Under the Gold Dome 2022 WV Legislative Wrap-Up

UNDER THE GOLD DOME 2022 LEGISLATIVE SESSION ADVOCACY REPORT

SUBMITTED BY: JULIE WARDEN GOVERNMENT RELATIONS DIRECTOR

OUR APPROACH In 2022, The American Heart Association made a plan to strategically strengthen existing relationships and create new partnerships with influential leadership in the WV Legislature. It was a year of education, stakeholder development, and branding while thinking outside-the-box to meet people where they are as we find common ground to create policy that meets the AHA Guidelines in West Virginia.

We started early by scheduling one-on-one introductory meetings with legislators to both educate and find policy that gave Legislators the chance to feel like they could 'win' with the American Heart Association.

Through the development of the Heart Healthy Hunting campaign, we incorporated conservative West Virginia values into a campaign that allowed us to both meet people where they are while simultaneously educating folks on our exceptionally high hypertension numbers and the signs and symptoms of heart attack and stroke.

Through pre-session work and a successful statewide campaign, we were able to identify key leaders to sponsor bills and champion Go Red Advocacy Day and used excellent grassroots campaigns to obtain 2 proactive wins and 1 policy defense win in a fight against preemption.

A GLIMPSE AT THE 60-DAY SESSION 2022 Legislative Session Convened: January 12, 2022 2022 Legislative Session Sine Die: March 12, 2022

2216 Bills Filed

150

House Bills Completed

134

Senate Bills Completed

Total Bills that Completed Legislative Action

172

Resolutions Adopted

280

293

Signed by Governor

6

Became Law - Not Signed by Governor

5

Vetoes

2022 Bill List:

https://blog.wvlegislature.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-Legislative-Session-At-A-Glance.pdf

THE WEST VIRGINIA BUDGET BILL Senate Bill 250

$4.635 billion

Sets the general revenue budget for the fiscal year 2023 beginning in July

44%

26%

10%

PUBLIC EDUCATION

SOCIAL SERVICES

HIGHER EDUCATION

General revenue spending in the final FY 2023 budget was $9.7 million below the governor's proposal. Despite an increase from FY 2022, adjusting for inflation, the FY 2023 budget will be the lowest spending level from the General Revenue.

WV BUDGET - FY 2013 - FY 2023

General Revenue expenditures, actual and budgeted (inflation adjusted 2022 dollars, millions)

$6,000

$4,000

$2,000

$0

FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2022

The FY 2023 budget maintains a 'flat budget' with only minor changes from FY 2022, but utilizes surplus from billions of dollars in federal aid (mostly from the pandemic) and low revenue estimates.

THE 2022 AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATIVE AGENDA • Self-Measured Blood Pressure Medicaid Coverage Support the expansion of state Medicaid coverage of self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) monitoring devices for the diagnosis and management of patients with hypertension 2022 Legislative Session Update: This policy passed 3 committees in the WV House of Delegates and died before its final vote in the House on Crossover Day before going to the Senate.

• Water Access in Schools Enacting policy that ensures all newly constructed schools and schools undergoing major renovations have bottle filling stations.

2022 Legislative Session Update: This policy PASSED! It was signed by Governor Justice on 3/28

• Postpartum Medicaid Coverage Funding Enacting policy that funds Medicaid coverage for 12 months postpartum.

2022 Legislative Session Update: This policy was included in the FY 2023 WV Budget • Tobacco Cessation & Control Funding The American Heart Association is a part of the Governor’s Tobacco Prevention Taskforce which provided recommendations to the Legislature for prevention and cessation funding in WV. 2022 Post-Legislative Session Update: We are working with the Governor’s Staff to potentially allocate surplus dollars for tobacco prevention and cessation. This is an ongoing process with the taskforce, but AHA has been a leader in advocacy, meeting with policymakers and the Governor's Office, and created the documents which have been put forth for introduction during Interims.

• Preemption Support efforts to protect health and well-being and build healthy, equitable communities by promoting and defending local government and community power. West Virginia introduces bill attacking local control each year and AHA will be focused on defending against proposed preemption laws.

2022 Legislative Session Update: The AHA led the effort to remove tobacco retail language from the major preemption bill which effectively killed the bill.

WEST VIRGINIA ADVOCACY IN ACTION West Virginia Kickoff Advocates Meeting January 6, 2022 | 6pm | ZOOM

Go Red Advocacy Day Ruffner Elementary School

Go Red Proclamation Signing Clendenin Town Council

Clendenin Town Councilman Dave Knight

Clendenin Mayor Kay Summers

WEST VIRGINIA ADVOCACY IN ACTION Go Red Advocacy Day West Virginia State Capitol | February 4, 2022

Delegates Lovejoy and Whamsley supporting Go Red Day Advocacy Day Action Heart of survivors

SMBP Champion

Delegates Walker & Barach

Tobacco Prevention &

Delegate Tulley

with University of Charleston

Cessation Champion

Pharmacy Students

Mick Bates

WEST VIRGINIA ADVOCACY IN ACTION Legislative Champions & Materials

Go Red Day and Legislative Champion

Go Red Day and Legislative Champion

Senator Amy Grady

Delegate Erikka Storch (Stroke Survivor)

Session is Stressful Handout This educational handout outlined the dangers of heart disease and stroke, signs and symptoms, and provided an action plan care of yourself during stressful situations.

2022 Welcome Letter The Welcome Letter introduced Julie as the AHA Government Relations Director and provided a guide to our 2022 Legislative Agenda.

WEST VIRGINIA ADVOCACY IN ACTION Grassroots Engagement

Heart Healthy Hunting Campaign Petition to support hypertension prevention in WV (SMBP Bill)

Pledge to Wear Red for Go Red for Women Day

2022 Legislative Session Kick-Off Advocate Meeting

Urgent call to action to save SMBP Bill

Go Red Advocacy Week Sign-Ups

Thank You - Water Bottle Filling Stations Bill Passage

Government Relations and Grassroots worked hand-in-hand to create strategic approaches for advocate engagement leading into, throughout, and following the 2022 Legislative Session. As we head toward 2023, we have new strategies and ideas to layer our approach and increase engagement.

Key Grassroots Highlights

Continuing the engagement Stroke Month action

32 Signatures for Heart Healthy Hunting Petition 25 Sign-Ups for Legislative Session Kick-Off Call 9 Go Red Advocacy Week Sign-Ups 29 Pledges to wear red on Go Red Day 10 People contacted 30 legislators to support SMBP Bill 2 People contacted 10 legislators to say thank you for water bottle filling station bill passage 5 people thanked 19 legislators for 2022 Legislative Session and asked to support stroke / heart health bills

LOOKING AHEAD 2022 Interim Schedule

May 22 - 24

Morgantown

June 12 - 14

Charleston

July 24 - 26

Charleston

September 11 - 13

Charleston

November 13 - 15

Berkeley Springs

December 5 - 6

Charleston

AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION CONTACT US: Julie Warden Government Relations Director

julie.warden@heart.org 304.444.1222