Please read on about 2 bad bills moving in the Legislature and
contact your legislators and tell them to vote no. Each legislators'
phone number and a link to email can be accessed at
https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Senate1/roster.cfm [1] and
https://www.wvlegislature.gov/House/roster.cfm
SB565 pertains to elections and has passed the House and will move
to the Senate. The worst aspects are that it includes none of the
reforms that contributed to the high turnouts in 2020, such as no-excuse
absentee voting or having drop boxes for absentee ballot requests and
ballots, and worse, it pretty much guts the Automatic Voter Registration
at DMV bill that passed a few years ago but has yet to be implemented.
It also moves the dates for early in-person voting back so that the
Saturday before Election Day, the most popular day for early voting, is
eliminated. This bill reflects the wish list of the Secretary of State
and includes a few acceptable changes, but the bad far outweighs the
good. The League has been involved in discussions along with other
pro-voter organizations with the Secretary's election staff advocating
for voter-friendly changes, to no avail. The LWVWV priority on taxation
for this session was that the LWVWV _Supports measures that modernize
the elections process, allow more efficient procedures for election
officials, and give voters easier access to voting such as making
permanent the expanded voting options that were available during the
pandemic in 2020._
HB3300 is the House's version of the governor's plan to phase out
the state income tax. It is on second reading in the House today. While
the House's bill phases the tax out more gradually than the governor's
plan, there is no way it could make up for the lost revenue without
drastic cuts in funding to already strapped agencies and programs. Many
West Virginians earn too little to pay income taxes and will see
increases in sales taxes. Cutting and eliminating the state income tax
will benefit the well-off while raising taxes and cutting services for
people who are struggling. The LWVWV priority on taxation for this
session was that the LWVWV _Supports reforms of the West Virginia tax
system that are broadly based, rely on diverse revenue sources, provide
adequate, stable yield sufficient to provide essential services, and
treat taxpayers fairly._
For more information on both bills, Citizen Action Group has
up-to-date information: wvcag.org or type in the bill number (digits
only) at the Legislature's Bill Statue site:
https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bill_status.cfm
Kathy Stoltz
Links:
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[1] https://mom.bikelover.org/#NOP
