The Finance Committee met this morning. A committee hearing was held on House Bill 4013, which creates the Mountaineer Flexible Tax Credit Act of 2026. The bill’s sponsor said that this tax credit allows the Department of Commerce to find niche companies to encourage economic development. The tax credit would bring in businesses with opportunities they didn’t have before. The bill is modeled after a bill in Mississippi.
Next, the Appropriations Committee has heard budgets from the Bureau of Senior Services (BOSS) and the Department of Veterans Assistance.
BOSS helps seniors live independently at home and in their communities by providing meals, in-home care, transportation, avocation, and Medicare counseling. They operate in four regional areas, with the Area Agencies on Aging and 55 independent, nonprofit county senior centers.
Over half of the BOSS budget goes to Medicaid Matching to help pay for the Aged and Disabled Waivers and Medicaid Personal Care Programs. The remaining budget goes to meals programs, in-home personal care, senior centers, support services, transportation, caregivers for individuals with dementias, Medicare counselling and health fraud prevention education, nursing home advocates, and resource centers.
BOSS operations have 34 total positions with five vacancies. The administrative costs are $1.55 million, which is 1.3 percent of the budget. The FY27 budget request is $119.26 million.
BOSS does need a new demographic reporting system, as the current one is outdated and not user-friendly. Several centers have deferred maintenance issues that need to be repaired.
The Department of Veterans Assistance serves West Virginia veterans, advocating for them and ensuring they receive their benefits. One in 11 West Virginians is a veteran, and more than half are 65 years old or older. WVDVA receives $3.3 billion in federal funds.
The Department has 15 benefit offices, a veterans’ home, and two veterans nursing facilities. The Donel C. Kinnard Member State Veterans Cemetery is in Institute, and there’s an all-volunteer honor guard that provides full honors to every veteran’s burial. The benefits offices help veterans access benefits, including disability benefits, educational programs, and VA pension benefits.
The WVDVA is requesting additional spending authority of $1.8 million from its special revenue fund for facility maintenance: adding a kitchen and replacing the elevator and chiller at the Clarksburg facility, and replacing the roof at the home in Barboursville. The department is also requesting spending authority of $15,000 to improve the Veterans Cemetery. The WVDVA’s total general revenue request for veterans’ assistance is $15,741,865, and the request for the veteran’s home is $1,9224,239.
