West Virginia’s state revenue is down from last fiscal year by 12 percent. Despite the decrease in income, the state is exceeding revenue estimates by more than $522 million.
West Virginia’s state revenue is down from last fiscal year by 12 percent — a difference of more than $500 million.
In March 2024, the state collected about $487.4 million. That is nearly $95 million over revenue estimates, but 6 percent lower than what it collected in March 2023.
Sean O’Leary, senior policy analyst with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, attributed the change to personal income tax cuts passed last year.
In 2023, Gov. Jim Justice cut personal income tax in the state by more than 20 percent, the largest tax cut in the state’s history.
Proponents of the cuts saw it as a way for residents to keep more money from their paychecks. But others worried decreasing state funding would make it harder to keep up with infrastructure needs.
O’Leary said that the decrease in state funds has reduced Medicaid and higher education resources in the state.
He also said that a collapse in natural gas prices has further reduced taxable revenue sources for the state.
Still, despite the decrease in income, the state is exceeding revenue estimates by more than $522 million.
Budget estimates are set by the State Budget Office, a staff agency for the governor.
Justice has expressed optimism over the surplus, despite the decrease in revenue and a dip below state estimates in February.
“We’ve shown time and time again that when we put West Virginians first, and prioritize their needs and wants, it propels our rocket ship higher,” Justice said in a Monday press release.
Senate Bill 840 would reduce the maximum amount to $550 dollars a week.
Senate Bill 841 reduces the duration of benefits. It works on a tiered system based on statewide unemployment numbers. If the statewide unemployment number is under 5 percent — which it currently is — then the maximum benefit duration would be 12 weeks, cutting it down by more than half.
The Senate advanced two bills Monday that would lower unemployment benefits for out of work West Virginians.
Currently people can receive 26 weeks of benefits, and a maximum weekly benefit of $624 if they lose their job through no fault of their own; meaning they were separated from their jobs due to a lack of available work.
Senate Bill 840 would reduce the maximum amount to $550 dollars a week.
Senate Bill 841 reduces the duration of benefits. It works on a tiered system based on statewide unemployment numbers. If the statewide unemployment number is under 5 percent — which it currently is — then the maximum benefit duration would be 12 weeks, cutting it down by more than half.
The maximum benefit under the bill is 20 weeks if there is a severe recession with an unemployment rate of 9 percent.
Sponsor of Senate Bill 840, Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said this bill is to help secure the longevity of the unemployment fund.
“This preserves our unemployment fund for the future,” Tarr said. “If we do not do something now, to go in and fix this unemployment fund, what’s going to happen is unemployment services will become unavailable in the future. That’s just a matter of math.”
However Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy says that the fund is healthier than ever.
“Our unemployment fund is at one of the highest balances ever on record,” Allen said.
On Saturday, in the Senate Finance Committee, Jeff Green from WorkForce West Virginia testified that currently the fund could sustain a 10 percent unemployment rate in the state for 91 weeks before all the funds were exhausted.
Allen says that the state has not seen a recession like that in more than 30 years.
“The last time West Virginia had an unemployment rate over 10 percent in a sustained period was more than 30 years ago in 1992,” Allen said.
This all comes shortly after Allegheny Wood Products announced it was closing and laying off hundreds of workers, and the Cleveland-Cliffs tin mill laid off 900 workers last month.
Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, objected to the bills being advanced.
“This is a bill that reduces unemployment benefits across the state with the recent happenings,” Marion. “And the news that we’ve heard in Weirton, and in the wood products plant. I think it’s a horrible time to do this. Mr. President.”
Allen said that West Virginia is an economically diverse state, and while the statewide unemployment rate is currently 3.8 percent that doesn’t account for differences between localities like the southern coalfields and the eastern panhandle.
“You know, the picture in the southern coalfields as compared with Monongalia is very different,” Allen said. “So essentially, these population centers that are doing well, in terms of the number of jobs available would dictate how many weeks of unemployment everybody in the state would be eligible for, even though folks in more rural parts of the state with fewer job opportunities, are seeing a very different economic landscape job opportunity landscape.”
On this episode of The Legislature Today, higher demand for coal and natural gas, as well as higher prices, produced a severance tax windfall for the state over the past few years. But prices have fallen, and with it, tax revenues. To get a better idea of where things stand, Curtis Tate spoke with Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.
On this episode of The Legislature Today, higher demand for coal and natural gas, as well as higher prices, produced a severance tax windfall for the state over the past few years. But prices have fallen, and with it, tax revenues.
To get a better idea of where things stand, Curtis Tate spoke with Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.
In the House, among the bills on third reading Thursday included a proposal to allow schools to hire trained security guards. The bill led to a social debate over the issue of training in systemic racism. Randy Yohe has more.
In the Senate, the chamber advanced 13 bills. They sent Senate Bill 596 to committee. That bill is the same as House Bill 5045, which would give the EPA assurances that carbon capture and storage will not pollute groundwater. The House version was amended to be fused with the Senate bill.
Also, House Democrats held a press conference to highlight their priorities going forward. Randy Yohe has that report.
Finally, the House of Delegates held a public hearing on a bill that would restrict transgender West Virginians access to bathrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
Having trouble viewing the video below? Click here to watch it on YouTube.
The Legislature Today is West Virginia’s only television/radio simulcast devoted to covering the state’s 60-day regular legislative session.
Watch or listen to new episodes Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
The analysis from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy published Wednesday estimates the Hope Scholarship costs West Virginia public schools up to $21.6 million.
A new report calculates the state’s education voucher program cost on public schools.
The analysis from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, published Wednesday, estimates the Hope Scholarship costs West Virginia public schools up to $21.6 million.
The Hope Scholarship allows K-12 students to receive state funds that can be used for tuition at private schools, homeschool curriculum, and other qualifying expenses.
Kelly Allen, executive director of the center, estimates the diverted funding will mean up to 364 paid positions, educators and personnel, could be lost.
“We hear a lot from proponents about the impact on the families and students who utilize the Hope Scholarship, but we really wanted to take a look at what the impact the Hope Scholarship is having on public schools,” she said.
Allen and Sean O’Leary, senior policy analyst for the center, arrived at the figure by multiplying the state school aid formula by the number of Hope Scholarship applicants in its second year.
“The state aid formula also has a calculation for the number of teachers, educators and the number of school service personnel based on enrollment figures for each county,” Allen said. “We were able to estimate how much less funding they would get for those positions with that drop in attendance related to students leaving the public school district for the Hope Scholarship.”
One of the biggest concerns the report highlights is the lack of public reporting on how Hope Scholarship money is being spent, as well as the academic outcomes for the students receiving the funds.
“I can go on the Department of Ed’s website right now and look up test scores, assessments for any public school in the state,” Allen said. “But there is no such mechanism for private schools, and there’s no data collected for Hope Scholarship students.”
Another West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy report earlier this year showed that thousands of dollars in Hope Scholarship funds are being spent outside of the state and at unaccredited institutions. The state Treasurer’s office, which oversees the voucher program, previously said spending Hope Scholarship funds in out-of-state school systems is permissible and consistent with the “money follows the student” intent behind the Hope Scholarship.
“We’re seeing our public schools pare back art and music classes, or teachers buying supplies out of their own pockets,” Allen said. “It just seems really, really concerning that these dollars aren’t being accounted for, tracked in the same way that our public schools are accountable.”
Allen applauded Treasurer Riley Moore for voluntarily reporting Hope Scholarship figures, but pointed out he will no longer be in his position after the 2024 election. Moore is running for a Congressional seat in West Virginia’s 2nd district.
“I think it’s really important that robust public reporting be codified,” she said. “He will not be the treasurer next year, so we shouldn’t rely on the generousness of the current treasurer.”
In its second year, the Hope Scholarship program has grown significantly, and Allen expressed concern over the financial impact of continued expansion.
On Tuesday the Hope Scholarship Board approved changes to the program’s legislative rules that will allow eligible students to apply year-round. A press release from the treasurer’s office announcing the rule changes noted that “more than 6,000 students have been awarded the Hope Scholarship for the current 2023-2024 academic year, nearly triple the 2,333 students who received it the previous academic year.”
In an email, Allen told WVPB the expanded application window “will almost assuredly increase costs of the program and create significant disruptions for public schools.”
The Black Infant and Maternal Health Working Group hosted a breakfast and meet and greet with lawmakers Monday at the capitol.
The Black Infant and Maternal Health Working Group hosted a breakfast and meet and greet with lawmakers Monday at the capitol.
The event brought together advocates, affected community members, health professionals, and policymakers to address Black infant and maternal health outcomes in West Virginia.
Attendees heard from experts like Health and Safety Net Policy Analyst Rhonda Rogombe with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.
“The most recent multi-year data showed that Black babies were twice as likely as their white counterparts to die in their first year of life in West Virginia, and that’s an unacceptable statistic,” Rogombe said.
According to the March of Dimes the number of preterm births between 2019 and 2021 in West Virginia was higher for Black infants, at 17.6 percent compared to 12.4 percent for white babies.
Preterm birth is a high indicator of risk, but West Virginia law currently does not allow the mortality review team to interview the family of an infant or mother who dies, which limits the scope of the information they collect, according to Rogombe.
“What really started the spark to the national conversation around this is that Black and indigenous women were facing mortality rates two to three times more than their white peers in that first year after giving birth,” Rogombe said. “That has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. And so, without that knowledge on the state level, we really don’t know what that looks like, but given the other health indicators that our Black population often faces, we can reasonably assume that the issue is worse for Black West Virginians as well.”
Rogombe said more data collection and the sharing of that data by race in a timely fashion would give a more complete picture of Black infant and maternal health outcomes in West Virginia.
“When controlling for variables like income, education, and other pieces, we still see Black women facing higher rates of mortality than their white peers,” Rogombe said. “All of those things mean that in West Virginia, we really, really need to address this issue and, and just ensure that moms and babies live.”
Attendees had the opportunity to share their stories with lawmakers directly at Monday’s breakfast. Some have lived experience of racial discrimination in maternal health, like Elizabeth Anne Greer Mobley.
“I have a master’s degree plus 42 credits. That still did not save me from suffering horrific miscarriages, from suffering from catastrophic and well catastrophic in the sense that I hemorrhaged, my children ended up in a PICU, NICU,” Mobley said. “It just does not protect you in the state of West Virginia from having horrific and challenging medical situations when there’s Black racism ingrained within the maternal and infant medical industry.”
Mobley moved from Maryland to Martinsburg with her family when she was 14. She calls herself a “Black-alachian.”
“I claim West Virginia, I have been here for 18 years, my babies, I’m giving birth in West Virginia, educated in West Virginia, I stayed in West Virginia, I have a 501(C)3, and an LLC,” Mobley said. “I’m proud to be here. I’ve stayed here, but you don’t want me. You don’t want my children’s or my life, the lives of me or my children are not worthy.”
In addition to being involved in her community in Martinsburg, Mobley is also a foster parent for the state. She said she attended the breakfast at the capitol so that no one else has to go through what she has gone through.
“I don’t know what it’s gonna take or what I’ve had to say or what all I have to give to make the story palpable enough for us to impact and affect will change,” Mobley said. “Because what I went through should never happen again, and yet it did.”
Rogombe said improvements could be made by prioritizing families in the upcoming 2024 legislative session.
“Creating pathways for midwives and doulas to be reimbursed by health insurance companies so that pregnant people have options in terms of what their care looks like,” Rogombe said. “Things like paid family and medical leave so that people can recover, you know, deepening our, the wealth of resources around mental health. There is a broad range of options and the more that we prioritize families, whatever that looks like, the better our outcomes will be.”
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.
On a recent soggy Wednesday evening, dozens of West Virginians packed a conference room inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center to discuss the need for a “just transition” for coal-impacted communities.
As the nation grapples with climate change, the need for a fair transition for workers and communities that depend upon coal jobs and revenue has also gained traction. Nearly every 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful has touted some version of the idea, ranging from the expansive “Green New Deal” championed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to former Vice President Joe Biden’s more modest mix of worker training and direct assistance for coal country.
In West Virginia, discussions are starting to get attention in the state’s capital despite strong political support for the coal industry.
“When you’re hearing a call for a just transition for coal-reliant communities, folks are saying ‘look, starting now and into the future, we’re going to decarbonize the economy,’” said Ann Eisenberg, a law professor at the University of South Carolina. “There will be disproportionate losses imposed on coal-reliant communities. And that’s unfair. So we’re going to offset the losses. And that is where I think this is a good thing. And it’s also tricky.”
Eisenberg was one of a handful of experts who spoke at the event hosted by West Virginia University’s Center for Energy and Sustainable Development, the nonprofit West Virginia Center on Climate Change (an offshoot of conservation group Friends of Blackwater), and the left-leaning West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.
The speakers facilitated a conversation about what constitutes a “just transition” as well as how West Virginia and other regions that depend on coal could actually get there.
Credit Brittany Patterson / WVPB
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WVPB
Three groups hosted a just transition discussion on Feb. 5, 2020 in Charleston, WV.
Adele Morris with the Brookings Institution said the first step is to acknowledge the clear data about coal. Even without a comprehensive climate policy, the fuel is already losing ground in the region and across the country. Low natural gas prices and the falling cost of renewable energy have priced many coal plants out of the market.
Federal data show since 2009, mining employment and coal production has fallen by about 50 percent in the Ohio Valley. The energy shift is already underway, Morris said, but without the part that would help communities make the transition.
“We’re in it. We’re in the transition,” said Morris, who is a senior fellow and policy director at the nonpartisan think tank. “And it’s going to get worse before it gets better. But it’s not fair. And that’s what I think should be urgently at the top of the agenda of the policymakers from coal country, and they’re not, in my opinion.”
Legislative Attempt
One lawmaker is making a pitch in West Virginia. State Del. Evan Hansen, a Democrat representing the north-central county of Monongalia, has introduced a bipartisan bill that would create a state Just Transition Office, and a community-led advisory committee that would focus on helping West Virginia communities affected by the decline of coal.
“The primary goal here is to write a just transition plan for the state of West Virginia that would look at ways to funnel funding into these communities and other types of resources into these communities in a manner that’s led by what people in those communities think is best,” Hansen said.
Still, he believes the appetite is growing among the state’s lawmakers to address coal’s decline.
“I would say privately many legislators of both parties acknowledge that there is a transition going on and that this is one of the most important issues that we need to deal with as a Legislature,” Hansen said.
Credit Alexandra Kanik / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Not everyone is a fan of the bill, including the West Virginia Coal Association.
“Sounds to me like that they think that it would be much better if it were something other than the coal miners,” said the group’s president Bill Raney. “And that bothers me a whole lot because we got the best coal miners in the world.”
Raney’s group is pushing a bill this legislative session that would require West Virginia coal plants to burn the same amount of coal they did in 2019 in the years ahead, regardless of what makes most economic sense.
Of major note during the discussion was how to pay for a “just transition.”
Today most economic transition work in the region comes from federal programs including the Appalachian Regional Commission and Abandoned Mine Land program funding, which offer grants to coal-affected communities in the millions of dollars range.
Credit Alexandra Kanik / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Morris has estimated the region will require tens of billions of dollars over the next decade and would require some kind of regulatory leadership from Washington, D.C., preferably a carbon tax. Democratic candidates who have supported the idea have differing ways to fund it, although most rely heavily on investing in clean energy and decarbonizing the economy through a “Green New Deal.”
Some in the region have encouraged lawmakers and candidates looking at these climate policies to engage with residents directly.
That includes Cecil Roberts, head of the United Mine Workers of America. In September, he spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. He expressed concern the type of sweeping change Democratic presidential candidates are promising may be too big of a lift for Congress given its past track record in helping coal country.
“We want our health care saved, and if you can’t do that, and it’s been 10 years, how do you think we’re going to believe that you’re going to be able to give us a just transition from the coal industry to some other employment?” he said.
Kentucky Conversations
Chuck Fluharty, President and CEO of the Rural Policy Research Institute, helped to organize a community-centered, just transition model in eastern Kentucky called Shaping Our Appalachian Region, or SOAR. He said SOAR has shown this type of work is possible, especially if a community-centric approach is embraced. However, it’s not easy.
Credit Sydney Boles / Ohio Valley ReSource
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Ohio Valley ReSource
Kentucky entrepreneurs show their products at the 2019 SOAR Summit.
SOAR’s premise is built upon a collective impact investing model that engaged the public, private and philanthropic sectors.
“The real proof of the pudding is in how broad collective commitment is, and is it there for the money or is it there for the future?” he said. “How much it is about investing and not simply dropping dollars on the table.”
Some politicians hope to engage coalfield communities directly about how to balance implementing climate legislation while protecting workers and investing in communities. Kentucky Democratic state senator and U.S. Senate candidate Charles Booker recently launched a series of town meetings on the subject in the heart of eastern Kentucky coal country.
Even among those who support a just transition, questions remain about how best to do it. Morris said there is little data on what has worked in economic transitions in the past. Her team has looked at the impact of military base closures, for example, but said the analogy isn’t perfect. Worker retraining efforts often have mixed results.
“There’s this policy design challenge of how do you get from the wholesale dollars of the federal government into well designed retail level grants and assistance and so on,” she said. “I’m still struggling with exactly how you do that in a way that gets those resources out, but does it in a way that that gives people comfort that it’s responsibly allocated.”
In a report published last July, Morris and colleagues at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University quantified just how much of a coal-producing county’s budget came from coal, and how big a hole their budgets might face without coal revenue.
Then the authors turned to the various policy proposals to limit greenhouse gas emissions, which would set a price on each ton of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere.
Morris said that the revenue generated by such policies could be steered into the type of investments needed and at a scale that would make a just transition more likely.
For example, a carbon tax of $25 per ton would likely raise a trillion dollars in revenue over 10 years, she said.
“And that kind of revenue allows for a very generous support for coal-reliant areas,” Morris said.
