Latest news with #LauraWakimChapman
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Family caregivers in WV would be eligible for a tax credit, bill sits in Senate Finance
Senate Bill 697, the 'Caregiver Tax Credit Act,' would establish a nonrefundable tax credit for eligible family members for expenditures incurred in their caregiving duties. (Getty Images) Family members caring for aging parents, spouses, veterans and others in West Virginia would be eligible for a tax credit, according to a bill in the Senate. AARP West Virginia backs this bill, estimating that it could help 250,000 caregivers who are helping family members in the state. But as Crossover Day is Wednesday — the day legislation must move out of their chamber of origin — the tax credit bill sits parked in the Senate Finance Committee. 'Family caregivers often face significant out-of-pocket expenses, averaging over $7,200 annually, to ensure their loved ones receive the necessary care,' said Gaylene Miller, AARP West Virginia state director. 'A caregiver tax credit would provide significant financial relief to family caregivers, promoting independence and safety for loved ones, and encouraging more individuals to take on caregiving roles.' The measure, Senate Bill 697, is known as the 'Caregiver Tax Credit Act.' It would establish a nonrefundable tax credit with a maximum of $2,000 for eligible family members 18 years of age and older for eligible expenditures incurred in their caregiving duties. A fiscal note by the state Tax and Revenue Department estimates that the proposed legislation would result in a loss of General Revenue funds of $160 million to $260 million per year beginning in fiscal year 2028. 'While this tax credit will cost the state initially, I believe the savings will more than be made up for it because Medicaid will not have to pay for nursing home residential care,' said Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, R-Ohio, who sponsored the bill. 'Beyond the savings, our elderly deserve to remain in their homes surrounded by their loved ones for as long as possible.' Representatives from AARP West Virginia say their research shows 84% of Republican, Democratic and independent voters support a tax credit for caregivers. 'The caregiver tax credit bill is a righteous investment in keeping disabled or elderly West Virginians out of institutional care,' said Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, a co-sponsor of the measure. 'This is the most 'West Virginia' bill I have seen in 11 sessions. We are our brothers' keepers.' The Senate Health Committee advanced the legislation March 19, sending the measure to the finance committee. Senate Finance Chairman Jason Barrett was unavailable to comment for this story. U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, has introduced a bill on the federal level — the Credit for Caring Act — aimed at providing financial relief for family caregivers. The bipartisan legislation would offer a tax credit of up to $5,000 for eligible working family caregivers to help offset caregiving expenses. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
States move to ban or restrict use of synthetic dyes used in candies and cereal
CHARLESTON, (AP) — Synthetic dyes used to make brightly colored cereals, drinks and candies are coming under scrutiny in states across the country, where lawmakers say the federal government has stalled in taking action despite evidence of harmful effects. West Virginia, which ranks at the bottom in the U.S. for many health metrics, became the first to sign a sweeping statewide ban on seven such dyes this week. Lawmakers in more than 20 states — from deep red West Virginia to heavily Democratic California — are making a bipartisan push to restrict access to the dyes, which have been tied to neurobehavioral problems in some children and of which U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been an outspoken critic. 'We should not be forced to police our own foods,' said Republican Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, who heads the Senate's health committee and told lawmakers the vote might be the most important of their political careers. 'No more toxic colors, no more poisoning ourselves and our children. No more unnecessary risks. Our health is not for sale." In signing the bill, Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey referenced Kennedy's slogan in saying, 'There's no better place to lead the Make America Healthy Again mission." The prohibition on certain preservatives and red, blue, green and yellow dyes takes effect for school food in August, and across the state in 2028. It follows narrower bills approved in California last year and Virginia last week that would ban six artificial dyes from being served in public schools beginning in 2027. Why do lawmakers want to see the dyes die? Thirty-six color additives are approved by the Federal Drug Administration for use in food and drinks in the U.S. Nine petroleum-based chemical dyes, including Red 3, have been allowed in U.S. food. Public health advocates have been lobbying for state and federal action for years, pointing to research that links food dyes and other chemical additives to health risks, including exacerbating symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in some children and animal research linking certain additives to cancers. The European Union and some countries, including Australia and Japan, have banned or restricted the use of certain food dyes because of potential health risks. In October, dozens of protesters outside the Michigan headquarters of WK Kellogg Co. demanded that the company remove artificial dyes from cereals such as Apple Jacks and Froot Loops. Kellogg announced that it would remove artificial colors and ingredients from its U.S. products by 2018, but never did so, despite making the change in other countries, such as Canada, where Froot Loops are colored with concentrated carrot juice, watermelon juice and blueberry juice. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned Red 3 from the nation's food supply in January, setting a 2027 deadline for manufacturers to eliminate it from their products. Makers of ingested drugs like cough syrups have until January 2028. Food industry warns of cost increases The National Confectioners Association, a trade group for chocolate, candy, gum and mints sellers, said the new regulations will make food more expensive, less accessible and lead to less variety on grocery store shelves. It said states such as West Virginia, where 1 in 4 children live in poverty and many neighborhoods are 'food deserts' with limited access to affordable, nutritious food, will be disproportionately impacted. Charles Leftwich, vice president of food safety and quality assurance for Sysco Corp., the world's largest food service distributor, said food safety policies should be supported by science and 'be consistently applied across all geographies.' 'We shouldn't have a fragmented approach when it comes to food safety, because it breeds a lack of trust and confidence with within consumers,' Leftwich said in an interview with The Associated Press. Changes underway School districts in West Virginia have begun phasing out breakfast cereals, strawberry milk or other products in anticipation of the new law's August deadline. Chris Derico, who runs Harrison County's school nutrition program, expects the new regulation to increase costs but said he's not 'in panic mode about it' because none of the products containing the artificial dyes are used in main dishes served to students. Travis Austin, who leads food service in the Cabell County Schools system, called the policy 'a step in the right direction' and said it will be up to manufacturers to rework their formulas to remain competitive. 'It's all about money,' he said. 'If Froot Loops and Lucky Charms aren't going to change their formulations, then we're not going to buy them. We'll buy ones that do.' Lawmakers in West Virginia, which leads the nation in chronic diseases such as obesity, noted that the dyes are often found in sugary foods. When the bill passed the state Senate, sponsor Jason Barrett said West Virginia was the first state to approve such a sweeping law but won't be the last. He cited a bill advancing in Oklahoma that would ban 21 synthetic food dyes and additives. He said companies prey on low-income consumers and children. 'With passage of this bill, we are saying to big food corporations that the health of our people comes first,' he said.
The Independent
27-03-2025
- Health
- The Independent
States move to ban or restrict use of synthetic dyes used in candies and cereal
Synthetic dyes used to make brightly colored cereals, drinks and candies are coming under scrutiny in states across the country, where lawmakers say the federal government has stalled in taking action despite evidence of harmful effects. West Virginia, which ranks at the bottom in the U.S. for many health metrics, became the first to sign a sweeping statewide ban on seven such dyes this week. Lawmakers in more than 20 states — from deep red West Virginia to heavily Democratic California — are making a bipartisan push to restrict access to the dyes, which have been tied to neurobehavioral problems in some children and of which U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been an outspoken critic. 'We should not be forced to police our own foods,' said Republican Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, who heads the Senate 's health committee and told lawmakers the vote might be the most important of their political careers. 'No more toxic colors, no more poisoning ourselves and our children. No more unnecessary risks. Our health is not for sale." In signing the bill, Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey referenced Kennedy's slogan in saying, 'There's no better place to lead the Make America Healthy Again mission." The prohibition on certain preservatives and red, blue, green and yellow dyes takes effect for school food in August, and across the state in 2028. It follows narrower bills approved in California last year and Virginia last week that would ban six artificial dyes from being served in public schools beginning in 2027. Why do lawmakers want to see the dyes die? Thirty-six color additives are approved by the Federal Drug Administration for use in food and drinks in the U.S. Nine petroleum-based chemical dyes, including Red 3, have been allowed in U.S. food. Public health advocates have been lobbying for state and federal action for years, pointing to research that links food dyes and other chemical additives to health risks, including exacerbating symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in some children and animal research linking certain additives to cancers. The European Union and some countries, including Australia and Japan, have banned or restricted the use of certain food dyes because of potential health risks. In October, dozens of protesters outside the Michigan headquarters of WK Kellogg Co. demanded that the company remove artificial dyes from cereals such as Apple Jacks and Froot Loops. Kellogg announced that it would remove artificial colors and ingredients from its U.S. products by 2018, but never did so, despite making the change in other countries, such as Canada, where Froot Loops are colored with concentrated carrot juice, watermelon juice and blueberry juice. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned Red 3 from the nation's food supply in January, setting a 2027 deadline for manufacturers to eliminate it from their products. Makers of ingested drugs like cough syrups have until January 2028. Food industry warns of cost increases The National Confectioners Association, a trade group for chocolate, candy, gum and mints sellers, said the new regulations will make food more expensive, less accessible and lead to less variety on grocery store shelves. It said states such as West Virginia, where 1 in 4 children live in poverty and many neighborhoods are 'food deserts' with limited access to affordable, nutritious food, will be disproportionately impacted. Charles Leftwich, vice president of food safety and quality assurance for Sysco Corp., the world's largest food service distributor, said food safety policies should be supported by science and 'be consistently applied across all geographies.' 'We shouldn't have a fragmented approach when it comes to food safety, because it breeds a lack of trust and confidence with within consumers,' Leftwich said in an interview with The Associated Press. Changes underway School districts in West Virginia have begun phasing out breakfast cereals, strawberry milk or other products in anticipation of the new law's August deadline. Chris Derico, who runs Harrison County's school nutrition program, expects the new regulation to increase costs but said he's not 'in panic mode about it' because none of the products containing the artificial dyes are used in main dishes served to students. Travis Austin, who leads food service in the Cabell County Schools system, called the policy 'a step in the right direction' and said it will be up to manufacturers to rework their formulas to remain competitive. 'It's all about money,' he said. 'If Froot Loops and Lucky Charms aren't going to change their formulations, then we're not going to buy them. We'll buy ones that do.' Lawmakers in West Virginia, which leads the nation in chronic diseases such as obesity, noted that the dyes are often found in sugary foods. When the bill passed the state Senate, sponsor Jason Barrett said West Virginia was the first state to approve such a sweeping law but won't be the last. He cited a bill advancing in Oklahoma that would ban 21 synthetic food dyes and additives. He said companies prey on low-income consumers and children. 'With passage of this bill, we are saying to big food corporations that the health of our people comes first,' he said.
Associated Press
27-03-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
States move to ban or restrict use of synthetic dyes used in candies and cereal
CHARLESTON, (AP) — Synthetic dyes used to make brightly colored cereals, drinks and candies are coming under scrutiny in states across the country, where lawmakers say the federal government has stalled in taking action despite evidence of harmful effects. West Virginia, which ranks at the bottom in the U.S. for many health metrics, became the first to sign a sweeping statewide ban on seven such dyes this week. Lawmakers in more than 20 states — from deep red West Virginia to heavily Democratic California — are making a bipartisan push to restrict access to the dyes, which have been tied to neurobehavioral problems in some children and of which U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been an outspoken critic. 'We should not be forced to police our own foods,' said Republican Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman, who heads the Senate's health committee and told lawmakers the vote might be the most important of their political careers. 'No more toxic colors, no more poisoning ourselves and our children. No more unnecessary risks. Our health is not for sale.' In signing the bill, Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey referenced Kennedy's slogan in saying, 'There's no better place to lead the Make America Healthy Again mission.' The prohibition on certain preservatives and red, blue, green and yellow dyes takes effect for school food in August, and across the state in 2028. It follows narrower bills approved in California last year and Virginia last week that would ban six artificial dyes from being served in public schools beginning in 2027. Why do lawmakers want to see the dyes die? Thirty-six color additives are approved by the Federal Drug Administration for use in food and drinks in the U.S. Nine petroleum-based chemical dyes, including Red 3, have been allowed in U.S. food. Public health advocates have been lobbying for state and federal action for years, pointing to research that links food dyes and other chemical additives to health risks, including exacerbating symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in some children and animal research linking certain additives to cancers. The European Union and some countries, including Australia and Japan, have banned or restricted the use of certain food dyes because of potential health risks. In October, dozens of protesters outside the Michigan headquarters of WK Kellogg Co. demanded that the company remove artificial dyes from cereals such as Apple Jacks and Froot Loops. Kellogg announced that it would remove artificial colors and ingredients from its U.S. products by 2018, but never did so, despite making the change in other countries, such as Canada, where Froot Loops are colored with concentrated carrot juice, watermelon juice and blueberry juice. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned Red 3 from the nation's food supply in January, setting a 2027 deadline for manufacturers to eliminate it from their products. Makers of ingested drugs like cough syrups have until January 2028. Food industry warns of cost increases The National Confectioners Association, a trade group for chocolate, candy, gum and mints sellers, said the new regulations will make food more expensive, less accessible and lead to less variety on grocery store shelves. It said states such as West Virginia, where 1 in 4 children live in poverty and many neighborhoods are 'food deserts' with limited access to affordable, nutritious food, will be disproportionately impacted. Charles Leftwich, vice president of food safety and quality assurance for Sysco Corp., the world's largest food service distributor, said food safety policies should be supported by science and 'be consistently applied across all geographies.' 'We shouldn't have a fragmented approach when it comes to food safety, because it breeds a lack of trust and confidence with within consumers,' Leftwich said in an interview with The Associated Press. Changes underway School districts in West Virginia have begun phasing out breakfast cereals, strawberry milk or other products in anticipation of the new law's August deadline. Chris Derico, who runs Harrison County's school nutrition program, expects the new regulation to increase costs but said he's not 'in panic mode about it' because none of the products containing the artificial dyes are used in main dishes served to students. Travis Austin, who leads food service in the Cabell County Schools system, called the policy 'a step in the right direction' and said it will be up to manufacturers to rework their formulas to remain competitive. 'It's all about money,' he said. 'If Froot Loops and Lucky Charms aren't going to change their formulations, then we're not going to buy them. We'll buy ones that do.' Lawmakers in West Virginia, which leads the nation in chronic diseases such as obesity, noted that the dyes are often found in sugary foods. When the bill passed the state Senate, sponsor Jason Barrett said West Virginia was the first state to approve such a sweeping law but won't be the last. He cited a bill advancing in Oklahoma that would ban 21 synthetic food dyes and additives. He said companies prey on low-income consumers and children.
CBS News
22-02-2025
- Health
- CBS News
West Virginia Senate OKs bill allowing for religious and philosophical vaccine exemptions
West Virginia senators voted to dismantle one of the nation's strictest school vaccination policies Friday by greenlighting an exemption for families who say mandated inoculations conflict with their religious or philosophical beliefs. If approved by the House, the bill is expected to be signed into law by Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who has made allowing religious exemptions to vaccines a priority of his administration. West Virginia is currently one of only a tiny minority of U.S. states that only allows medical exemptions for vaccinations. The state's policy has long been heralded by medical experts as among the most protective in the country for kids. The bill's supporters say not allowing for exemptions is unconstitutional and interferes with children's right to an education. "Education is a fundamental right," bill supporter Republican Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman of Ohio County said on the Senate floor. "We have no business trampling on a child's religious beliefs for a fundamental right to have an education." Wakim Chapman, the Senate's Health and Human Resources Chair, held up a poster board depicting the five states including West Virginia that currently do not allow for religious or philosophical exemptions vaccination exemptions. "This law is not something crazy that anti-vaxxers want," she said, adding that she believes vaccines are safe and effective at preventing disease. "This is bringing us up with 45 other states." The bill allows families to abstain from vaccinating children if they have religious or philosophical objections and submit a written statement to their child's public, private or religious school. It also changes the process for families seeking medical exemptions by allowing a child's healthcare provider to submit testimony to a school that certain vaccines "are or may be detrimental to the child's health or are not appropriate." Currently, medical exemptions must be approved by the state immunization officer. West Virginia previously had some of the highest vaccination rates in the country. A recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on kindergarten vaccination exemptions cited the state as having the lowest exemption rate in the country, and the best vaccination rates for kids that age. State law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough before starting school. The state does not require COVID-19 vaccinations. Last year, former governor and current U.S. Sen. Republican Jim Justice vetoed a less sweeping vaccination bill passed by the Republican supermajority Legislature that would have exempted private school and some nontraditional public school students from vaccination requirements. At the time, Justice said he had to defer to the licensed medical professionals who "overwhelmingly" spoke out in opposition to the legislation. Morrisey, who previously served as West Virginia's attorney general, said he believes religious exemptions to vaccinations should already be permitted in West Virginia under a 2023 state law called the Equal Protection for Religion Act. The law stipulates that the government can't "substantially burden" someone's constitutional right to freedom of religion unless it can prove there is a "compelling interest" to restrict that right. Morrisey said that law hasn't "been fully and properly enforced" since it passed. He urged the Legislature to help him codify the religious vaccination exemptions into law. Those who opposed the bill said the government has a compelling interest in mandating vaccines to protect children's health. Others said the bill was an example of government overreach — especially when creating mandates for religious or private schools. The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, with 4,600 students under its care, has said in the past it would continue mandating vaccinations if given the option and that the diocese has "always maintained our constitutional right to order our schools as we see fit in accord with our beliefs," according to a statement this week from Spokesperson Tim Bishop. Republican Sen. Robbie Morris of Randolph County said he believes a religious person shouldn't be required to take an action that goes against his or her faith. In his view, that is happening under current law because the state doesn't have a religious exemption. "The problem is, this bill doesn't fix that problem — it just switches it from one end of the spectrum to the other," he said. "We are telling a private religious school that if vaccinations are a tenet of their faith, and you want to require it, you can't do it. That's not religious freedom." Senators rejected several efforts to amend the bill, including one proposal to allow churches or religious entities to continue requiring vaccinations if doing so is following the tenets of their faith. U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates dipped in 2023 and the proportion of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted in October.
