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Senate approves bill changing makeup of PEIA Finance Board
By WV MetroNews
The State Senate has approved along party lines a bill changing the makeup of the Public Employees Insurance Agency Finance Board. Republican backers say SB 622 is a response to the financial problems with the state’s health insurance program.
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Crisis averted, but it leaves us wondering
Thankfully, a tax bill that would have threatened small business gets sidelined
Register-Herald editorial
We know the West Virginia Legislature is facing a monumental task of balancing a state budget that is some $353 million out of whack. And that’s just for the current fiscal year. Next year’s calculations project a yawning $460 million gorge.
So, yes, legislators are looking for more than...
Senate committee originates bill to cut coal tax
By Jeff Jenkins | MetroNews
The state Senate Finance Committee originated a bill Monday afternoon to decrease the state’s coal severance tax by two percent over two years in hopes of making West Virginia’s coal more competitive with other states.
The rate would go from 5 percent to 3 percent under the bill (SB 705), Sen. Finance Committee Chair Mike Hall (R-Putnam) said.
“We’re (currently) taxing...
Priorities for the rest of the session
By Pamela Pritt, Register-Herald reporter
With fewer than 14 days before this legislative session adjourns as scheduled, lawmakers still have hundreds of bills to sort and prioritize. Some will make it into law, most will not. But first and foremost, the state must have a balanced budget.
And that balancing act is causing wear and tear on lawmakers who had hoped for a year of tax reform.
Senate President Bill...
High schools with 90-percent graduation rates recognized at State Capitol
By Shauna Johnson | WV MetroNews
More than 90 percent of the seniors at 47 West Virginia high schools graduated as part of the Class of 2015.
On Friday, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin joined Dr. Michael Martirano, state superintendent of schools, and Mike Green, president of the state Board of Education, along with lawmakers, school administrators and others to recognize those schools during...