By CHARLES BOOTHE Bluefield Daily Telegraph CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A bill to give localities the option of enacting a meals tax is again not seeing any progress in the state legislature, the local delegate who introduced it said. “I’ve had it out for four or five sessions,” said Del. John[Read More…]
Month: March 2017
Common core repeal bill passes
By DAVID BEARD The Dominion Post CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Senate passed on March 18 another bill to repeal Common Core educational standards. It also passed bills dealing with wind power tax credits, video lottery machines and driving too slow. SB 524 is the Common Core bill. As amended, it[Read More…]
Proposed West Virginia tax changes worry businesses
By JESS MANCINI The Parkersburg News and Sentinel PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — A bill changing the tax system in West Virginia has its skeptics. Senate Bill 335 would eliminate the 6 percent sales tax and replace it with an 8 percent general consumption tax, including food, lower the income tax rate[Read More…]
Three income tax measures going through House and Senate
By ANDREA LANNOM The Register-Herald CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Three measures that would lower or eliminate the personal income tax are working their way through the House and the Senate. And with a little less than three weeks before bills need to be on the floor, lawmakers hope they can get[Read More…]
Lawmakers introduce bills to downsize DOE bureaucracy, hike teachers’ pay
By CHARLES BOOTH Bluefield Daily Telegraph CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two education-related bills may not advance very far this year, but their sponsors say the push will continue to pass them. Delegate Marty Gearheart, R-Mercer, introduced, along with three other delegates, a bill to downsize administrative positions in the state Department[Read More…]
New legislation targets Hopemont Hospital for permanent closure, Smith: ‘I’m not one for a filibuster, but I’m going to fight this bill with everything I have’
By THERESA MARTHEY The Preston County News & Journal CHARLESTON, W.Va. — “It was a surprise to me,” Del. Tony Lewis, R-Preston, said in reference to the introduction of House Bill 3102 out of the Health and Human Resources Committee that calls for selling Hopemont Hospital in Terra Alta. The[Read More…]
Lawmakers, others debate the pros, cons of Constitutional Convention
By RUSTY MARKS The State Journal CHARLESTON, W.Va. — On Feb. 10, the West Virginia Senate split along party lines to vote in favor of Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, a resolution calling for states to request a constitutional convention under Article V of the United States Constitution. The text of the two-page[Read More…]
Delegates seek feasibility study for lake development
By ANDREA LANNOM The Register-Herald CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two southern West Virginia delegates have introduced a bill seeking to study the possibility of lake development in the southern part of the state. Delegates Ed Evans, D-McDowell, and Mick Bates, D-Raleigh, introduced House Bill 2953 Monday. It’s goal is to revitalize[Read More…]
Trump budget calls for eliminating Appalachian Regional Commission
By JAMES E. CASTO The State Journal CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The proposed budget President Donald Trump has sent Congress calls for a $54 billion boost in defense spending, to be paid for with cuts to a broad range of domestic programs and the outright elimination of some agencies. The Appalachian Regional Commission is one of the[Read More…]
Stoking U.S. coal’s odds: Trump’s proposal about U.S.-made steel could increase domestic metallurgical coal demand next year
By CHARLES BOOTHE Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — More coal has been shipped through Bluefield recently because of an uptick in the export of metallurgical coal to Europe, but a local coal expert says the real shift in production could be seen next year. Rick Taylor, president of the[Read More…]