From The Dominion Post of Morgantown:  It’s time to throw the switch on Senate Bill 335 and divert it onto a sidetrack. An independent analysis of the enormous tax changes in this bill is critical. The state deputy revenue secretary’s fiscal note on this bill already came back with flashing[Read More…]

By Rusty Marks The State Journal  CHARLESTON, W.Va.  — The House of Delegates Finance Committee has gutted a tax revenue bill that was the basis of Gov. Jim Justice’s budget plan. As originally requested by the governor, House Bill 2816 would have raised the state sales tax to 6.5 percent,[Read More…]

By CHARLIE BOOTHE Bluefield Daily Telegraph   BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — Officials have consistently said economic development is the key to stopping the population decline in the region, which the latest statistics show is continuing. All area counties, except Giles County in Virginia, are continuing to experience population losses. The U.S.[Read More…]

From The Herald-Dispatch of Huntington: Compromise has become a rarer commodity in legislative bodies these days. However, members of West Virginia’s House of Delegates last week did manage to find some common ground before passing a bill related to how many chemical storage tanks have to comply with tougher laws[Read More…]

By Lacie PiersonThe Huntington Herald-DispatchCHARLESTON, W.VA. – The West Virginia Senate Select Committee on Tax Reform approved a new, slightly slimmer tax reform bill Friday afternoon. On Friday, committee members approved Senate Bill 409, which increases the state’s sales tax and eliminates some exemptions to it. The measure also restores[Read More…]

By Eric Eyre The Charleston Gazette-Mail CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Over objections from West Virginia’s largest internet providers, the House of Delegates overwhelmingly passed a comprehensive broadband bill Friday that aims to improve internet service and expand availability. House members voted 97-2 to send the legislation (HB3093) to the state Senate. “This[Read More…]

By Erin Beck The Charleston Gazette-Mail CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Senate’s Health and Human Resources Committee narrowly passed a bill Friday morning that would allow certain patients to be prescribed marijuana for medicinal purposes. The bill (SB386), called the West Virginia Medical Cannabis Act, now goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee. If[Read More…]

Around the Rotunda: Legislative, Committee Schedule for Saturday, March 25 W.Va. Legislative Committee Meeting Schedule – Subject to change Watch WV Legislature Live each day at http://www.legis.state.wv.us/live.cfm SENATE:                       Saturday, March 25, 2017 REVIEW BILLS INTRODUCED The Senate will convene at 10 a.m.   THIRD READING Eng.[Read More…]

Lisa Schwetschenau, who has multiple sclerosis, shown in a photo in Omaha, Nebraska on March 16. She worries that she could lose some of her essential health benefits under the new proposed health care law. Nati Harnik/AP By Simon Haeder West Virginia University Republicans have tirelessly campaigned to repeal and[Read More…]