements between state Republicans and Democrat Governor-elect Jim Justice on how best to bridge the state’s $400 million budget gap in this MetroNews piece.
West Virginians have faced year-after-year cuts to services they rely on. Over the last 10 years, corporations were given more than half a billion in tax breaks while job growth stagnated in the state. Legislators must explore more balanced options moving forward, including revenue-generating measures that invest in our people.
Repealing the Affordable Care Act would have a heavy impact across the nation, but especially in West Virginia Natalie Schreyer writes in this Charleston Gazette-Mail story.
West Virginia has seen one of the biggest drops in the number of uninsured (14 to 16 percent) in the nation since the ACA’s implementation. The Urban Institute estimates 184,000 West Virginias will lose coverage by 2019 under a partial repeal. The state also stands to lose millions in Medicaid funding, including the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). This Commonwealth report shows an ACA repeal would kill more than 16,000 jobs in West Virginia by 2019.
West Virginias for Affordable Health Care is seeking a dynamic leader to be its new Executive Director.
The Executive Director is responsible for fundraising, including grants, event planning, and direct mail appeals. Other duties include research on health care public policy issues, building coalitions and conducting education and public outreach campaigns, and grant management. If you know anyone who is good fit or might be interested in the position, have them send a cover letter, resume, a writing sample, and three references by January 20, 2017 to info@wvahc.org.
Upcoming Events
Join Advocates for a Safe Water System Tuesday, January 17 for a rally and hearing at 5:30 p.m. The PSC is located on the corner of Quarrier and Brooks street in Charleston. The rally starts at 5:30 p.m. with the hearing directly following at 6:00 p.m.
Bring a flashlight – tell the PSC to shine a light on WV American Water!The public has never gotten the full story of why our water system failed on January 9th, 2014 – and what needs to happen to prevent such a disaster from happening again. We deserve to know.
The Public Service Commission has been conducting an investigation into the WV American Water’s response to the Freedom Industries chemical spill. The water company has repeatedly tried to keep the public in the dark by pushing to narrow the investigation and even eliminate it entirely.
What We Are Reading…
– “The Rich Already Have a UBI” is a clear, short, and smart piece from Matt Bruenig on how those in the top 1 percent already have a Universal Basic Income from capital income. It points out that “1 in 10 dollars of income produced in this country is paid out to the richest 1 percent without them having to work for it.”
– Over at evonomics Steve Roth discusses how America’s rich get rich and stay rich. One data nugget from the piece is that about “60 percent of U.S. household wealth is inherited” and that at least one in four of the Forbes 400 billionaires got rich from inherited wealth. That’s why the easiest way to make money, is to have money to make money on money, instead of working for a wage like most people.
– In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a plan to make public college tuition free for families that earn $125,000 or less annually in New York. This would be a good idea for West Virginia policymakers. Approximately 89 percent of families in West Virginia make below $125,000 annually (ACS 2011-2015).
– Don’t miss this interview with Bryan Stevenson on his project to advance understanding of America’s racial violence through the Equal Justice Initiative on Lynching in America. If you’ve never watched/listened to Bryan’s TedTalk on injustice, it is worth it. Find it here.
