Every March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revises state labor force statistics. Each month, the state unemployment rate and other labor statistics are approximated based on a sample national survey, which is used to produce an estimate for West Virginia. When other data sources are revised (e.g., when the Census releases new population data), those…
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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. Maternal and infant mortality rates continue to rise nationally, and the most recent pre-pandemic state data indicated that infant mortality in West Virginia outpaces the national rate.[1] Opioid overdose deaths continue to take the…
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government passed legislation to help families and health care providers amid an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Among the provisions, states were required to keep people who receive health insurance via Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) continuously enrolled in the programs in exchange…
The start of a new month always brings with it new economic data. In addition to new revenue numbers and natural gas price data, Governor Justice also revised his FY 2024 revenue estimates upward with little explanation. All told, what we saw this week should give lawmakers pause as they consider making large, permanent tax…
On Tuesday, the Senate passed Senate Bill 547, a radical reimagining of the Controlled Substances Act that doubles down on decades of failed drug policies. West Virginia has been called ground zero of the drug overdose crisis. For the last decade, West Virginia has had the highest fatal overdose rate in the country–more than twice…
On Saturday afternoon of day 46 of the West Virginia legislative session, the Senate Finance committee unveiled and passed their second attempt at a tax cut without discussion or questions and then suspended rules to pass it out of the chamber. The legislation, HB 2526, looks very much like the plan they passed earlier this…
This afternoon the Senate Finance Committee introduced their version of the FY 2024 budget. Notably–to account for their plan to cut taxes for the state's wealthiest households and businesses–the Senate's proposed budget is significantly smaller than the budget proposed by the governor. The Senate budget proposal relies on one-time surplus funds to pay for ongoing,…
Two significant tax breaks for the coal industry are currently moving through the West Virginia Legislature, and together they could cost nearly $100 million in state coal severance tax revenue annually. HB 3133 would enable the state’s coal producers and processors to reduce their severance tax responsibilities by 20 percent annually, by allowing them to…
The 2023 state legislative session has seen both chambers heavily focused on turning the state’s revenue “surplus” into personal income tax cuts, despite the clear need for new spending after four years of austerity forced by flat budgets. We’ve covered at length the temporary factors driving the surplus, as well as the fallacy of calling…
Over the course of a six-hour period, the West Virginia Senate unveiled their tax cut proposal, rushed it through committee (without a fiscal note, hearing testimony from a single witness, or any members asking any questions), and suspended the rules requiring three days of readings to pass it out of the chamber. While lawmakers repeatedly…