- 2009 Public Policy Priorities -

Introduction

Citizen participation in government decision making is vital to our democracy and to good public policy. The Public Policy Issue Priorities of the West Virginia Council of Churches are developed with input from faith-based and citizens groups within West Virginia and distributed to legislative and government officials involved in the legislative process.

Recognizing the pressures placed upon our legislators by many forces and community needs, we are committed to supporting public servants in the difficult task of governing. We hope our public policy issue priorities are beneficial in the process.

We call upon our decision makers to recognize that all public policy, including the state (and federal) budget, have a moral overtone. Especially as they affect the lives of children and the destitute who do not have a vote or voice.

In this regard, based on concern for the dignity and wellbeing of all God's children and creation, the West Virginia Council of Churches promotes a Christian witness on public policy issues.

Statements contained in this publication were developed by the Council's Government Concerns and Peace and Justice Program Units and adopted by the Council's Board of Directors in December, 2008.

Contact Information

The Reverend Dennis D. Sparks, Executive Director
West Virginia Council of Churches
2207 Washington Street East
Charleston WV 25311-2218
phone 304.344.3141, cell 304-546-7013, fax 304.342.1506, e-mail dsparks@wvcc.org.

Hope for Children

The West Virginia Council of Churches believes children are a priority for government. We are concerned that, during this era of budget cutbacks, the many needed and positive governmental programs to protect the children's safety net are subject to the budget ax. We support the goal of reducing childhood poverty in West Virginia by 50% by 2020.

Our support for children calls us oppose federal and state cuts to TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) because those cuts would directly deny our children who often have the greatest need. We especially focus our concerns in the following areas:

Early Childhood Care and Education

The first years of life are the most important in the intellectual, emotional and social development of children. Child care workers should be compensated in accordance with this responsibility and calling. We endorse four-year-old-kindergarten, In-Home Family Education, and the expansion of community-based programs that prevent child abuse and improve the quality of childcare and parenting. Currently one child in fifty in West Virginia suffers abuse.

Children's Health Coverage

We congratulate the Legislature and state officials for the excellent progress West Virginia has made in providing health coverage through Medicaid and CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) to about 171,856 children living in families earning at or below 220 percent of the federal poverty level. We are especially encouraged by recent actions from the governor and the CHIP Board to increase the level to 250% and note that expanding the program to 300% of the federal poverty level would provide the opportunity for health care for an additional 400 children.

• We support modernizing our school health system by coordinating and integrating school health with available community services. We support additional funding for school-based health clinics.

• We support efforts to make healthier food choices available in our schools.

• We support protecting our children's health by prohibiting the sale of cigarettes in less than a full pack.

Long School Bus Rides

The West Virginia Council of Churches supports legislation to define reasonable travel time for bus transportation to school for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Child Welfare

Three Hundred and thirty-one of 3,381 of West Virginia's children/youth in out-of-home care receive services outside the state as of August 31, 2008. That number reflects a reduction from 14% to 9.8% in four years. Out of the many factors leading to this positive trend are the combined efforts to increase the number of foster families within West Virginia. The West Virginia Council of Churches continues to call upon the State to send children/youth out of state only in special circumstances, for which the state should provide justification. An investment in foster care helps facilitate more adoptions, more normalcy, less out of state care and an overall reduction of the cost of care on a per child basis; therefore we also call for an increased investment in building family based foster care.

When marriages result in divorce, and in cases where children are born to parents out of wedlock, the foremost interest regarding child custody decisions should be what is in the best interests of the child as they grow to adulthood.  We support child custody laws that do not place restrictions on the consideration of each of family's unique circumstances when determining child custody arrangements.

All victims of family violence should have a safe environment, counsel, and support befitting our covenant with the human community.

Health Care

Affordable Health Care

The West Virginia Council of Churches encourages the Legislature to develop legislation that would ensure adequate health care coverage for all West Virginians including an expansion in the area of behavioral health. We endorse the six principles for insuring the people of our state proposed by West Virginians for Affordable Health are:

1. Affordable health insurance is of major importance for the future well-being of West Virginia, and everyone in West Virginia- "everyone" including not only individuals but government and employers - should share responsibility in arriving at the goal of affordable health insurance for all.

2. Continuing double-digit health care inflation is unsustainable for West Virginia's government, employers, and tax-payers. These groups must work together for meaningful cost containment.

3. The current inequality among payers where some pay below cost while others pay substantially more for the same service is unfair, and a fair system where all payers pay at least the actual cost of service should be created.

4. The private insurance market which permits some insurers to avoid risk is fundamentally flawed and requires reform.

5. Individuals have a responsibility to take care of their health and become informed about the proper and judicious use of the health care system.

6. West Virginia should create a Governor's Office on Health Care to oversee the health care system and ensure affordable health care coverage.

We support recommendations from Select Subcommittee D, which moves health care delivery system toward a patient-centered, medical home and expands health insurance to the uninsured.

We also support adequate funding for the implementation of an electronic medical records system. EMRs are a critical component of a patient-centered medical home delivery system.

Prescription Drugs

We support the strengthening and implementation of the Prescription Drug Availability and Affordability Act, recognizing that many citizens still do not have access to affordable prescription drugs. We believe that drug companies should be required to report their expenses spent on advertising and promoting particular prescription drugs to physicians and other prescribers. Any prescriber who receives more than $100 in detailing expenses should be identified.

Workers' Health Care

We also support legislative safeguards to ensure that funds designated for workers' health care and provided to contractors on state-funded projects are actually used for that purpose.

Medicaid

As the primary medical payer for children in poverty in West Virginia, Medicaid provides an essential service and investment for the future of the state. Additionally, Medicaid is the primary health insurance for indigent elderly who most often entrusted their health care to the state in exchange for releasing their rights to their property. As the State makes changes in the Medicaid program many citizens have become vulnerable to having less coverage when much more is needed. In the case that State requires consumers to choose between a "basic" and "enhanced" program, we call upon the State to fully inform participants about the program and make all "consumers" eligible for the enhanced benefit. We encourage the Legislature to expand Medicaid to cover more West Virginians and to take advantage of the maximum federal match.

We also encourage the Legislature to explore ways to increase Medicaid eligibility for adults from the current 30 percent of poverty level to 200 percent of poverty level.

Dental Practice

Tooth decay is the most prevalent chronic childhood disease and untreated oral infection can result in a lifetime of poor health. We support legislation that improves access to dental care, particularly in underserved areas. We support improved outreach and reimbursement of oral health for children on Medicaid. Extending oral health benefits to pregnant women enrolled in PEIA and Medicaid will lead to better birth outcomes and help reduce the rate of premature labor and low-birth weight babies.

Tobacco Use

The West Virginia Council of Churches supports efforts to reduce smoking in West Virginia by raising the excise tax on cigarettes, as well as on smokeless tobacco, and adopting and enforcing laws restricting secondary smoke in public places.

Long-Term Care of Seniors

The West Virginia Council of Churches supports efforts to change law and policy to protect vulnerable and destitute elderly citizens in need of long-term nursing care. We also support adequate funding for important in-home care for seniors.

Adequate Living for All

Eliminate poverty

• The West Virginia Council of Churches boldly believes poverty is inexcusable in our nation of plenty. We will support and endorse legislation that stimulates the economy by including opportunity for all West Virginians and by reducing the growing chasm between the working poor and the wealthiest of Americans.

• We support the establishment and full state funding of a separate program for higher education for WV Works recipients.

Support for Working People

We support workers' rights to organize a union and to engage in collective bargaining. We oppose intimidation, retaliation, forced meetings, and other coercive actions by employers or unions aimed at threatening or limiting the right to organize.

We call upon the Legislature to support working people in our state through the following:

• We support the expansion by legislation to provide a living wage for all workers.

• Allow tax incentives only for companies that provide wages and benefits in line with the West Virginia Self-Sufficiency Standard

• Continue to study ways to reduce or eliminate the food tax and replace it with another source of revenue.

• We support legislation that will ensure paid sick leave for employees.

• We support the creation of a state system of universal voluntary accounts to enable working people to achieve retirement security.

• We support continual enforcement of the prevailing wage laws.

• We support adequate pay for those who work with the most vulnerable: children, the poor, the elderly, and the disabled.

Funds for Winter Heating

We call upon the Governor's Office, Public Service Commission and Department of Health and Human Resources to closely monitor any increases in costs of electricity, natural gas and coal, which our citizens use to provide heat in winter.

We call for an oversight committee to be sure that the laws are followed regarding any shut-offs of service. We are encouraged by government and community efforts to provide energy assistance and recommend that funds continue to be appropriated in the state budget to help low-income and fixed-income persons with heating expenses.

Economic Development Accountability

West Virginia taxpayers provide millions of dollars each year for state and local economic development incentives. We support greater accountability for and disclosure of these incentives to ensure the creation of quality jobs and an adequate return on taxpayer investment.

Minority Issues

In 2002 the West Virginia Legislature took the needed step to create the Select Committee On Minority Issues that called upon state officials to address the racial disparities in the areas of civil rights, health, education, housing, social issues, employment, economic development and criminal and juvenile justice systems. The report made 36 recommendations. The West Virginia Council of Churches supports the NAACP 2008 Resolution on Economic Development and calls upon the Legislature and the Governor to reconvene the Select Committee and hold a public hearing to evaluate the progress in implementing the recommendations and to reestablish enforcement of the needed commitments.

Civil Liberties

People of whatever sexual orientation must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.

Public Life

Substance Abuse

We support preventive policies and treatment programs that address the problem of substance abuse in our state, including outpatient counseling, inpatient treatment, and residential programs.

Reform of Election Campaign Financing

Faced with many monumental decisions, it is imperative that our government decision makers be free from powerful and wealthy special interest contributors that increasingly dominate elections and legislative decisions.

Reform focuses upon public financing of elections, freeing our Legislature and Judiciary to be informed, to listen to their voter constituency, and to search their own conscience. Public financing will help restore citizen confidence in government decision making. We further support stricter accountability and transparency for campaign finances, including independent expenditures and electioneering communications.

Gambling

The West Virginia Council of Churches stands against any expansion of state-supported or private gambling enterprises in West Virginia. The state's dependence upon gambling revenue promotes an industry that takes money away from the mainstream economy within the state and channels it to investors elsewhere. We call upon the legislature and the governor to restrict the number of highly addictive video lottery machines and to ensure laws regarding the placement of these machines are strictly enforced.

Any attempt to place gambling issues before the voters should go to the entire state.

We support adequate and permanent financing for the Problem Gamblers Help Network and the placement of this program under the auspices of the Bureau of Behavioral Health instead of the Lottery Commission.

We condemn the practices of cockfighting and animal fighting and support the enforcement of penalties for those engaged in such activities.

Reducing the Prison Population

The West Virginia Council of Churches endorses efforts by the Division of Corrections to develop community correction (alternative sentencing) programs to address the overpopulation in our prisons. We believe it is time for our government and society to be smart on crime and crime prevention as our toughness on crime has failed our people and our society.

• We call upon the state Legislature to reduce the prison population by continuing the expansion of community corrections and by reducing sentences for the majority of the low-risk prison population. We seek to break the pipeline between juvenile and adult prison systems by providing alternative, community-based programs for juveniles. We encourage that juveniles be tried only under the juvenile system.

• We believe that preventing crime through education, substance abuse and jobs programs is being smarter as well as tough on crime.

• We encourage the Legislature to make positive improvements to the parole system so that more low-risk prisoners are granted parole, including increasing the amount of parole officers.

• We call for the elimination of excessive sentences by the standardization of sentencing.

• We call upon the Legislature and the West Virginia criminal justice system to expand the use of Day Report Centers as part of the process for paroling prisoners.

We believe that Corrections is a proper function of the government and oppose any privatization of West Virginia prisons either state or federally operated. We encourage the state to consider both alternative sentencing and parole revision before planning and developing a new state prison in West Virginia. For additional information and concerns refer to the 2009 Report: Concerns and Recommendations for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Regional Jail Authority: Really Getting Tough on Crime Prevention

by Dealing With Criminals in a Smarter Way at www.wvcc.org.

Opposition to Death Penalty

The West Virginia Council of Churches continues to urge the Governor and the Legislature to oppose the reinstatement of the death penalty. The death penalty demeans human life and does not deter crime.

Family Heritage and Sacred Spaces

We support legislation protecting the sacredness and integrity of West Virginia family cemeteries and other sacred places from encroachment by mineral extraction, logging, and business or residential development.

Consumer Issues

We support legislation that addresses the abuses of the credit reporting system. We support the creation of an independent insurance consumer advocate position.

Support for Military Families

We encourage the Legislature to provide adequate funding for the support of returning soldiers and their families, including treatment for post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and addictive behavior.

Environmental Quality

Renewable Energy

We encourage our leaders to embrace the economic opportunity and job creation offered by developing and implementing clean and renewable energy sources and construction principles. We urge the Legislature to adopt a renewable energy portfolio standard for West Virginia.

Water Issues

West Virginia has some of the finest streams and groundwater resources in the world.

• We support policies that would ensure water quality and quantity issues are thoroughly addressed, and that public input is sought at all stages.

Potable water is becoming an increasingly critical resource.

• We encourage the state and its agencies to adopt the federal Clean Water Act standards. We support the highest level of protection possible for our finest streams.

• We urge the Legislature to support more water projects to provide clean water to families in West Virginia.

We applaud the state's search for renewable energy alternatives.

We encourage recognition that the coal-to-liquids process uses excessive amounts of our precious water

We call upon the state to encourage the maintenance of municipal and county ownership of public utilities and to resist privatization of this essential resource.

Standards for mercury and other toxic metals should not be compromised, as these elements pose many dangers to human health, and especially the health of our children.

Coal Slurry Injection and Impoundments

The West Virginia Council of Churches encourages the protection of communities adjacent to coal slurry impoundments. We support the completion of the DEP/DHHR study of the underground injection of slurry and other hazardous materials mandated by the Legislature in 2007. We join others in calling for a moratorium on slurry injection and on expansion of existing impoundments and construction of new ones.

Mountaintop Removal

As people of faith, called upon by our covenant with God and each other to safeguard and care deeply for what God has created, we cannot stand by while our mountains are being devastated. The destruction caused by mountain top removal mining, as presently practiced, is unprecedented and permanent. We believe the 1977 Surface Mining Reclamation and Control Act was intended to put an end to the abuses of surface mining, not to further them. Therefore, we deplore recent changes to the rules governing this law that may actually serve to promote mountain top removal. We have, in the past, called for the strictest possible enforcement of SMCRA (Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977) and the Clean Water Act. We strongly renew that call for enforcement, believing that if the law is fully enforced, the terrible damage of large-scale mountaintop removal will end. (The full text of the Council's statement on this topic is available at www.wvcc.org)

We call for citizen representation on the Surface Mine Board.

Recycling

The West Virginia Council of Churches supports a "bottle bill" requiring deposits on aluminum, glass and plastic containers to help eliminate roadside waste and to create jobs.

Air Quality

The West Virginia Council of Churches supports improved air quality for all West Virginians. We encourage the Legislature to adopt improved standards for electrical power plants, diesel vehicles, cars and trucks (including school buses), and fuel pumping stations.

We encourage the state government to downsize to smaller vehicles or hybrids whenever feasible. We encourage the Legislature to enact tax incentives for the purchase of hybrid vehicles and the installation of household renewable energy systems such as wind, solar, and geothermal.

We encourage the Legislature to follow up on implementing a baseline carbon emissions study for West Virginia.

Fair Treatment of Surface Landowners

Due to increased exploration for oil and natural gas and the fact that much of the ownership of the underground mineral wealth has been severed from the surface titles, West Virginians owning only the surface of their property are experiencing greater impacts on their environment, health and way of life with little say about how the exploration for oil, gas and other minerals affects their land. We encourage the Legislature to strengthen protection for landowners whose property is under development for oil and gas by enacting a Surface Owner's Rights Act.

Federal Legislation

While the West Virginia Council of Churches primarily provides education and Christian witness on statewide public policy concerns, we also are concerned about several actions needed by the U.S. Congress.

Wilderness

We endorse the West Virginia Christian religious leaders' statement for care for creation and the protection of additional wilderness in our beautiful state. As Jesus often drew apart to wild places to pray, we recognize their importance to the human spirit. (Supporting documents available at http://www.christiansforthemountains.org.)

Disaster Response/FEMA

The West Virginia Council of Churches calls upon Congress to:

Address the accessibility and cost of flood insurance, including the accuracy of policy rating; thus making the purchase of flood insurance more affordable to those in high risk areas. To address accessibility we encourage Congress to require insurance agents to offer flood insurance coverage whenever a home owner's policy is offered or renewed. After every disaster, we encounter flood victims who have been informed by their insurance agents that flood insurance was not available. To address affordability, we encourage Congress to investigate the administrative costs of the Write Your Own program. Modern technology should allow flood insurance policies to be administered more economically thus reducing the cost of flood insurance. To address accuracy we encourage Congress to: (1) investigate the feasibility of subjecting a percentage of each agents policies to review, with penalties for agents who consistently miss-rate policies;

(2) closely monitor the impact the changes in the FEMA Emergency Support Functions, especially ESF # 6 (Mass Care, Emergency Assistance, Housing & Human Services) has on disaster victims.

The Need for New Corporate Bankruptcy Laws

The West Virginia Council of Churches calls upon Congress to adopt new corporate bankruptcy laws that provide protections to workers when corporate bankruptcies are filed. In West Virginia, steelworkers and miners have unjustly lost earned benefits in recent bankruptcies.

Corporate bankruptcies not only place an undue hardship on workers and local communities but also place an unfair burden on the federal and state governments to utilize tax dollars to provide benefits that previously were the responsibility of corporations and their pension funds. This process breaks faith with employees who have served a company for many years and are counting on the promised pensions and benefits.

Social Security

We support strengthening and protecting the Social Security system and its funding. This has for decades been our most successful national safety net program, and should not be privatized. Funds could be increased both by raising the minimum wage and by lifting the cap on taxable income.

Clean Water Protection Act

We oppose the redefinition of "waste" and changes to the Buffer Zone Rule that are permitting hazardous materials to be dumped into our waterways. We support policies that will protect clean drinking water for all citizens.

Energy Policy

We call on the federal government to develop a national energy policy that will protect our environment, disentangle the US from unstable regions of the world, and create an economy that enables sustainable and equitable economic prosperity.

Health Care for America

We support organizations that will

• Guarantee care and coverage for everyone

• Provide standard comprehensive benefits with a choice of doctors and public or private plans

• Provide affordable coverage and costs based on family income

• Provide rules for insurance companies requiring them to put health first

Restore Anti-Poverty TANF Dollars

The West Virginia Council of Churches calls upon Congress to restore needed funds for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.

TANF serves as a federal/state partnership vehicle to help children by helping parents, especially single mothers, with job training, education (which should be included as a qualifying work activity for TANF participants), transportation, clothing and childcare.

Keep Medicaid as an Entitlement

The West Virginia Council of Churches calls upon the U.S. Congress to maintain Medicaid as an entitlement program. In Congress, there seems to be an effort to change Medicaid to a state block grant. While this effort may offer the states more flexibility on budget control, it places at risk elderly and other persons in need of Medicaid assistance. Entitlement assures funding for those at risk.

Protect Rural Way of Life

When rural communities succeed, the nation does better, and cities and suburbs have more resources on which to build. Conversely, when rural communities falter, it drains the nation's prosperity and limits what we can accomplish together. We now face the challenges of how we sustain fuel, feed, and nurture both ourselves and a fragile world. A vital rural America has a contribution to make in this effort and the responsibility to take on that endeavor.

The West Virginia Council of Churches calls upon the U.S. Congress to reform our nation's farm policy that continues to threaten the livelihoods of farmers in this state, in the U.S. and rob farmers abroad of the opportunity to benefit from trade. The farm policy should authentically address the issue of low crop prices rather than perpetuate a system of dependence and overproduction. We support a farm policy that will help family farmers save their farms, feed their families and educate their children. It is time sow justice on family farms everywhere.

Homelessness

We support a broad strategy to prevent and address homelessness in our nation. We support legislation that will help communities define and respond to homelessness in rural, urban, and suburban areas. We support agency flexibility in allowing communities to respond appropriately to the needs of children, youth, families, and veterans.

The War in Iraq

The West Virginia Council of Churches has great concern for the men and women our country has sent to Iraq. These are not only soldiers and military members but our sons and daughters, co-workers, neighbors and fellow participants in our houses of worship. Their families remain with us as the military members depart in service to our country. Over 14,000 West Virginians have been deployed during this conflict.

As vulnerability of our military members has escalated, resulting in nearly 4200 American deaths - fifteen of whom were from West Virginia - and countless thousands of Iraqis dead:

• We call upon the U.S. Congress and president to establish a withdrawal plan for our troops.

• We are also obliged to recognize that the massive costs of the war are continually siphoning off our nations funds and resources which are greatly needed for the kinds of programs we support in this country.

• We oppose pre-emptive strikes against other nations. Such aggression is not in keeping with Christian teachings.

We believe that the gospel teaching, "Blessed are the peacemakers," calls us to take this action.

Campaign Against Torture

We support policies that prohibit torture and other abusive and degrading treatment that violate human dignity. Torture degrades everyone involved - perpetrators, policymakers, and victims. Policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are morally intolerable.

Immigration Reform

The West Virginia Council of Churches advocates for comprehensive reform of the U.S. immigration system.  We believe any legislation to reform the immigration system must affirm the worth, dignity and inherent value and rights of migrants and must include:

• An opportunity for legal status for all undocumented migrants. Any such pathways to legal status should have minimal obstacles and those requirements should not be designed to preclude migrants from eligibility for legal status.

• Provisions for clearing the backlog and reuniting families separated by
  migration or detainment.

• An increase in the number of visas for short term workers to come and work in the United States in a safe, legal and orderly way. Opportunities for legalization should be available for those who wish to remain permanently.

• Protections for short-term workers, as well as those who come to stay permanently. The right to bargain for higher wages, protest against unsafe working conditions and to preserve human rights should be maintained by all workers documented or undocumented alike.

• Elimination of privately-operated detention centers which are not regulated by federal or state governments.

• Elimination of indefinite detention, incarceration of children, and expanding the prison population, which also benefits privately owned detention facilities and prisons.

• Preservation of due process and access to the courts and to adequate legal representation for all migrants regardless of legal status.

Published by the
West Virginia Council of Churches Inc.
2207 Washington Street East, Charleston WV 25311-2218
www.wvcc.org