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Child poverty group outlines legislative goals

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Our Children, Our Future Campaign to End Child Poverty unveiled its Top Ten issues for the coming legislative session Monday.

The campaign has lobbied successfully over the past two years to raise the state minimum wage and to pass the Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act.

Last year, Our Children, Our Future also had a tussle on its hands when Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin used line-item veto to excise more than $1 million from in-home family education, Family Resource Networks and domestic violence prevention programs.

Lawmakers revisited the budget, taking money from racing purses to bolster those programs. The measure had bipartisan support, good news for the Campaign, which will deal with new legislative leadership that is now Republican, as well as new faces in the ranks.

OCOF Executive Director Stephen Smith said he believes the campaign’s agenda has a “good chance” of passing during the upcoming session.

Of the dozen issues that the campaign has backed — and been successful with — in the last two years, all have had bipartisan support, Smith said.

“I think the biggest challenge for us is going to be working with new leadership because it’s new,” Smith said. “But we’re hopeful. We think this platform is something everybody can agree on.”

The campaign has five top priority issues:

• Protect and provide a secure funding stream for family support…

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