Five steps lawmakers could take now to tackle West Virginians’ pressing issues

Drawing from our coverage more than half way through the session, here are five things lawmakers could take action on that the average West Virginians we’ve interviewed would see as positive steps:

1. Adopt the RAND recommendations to improve education

Schools across the state have been closing or consolidating and districts face mass layoffs. Lawmakers could pass legislation to provide more funding.Ìý

On the first day of the session, lawmakers in the House of Delegates heard a presentation from the RAND Corporation on ways to improve public school funding.Ìý

Researchers with RAND concluded the state’s school funding formula — which allocates state money based on school enrollment — could provide additional resources based on the population of students living in poverty or who are classified as needing special education.Ìý

A bill in the Senate would give more funding based on special education status. It passed the Senate Education Committee last week and is now pending in the finance committee. The Department of Education estimates it would cost $45 million.Ìý

The Hope Scholarship, the state’s expansive school voucher program, is expected to cost $230 million in the state budget. The program will expand eligibility for all students in the 2026-2027 school year.Ìý

RAND suggested putting a cap on the Hope Scholarship based on family income, as a way to control the costs of the program.Ìý  

So far, Democrats in both chambers introduced four bills to put an income cap on the program, but none of the Republican committee chairs  have placed them on their agendas.Ìý

However, the House Finance Committee is contemplating a bill that would put a flat $5,250 cap on each scholarship, freezing it near the current amount and preventing it from increasing

2. Give back community control of local data center projects 

Last year, the Legislature passed a bill stripping local control and transparency surrounding data center projects. Residents in communities where data centers are proposed have organized and fought the projects.Ìý

Prior to the session, Senate President Randy Smith indicated that he would be willing to revisit the sweeping data center law passed last year. He has not yet introduced a bill to do so. Instead, lawmakers are on track to pass a set of rules that will keep most aspects of data center development hidden from the public.Ìý

Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, introduced a bill that would restore local control over data center projects to cities and counties. Delegate Chris Anders, R-Berkeley, introduced a bill that would ban data centers from using groundwater. Committee chairs have not placed these bills on their agendas.

3. Freeze electricity rates

West Virginians are continuing to struggle to afford their power bills. Following repeated rate increases approved by state regulators at the Public Service Commission, residents have had to tighten their budgets to get by.

Halfway through the legislative session, lawmakers have kept rate-freeze proposals in committee and have not brought any to the chamber floor for a vote.Ìý 

One bill would freeze rates until July 2027, if passed. Another would freeze rates for a year, while also requiring state regulators to study how to lower rates and present their findings to the legislature.

Lawmakers from both parties have introduced bills to curb rising power costs or increase oversight of the Public Service Commission, the agency that approves utility rate increases.Ìý

Delegate Bill Anderson, R-Wood, chairman of the House Energy and Public Works committee, has not placed rate-freeze proposals on his agenda and signaled he wouldn't last month. Instead, he’s focused on increasing power generation capacity at the state’s power plants to lower long-term costs.Ìý

One energy-related bill that passed the House this month would update reporting requirements for utilities modernizing their electrical grids. It doesn't address rising customer bills.Ìý

Meanwhile, lawmakers have pushed legislation that would increase coal and natural gas production, even as neighboring states that have invested more heavily in renewables are seeing reductions in customers’ monthly electric bills.

In Virginia, Appalachian Power customers will now save $10 a month on their electric bills in part due to lower energy costs and increased investment in renewable energy sources.Ìý

4. Put $250 million in new money toward water projects in the southern coalfields

Before the beginning of the session, advocates and lawmakers were discussing a bill to address chronic drinking water issues in the southern part of the state, where West Virginians have been boiling water or having it shipped into their communities — some waiting years for clean drinking water.Ìý

The proposal was bold: take $250 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund and spend it on outstanding water projects in nine counties in the southern coalfields.Ìý

Lawmakers have severely scaled back the amount they’re willing to invest in water projects. Instead, they have introduced two bills that, if passed, could give up to $20 million in additional funding for water projects.Ìý

But the initial proposal isn’t completely dead. Delegate Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, submitted a bill on the second-to-last day to introduce in the House of Delegates that would change the law to allow lawmakers to use Rainy Day money on water projects in the southern coalfields.Ìý

5. Help people work by subsidizing housing and child care

West Virginians are struggling with a lack of affordable housing, driven by a lack of supply. And without stable housing, people can’t work. Meanwhile, the state has too many crumbling abandoned buildings that need funding to be torn down for new developments.Ìý

Lawmakers could help address the state’s housing crisis by introducing legislation to encourage the development of more affordable housing. They could also tweak the state’s BUILD WV program to include a cap on home or rent prices to help West Virginians afford them.Ìý

To date, lawmakers have not passed housing-focused legislation in either Chamber to help West Virginians afford places to live.

West Virginians also need child care to work. It remains one of the largest barriers to people taking or applying for jobs, according to a state workforce development plan.Ìý

Statewide, parents and families are facing long waitlists as child care centers face worker shortages and a lack of reimbursement funding.Ìý

Lawmakers have introduced several proposals to help supplement providers and grow the number of child care workers. Still, they’ve either failed to move them out of committees or committee chairs haven’t added them to agendas.

One bill would subsidize child care for child care workers who work at least part-time and cover some of the costs for education and training.Ìý

Sen. Brian Helton, R-Fayette, who chairs the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee, has not yet placed the bill on his agenda. He said his primary focus is child welfare, but he still could consider child care legislation later.