WV Legislative session begins today, State of the State address tonight

Today is the first day of the state legislative session which ends in March. Tonight at 7p Gov. Tomblin will present the State of the State address which you can watch live on WV Public Broadcasting, or stream live online. If you tweet about it with the hashtag #WVSOTS16 your tweets will be aggregated at https://twitter.com/hashtag/WVSOTS16. For more information about coverage of the event see http://wvpublic.org/post/watch-gov-tomblin-delivers-2016-state-state

2016 LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR

First Day - January 13, 2016: First day of session. (WV Const. Art. VI, §18)

Twentieth Day - February 1, 2016: Submission of Legislative Rule-Making Review bills due. (WV Code §29A-3-12)

Forty-first Day - February 22, 2016: Last day to introduce bills in the Senate. Senate Rule 14 does not apply to originating or supplementary appropriation bills, and does not apply to Senate or House resolutions or concurrent resolutions.

Forty-second Day - February 23, 2016: Last day to introduce bills in the House. House Rule 91a does not apply to originating or supplementary appropriation bills, and does not apply to Senate or House resolutions or concurrent resolutions.

Forty-seventh Day - February 28, 2016: Bills due out of committees in house of origin to ensure three full days for readings.

Fiftieth Day - March 2, 2016: Last day to consider bill on third reading in house of origin. Does not include budget or supplementary appropriation bills. (Joint Rule 5, paragraph b)

Sixtieth Day - March 12, 2016: Adjournment at Midnight. (WV Const. Art. VI, §22)

See the WV Legislative Calendar for 2016 here www.legis.state.wv.us/Bulletin_Board/calendar_2016.cfm

WV Future of Aging and Caregiving Taskforce (WVFACT) Legislative Priorities 2016

WVFACT Coordination and Communication Workgroup Sets Priorities for 2016

Letters Sent to West Virginia's Legislators

Shortly before the holidays the Coordination and Communication workgroup, a sub-group of the West Virginia Future of Aging and Caregiving Taskforce (WVFACT), composed and sent letters to state leaders to seek their support on issues identified as priorities.

The letters informed legislators of the issues that the group felt should be of special concern in the coming year for the care of our ever-growing senior population. These concerns mirror many of the goals and initiatives being addressed by AARP-WV in 2016.

As stated in these letters, WVFACT strongly support and ask for our leaders' attention for:

• Increased availability of respite for caregivers and a caregiver tax credit;
• Work place flexibility laws and regulations that provide more paid and unpaid sick leave; to include state improvements to the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): covered employers, covered employee eligibility, length of leave, type of leave allowed;
• Post CARE Act Passage- to put a process in place to ensure the provisions passed last year in the CARE Act are occurring;
• Protect against a significant reduction in the numbers of individuals served, or eligible to receive, Medicaid or state-funded home- and community-based services as demonstrated by a budget bill/regulation, state plan amendment, or waiver;
• Increase the number older people who receive home- and community-based services;
• Adopt or improve navigation systems (ADRCs, single points of entry, options counseling, etc.) that facilitate choice of setting, establish conflict-free care coordination, or utilize uniform assessment tools;
• Increase consumer-directed care, home health, and personal care services;
• Adopt or amend state-managed LTSS programs to improve access, coordination, and integration of LTSS and greater involvement of family caregivers;
• Full Implementation of the Home Care Registry passed several years ago.

The West Virginia Future of Aging and Caregiving Taskforce (WVFACT) is a project of the WV Partnership for Elder Living (WVPEL, Inc.) www.wvpel.org; AARP-WV http://states.aarp.org/region/west-virginia/and other partners.