The WVMA is the manufacturers voice to the 134 members of the Legislature and to other public policy makers. We focus on issues that only affect manufacturers, and we speak as a unified bloc for our members.
In the past few years, we have been instrumental in the following:
Reform to our Workers’ Compensation program, which resulted in privatization of the program. This has translated to lower premiums and has put more focus on safety. Additionally, WVMA now offers an Association Program for our members. If you are a member of WVMA, have a good safety record and are insured with BrickStreet, you receive a discount on your premiums.
Stabilization of our Unemployment Compensation Fund. During the 2009 legislative session it became apparent the UC fund was going to run out of funds, unless there were changes to the program. WVMA supported changes that would solidify the fund and position West Virginia so that we would not have to borrow funds from the federal government. To date, many other states have borrowed billions of dollars from the feds that will have to be repaid, with interest.
Manufacturing Inventory Tax Credit legislation was passed in 2008, effective in 2010, that provides a 100% tax credit to manufacturers only, on their inventory tax. The credit is applied against the CNIT and BF taxes. This was a savings of approximately $22 million to West Virginia manufacturers.
The Marcellus Development Act of 2011 was just passed during the 2011 session. This will provide incentives for companies who use product produced by an ethane cracker. This legislation has the ability to help revitalize manufacturing in the Chemical Alliance and Polymer Alliance Zones.
Environmental regulations dealing with air and water were amended during this legislative session to provide that our manufacturers did not have to comply with strict standards on TDS which some companies could not meet, and for others, it would have meant hundreds of thousands of dollars to comply with standards that have not been vetted. We were also successful in getting a sunset clause in the GHG reg, which would provide that, if the federal government does not regulate GHG, then the state of WV could not regulate either.
