Public Policy Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

W.Va. Council Of Churches Asks Lawmakers To Govern With Compassion

West Virginia’s legislature often relies on ideology and economy to shape public policy. But there’s a mountain state group that annually calls for lawmakers to also focus on the common good and general welfare.

Rev. Brad Davis with the West Virginia Council of Churches opened this year’s “Compassion Calls Us” event at the state capitol by explaining the group’s motive for offering “the common good” approach to legislating public policy issues.

“We want to provide a Christian witness on public issues and concerns that venture into the public arena,” Davis said.

One such piece of legislation is House Bill 2698, known as the “Crown Act.” If passed, the bill would make it illegal to discriminate based on hair texture or style. The bill has been introduced into the legislature but has never passed.

Katonya Hart with the Charleston branch of the NAACP supported the bill.

“We need to change our morality in regards to villainizing African Americans from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet,” Hart said.

House Bill 4354, the Medicaid buy-in act, is another piece of legislation the group brought up. Lida Shepherd, with the American Friends Service Committee, said the bill offers a state subsidy for the thousands on Medicaid whose income happens to rise above the threshold for cutting off affordable insurance eligibility.

“Those premiums would likely cancel out any higher earnings they receive,” Shepherd said.

The West Virginia Environmental Council’s Hannah King also voiced concerns over proposals she said makes the state’s Water Quality Standard Rules become less stringent when it comes to the toxin limits regarding West Virginia’s drinking water.

“Some of the toxins contain cancer causing carcinogens,” King said. “With the high cancer rates in our state, there is no room to be lifting any water quality standards.”

Groups Prep for EPA Clean Power Plan Hearing

Given the political climate around the EPA’s proposal, it seems unlikely that state lawmakers would have a policy without coal. Still, the United Mine Workers of America says workers and their families should be concerned about this new regulation. Groups from West Virginia and across Appalachia are gearing up to show support and protest of the EPA’s proposed rule.

Groups like the United Mine Workers of America and Coal River Mt. Watch are traveling to Pittsburgh later this week.

As it stands, the EPA rule would let states come up with their own energy policy on how to decrease carbon dioxide emissions. Given the political climate, some environmentalists worry it will be business as usual for the coal industry leaving little room for renewable energy. After all, lawmakers in states like West Virginia and Kentucky aggressively and consistently favor coal in speech and policy.

“We need to make it clear that the EPA does have the authority and the mandate ad the moral obligation to reign in CO2 emissions,” Haltom said.

Vernon Haltom, the executive director of Coal River Mountain Watch, even criticizes the agency meant to help protect the environment, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and other state agencies.

Groups Question W.Va.’s Environmental Reputation

Haltom points to two suits. One in which, Marfork Coal, a former Massey subsidiary and current Alpha Company, violated water pollution limits at the Brushy Fork Impoundment. The company had submitted reports to the state DEP that showed high selenium levels and violations of water quality standards at the coal slurry impoundment, according to group’s website.

In March of this year, Alpha Natural Resource agreed to spend an estimated $200 million on implementing system-wide upgrades to reduce discharges of pollution from coal mines in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia for violating the Clean Water Act. The settlement involved more than 6,200 permits.

Coal: Easy Target

Phil Smith with the United Mine Workers of America says miners and their families should still be concerned. Smith says even if policy of coal dependent states keeps coal as king, it becomes an easy target for the rest of the country.

Environmentalists aren’t completely satisfied with the rule either. Haltom wants to see a policy with 100% renewable energy.

But where will those renewable jobs be created? Phil Smith and the UMWA says it won’t be enough for the areas that need it the most like the coalfields.

But let’s not lose sight of the BIG global picture. The new rule is meant to reduce carbon dioxide in order to slow climate change. Smith says the UMWA doesn’t argue the science behind climate change and agrees that something should be done, just not this new rule.

Coal jobs have been declining in recent years and studies show that several things are contributing … like the amount of coal left, the location of the coal, competition like natural gas along with regulatory costs.

Hearings begin today in four cities across the country. The EPA will host meetings in Atlanta Locations for the hearings include Atlanta, Denver, Washington, DC and Pittsburgh.

Keys to Grassroots Policy Success: Wide Net, Narrow Focus

If you spend any time at the West Virginia state capitol during the annual 60-day legislative session, you’ll notice many voices clamoring for the attention of our state’s part-time lawmakers. All citizens are welcome to approach legislators with ideas and requests, but average citizens generally don’t have the time or the know-how to impact state policy decisions. One grassroots initiative has been working to change that.

In Lewisburg, Clarksburg, Hurricane and Martinsburg, citizens are meeting this month to celebrate policy success, learn how to advocate for the issues they care about and craft initiatives to champion in the upcoming legislative session.

The Our Children Our Future Regional Policy Workshops, co-sponsored by the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, the West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition and the West Virginia Community Development Hub, are an effort to build momentum and consensus for this year’s legislative agenda.

The initiative casts a wide net to solicit ideas, narrows the focus to a manageable list of priorities and then works collaboratively to engage state government officials.

Chris Kimes is Political Director for the West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition. He says these workshops provide an avenue for people from around the state to learn about the issues, get energized and to believe they can participate in the process.

“As an active community member I can come, learn the skills that I need to begin working on policies and actually learn about specific policies that groups are thinking about advancing in the next session.”

And they have experienced success. This past year alone, seven of the group’s top ten priorities became law or were implemented into public policy.

Funding was restored to Family Resource Networks and other programs that help children and families.
The minimum wage was increased.
The state board of education approved a policy to increase daily physical activity in public schools.
A pilot for a parent mentor program was launched.
Cities and counties will now have a new tool to combat the problem of abandoned properties.
New protections for pregnant workers were put in place.
And the West Virginia Future Fund was established to set aside a portion of natural gas severance taxes to create an endowment fund.

Senate President Jeff Kessler says his hat’s off to this group, whose grassroots groundwork can be a real help to lawmakers as they try to stay in touch with the needs of their communities.
“I represent 110,000 people in my district. I can’t shake all their hands and ask them all face to face, but when you get having a series of forums throughout the entire state where people that do have issues can come forward, present them, collect them, and put them in some type of rational agenda that we can now understand why they’re important,” says Kessler. “Sure it helps to pass policy and pass legislation that does have a direct and immediate impact on improving the lives of our people in our communities, so yeah, this is the way to get it done.”

House Speaker Tim Miley agrees that it’s an effective approach to advocating for public policy issues.

"So they have learned to come together as a large group with various interests, but a common theme to strengthen our communities. And by doing so they have created a very loud voice in Charleston for the legislators to hear and listen to and recognize by way of their agenda items. So it is very effective." – House Speaker Tim Miley

Not all of the group’s initiatives made it through the process. But Kimes says, even in defeat, there are lessons to be learned. That’s the case with last year’s effort to pass a prescription pseudophedrine bill and that group of citizens will try again.

“We literally were outspent there,” notes Kimes. “Big Pharma came in and made their voice known, but an interesting thing about that, is just last week at Lewisburg that team is back again. And they’ve learned from those lessons and they’re gearing up and they’re broadening the base and getting more people involved in the discussion and I think they may have a better try at it in this next legislative session.”

Two workshops remain – Thursday, July 24, 2014 in Hurricane and Tuesday, July 29, 2014 in Martinsburg. Organizers say walkups are welcome.

On September 9-10, 2014, groups from across the state will gather in Charleston for a Policy Symposium and in November, this year’s legislative agenda will be set.