Legislative Update Week 8: Crossover Chaos

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Crossover day last week saw a lot of the really terrible bills, and also many of the best we were hoping to move, hit the recycle bin. With only a few days left in the session, every call or email to our legislators, and our governor, is vitally important for the bills that remain.

And make sure to call Governor Jim Justice asking him to veto the PEIA bill which passed! Some spouses may lose their coverage and all our rates will go up!

Let’s face it. What goes on under the dome affects each of us, our friends, our neighbors, our families. Keep reading to find out more. And be sure to check our events calendar for opportunities for learning and action in the final coming days of the WV Legislative Session.

Keep Those Memberships Coming! You are the Action in Citizen Action and when you make those calls to legislators and send in that green energy to support the work. It’s a real morale boost when the going gets tough! So thank you for taking a minute to join or renew your membership!

Crossover Chaos
The House passed 264 of their bills and the Senate sent 235 over to the House. Bills that never moved across the aisle are now in the recycling bin, that is unless they get amended into another bill that’s still moving. Now the race continues until midnight this Saturday, when all activity of the 2023 legislative session grinds to a halt.
Tagged: ARPA, Budget priorities, Fair taxation, Health Insurance, Healthcare, Medicaid, Oil and Gas, Pollution, Prescription Drug Prices, water quality

PEIA Bill A Hard New Reality for Public Employees and Their Families
If you are a PEIA member who makes $28,101 to $38,101 per year, your premium will go up from $234 to $294.83 a month. With an extra $147 a month for a spouse who chooses PEIA over their own employer-provided insurance. That raises the monthly premium to $441.83. Border counties have to pay an even higher premium with 10% more. If you are a non-Medicare retiree, expect your premium to go up around 7%.
Tagged: Health Insurance, Healthcare, Medicare

Climate Eye – Week 8
E-Day at the Capitol, PFAS Protection Act, Office of Oil & Gas funding, Public Lands, Nuclear Energy, Forest Carbon, Pleasants Power Station and more!
Tagged: Clean Energy, Oil and Gas, Pollution, water quality

An Affordable Medicaid Buy-In, plus Lowering Prescription and Insulin Prices NOW
HB 3274 is a Bridge to Financial Stability and Better Health! Also, Don’t Make West Virginians Wait Another Year for Help with High Prescription and Insulin Prices!
Tagged: Healthcare, Medicaid, Prescription Drug Prices

Protest Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills: 2PM, March 9th
Show up to the WV State Capital Thursday, March 9th at 2pm to protest the anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced and passed this legislative session. It’s time to show our lawmakers that West Virginia's LGBTQ+ community and allies will not tolerate these attacks.
Tagged: Discrimination, Healthcare, Inequality, Kids and families

WV Poor People’s Campaign Mass Rally: WV Mothers & Families Deserve Answers – 11AM, March 10th
Join the West Virginia mothers and families of those who have died in our regional jails, along with the West Virginia Poor People’s Campaign and partners, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, other clergy, and impacted people, to demand justice and a full investigation of our jails from the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice!
Tagged: Incarceration, Justice, Kids and families, Poverty