Letters to the Editor

SB 613 Bad for West Virginia

Editor, News-Register: Senate Bill 613 ignores our state health plan and 50 years of proven health care planning by essentially eliminating Certificate of Need (CON) and allowing any hospital to provide any service they wish on the “campus” of their hospital. The authors of this bill are attempting to completely gut CON by changing critical definitions that ensure need-based decisions and access to high quality, affordable care. These changes were proposed in legislation the past two to three legislative sessions by Thomas Memorial Hospital. The Senate in previous ...

Protect Youth From Big Tobacco

Editor, News-Register: As a grandparent, I am concerned about Big Tobacco’s enormous toll on our state. If nothing is done to reduce tobacco use, 47,000 West Virginia kids under 18 will ultimately die prematurely from smoking. West Virginia can and must do better. I am calling on Sen.Mike Maroney to increase funding to $16.5 million for the state’s tobacco prevention and cessation program. Our lawmakers can and must do better to protect West Virginia youth from Big Tobacco. A well-funded, fact-based tobacco control program is needed to counteract the millions of dollars that ...

Fix Mineral Rights Valuations

Editor, News-Register: Thanks to the Ohio County Commission for coordinating the Gas Royalty Meeting with the WV State Tax Dept held Feb. 16th, giving us a voice and allowing gas/oil lease holders to vent frustration regarding the outrageously flawed and unfair tax formula. How taxing us on estimations and projections totally disregards true evaluations. No consideration is given to low production, low product cost and capped wells. How can this practice be stopped? We’re aware legislators are not going to intervene. As a matter of fact, they are responsible for ...

Don’t Allow Vaccine Exemptions

Editor, News-Register: As a parent of two and an educator, I am troubled by the discussion surrounding SB 535, creating religious and philosophical exemption for school-required immunizations. West Virginia has one of the most effective school immunization policies in the nation. Over the last several years, four states (California, New York, Maine and Connecticut) have mirrored their school immunization requirements on ours after their states experienced outbreaks of measles that resulted in hospitalizations. This is not a partisan issue; this is a public health issue. These ...

Pass Income Tax Cut in W.Va.

Editor, News-Register: West Virginians have been left behind for too long when it comes to receiving the tax relief they deserve. Our status as one of the only two states that levy an income tax to not meaningfully reduce taxes since 2021 must change rapidly. It is time for policymakers to ensure citizens in the Mountain State are able to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks. The research on the myriad positive benefits of transformational cuts to the personal income tax clearly indicate that putting money back into the pockets of every West Virginia worker should be the ...

CROWN Act Not Right for City

Editor, News-Register: City Council member Dave Palmer stated that passing the CROWN Act will not impact our city. I beg to differ with him! We have lawyers on our city council. They of all people know the true impact of this type of city regulation. On this Tuesday, if they pass this, all employers and organizations in the city of Wheeling will be vulnerable to endless lawsuits! If someone that is not hired, loses their job, is restricted from any variety of things and has a different type of head dress or hair style, then all that they have to do is file a lawsuit. This ...