Our Children, Our Future Campaign preps for next legislative session

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Those with the Our Children, Our Future Campaign, a coalition of more than 100 partners focused on ending child poverty in West Virginia, are already looking ahead to the 2016 Regular Legislative Session.

“Always we want to do some immediate things to make a difference, but think ahead to how we can improve things in the long haul,” said Rick Wilson with the American Friends Service Committee, AFSC, one of the coalition’s partners.

The Our Children, Our Future Campaign traveled throughout West Virginia to put together this year’s legislative agenda ahead of its January start, gathering input from hundreds of people.

During a review of that agenda with MetroNews following the 60-day session, Wilson noted there was legislative progress on most of the group’s priorities.

Among them — the restoration of funding for kids and family programming, reforms for juvenile justice, especially in the areas of truancy, and the preservation of Medicaid.

Additionally, Wilson counted passage of legislation to create a task force to prevent child sexual abuse as a “win.”

There was a split decision on water protections, though.

Wilson said group members were “disappointed” Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed into law revisions to the 2014 Aboveground Storage Tank Act which was written after the Freedom Industries chemical spill. With it, fewer aboveground storage tanks in West Virginia will be subject to state regulations.

The expansion of early childhood programs, another priority, will be accomplished through a competitive grant for a home visits program, not legislation.

“I think there were plenty of partisan divides in this last session, but speaking just of what’s on the platform — this year, last year, the year before — none of these things have been decided on a pure party-line vote,” said Wilson, director for AFSC’s West Virginia Economic Justice Project.

Past legislative priorities for Our Children, Our Future have included prison reform, Medicaid expansion and raising the minimum wage.

“I think there’s been a real hunger in West Virginia for ways for ordinary citizens to get involved,” Wilson said of their ongoing efforts.

“We’re also looking ahead at really trying to come up with a long-term vision for West Virginia, where we’d like to be, maybe, eight years out, maybe ten, 20, 40 years out to really encourage people to dream big about where we’d like to be.”





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