The Senate Finance Committee advanced legislation Thursday morning that would eliminate the state’s soda tax on July 1, 2024, while creating a new funding source for the state’s three medical schools.
Senate Bill 533 removes the one cent tax that has funded the WVU School of Medicine since the tax’s inception in 1951. In place of the tax, the legislation creates a funding stream for WVU, the Marshall School of Medicine and the West Virginia Osteopathic School of Medicine from the existing state Insurance Premium Tax.
As written in the legislation, under the new plan, WVU would receive $14 million, Marshall $5.5 million, and the Osteopathic School would receive $3.9 million.
The bill now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.
