WVCBP Budget Beat -- January 20, 2012

The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy will hold its Annual Meeting on Tuesday, February 7 at the Charleston Marriott Town Center from 7:30AM – 10:30AM. Our keynote speaker is Ambassador Michael Sullivan, former Governor of Wyoming. Join us for breakfast and an interesting discussion about how an energy trust fund could benefit West Virginia. Please go to our website, www.wvpolicy.org, to register. Breakfast is free but registration required.

Analysis of Governor’s FY 2013 Budget

Today the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy released its analysis of Governor Tomblin’s FY 2013 budget. While it appears West Virginia will continue to enjoy a small budget surplus, this could change in the near future as expenditures for the state’s correction system as well as Medicaid grow, and revenue from the business franchise tax is reduced to 0%. Read the report.

West Virginia Ranks 29th among States in Enforcing Economic Development Subsidy Requirements

In its report released this week, Good Jobs First, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center based in Washington, DC gave West Virginia a C- in enforcing performance requirements in economic development subsidy programs. The report, "Money-Back Guarantees for Taxpayers: Clawbacks and Other Enforcement Safeguards in State Economic Development Subsidy Programs," looks at the performance standards built into subsidy programs and rates states on how well they enforce those standards. Read it at: www.goodjobsfirst.org. “West Virginia’s C- grade shows there is plenty of room for improvement for the state to protect its limited economic development dollars and to ensure that if private firms fail to honor their commitments, there will be enforcements to recapture a portion (clawback), if not all, of the state's original investment,” noted Paul Miller, Outreach Director for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

Improving Budget Analysis of State Criminal Justice Reforms

At a time when West Virginia is facing an overcrowded prison situation, a report released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the ACLU is of particular interest. Many states have the same problem as West Virginia, a growing prison population and not enough infrastructure to house it. This report highlights the benefits of finding alternative solutions to incarceration like sanctions for parole violations or addiction treatment for drug offenders. Studies show that states adopting these methods are not seeing an increase in crime (some are actually seeing a decrease) and are saving money on prison construction and other investments. Read the full report