What the Act would do:

1. Reward West Virginians who choose to come home.

Return-to-WV Tax Credit

• Available only to people who previously lived in West Virginia and left for education, work, or military service,

• Credit applies only if they move back and establish residency,

• Must commit to living and working in West Virginia for a minimum number of years.

What it looks like on the ground:
We’re not bribing outsiders. We're investing in our own people, the ones who stayed, and the ones who want to come home and stay.

2. Make student debt less of a barrier to coming home.

Work-in-WV Student Loan Relief

• Annual student loan repayment assistance for returning residents,

• Tied to full-time work in West Virginia,

• Prioritizes fields the state actually needs: healthcare, education, skilled trades, public service, and small business.

Why this matters
Debt shouldn’t trap people in states they don’t want to live in. If you bring your skills home, the state should meet you halfway.

3. Support families who are rebuilding their lives here.

Child Care & Workforce Stability Credit

• Helps returning families afford licensed child care,

• Keeps parents in the workforce,

• Strengthens local child care providers at the same time.

Why it matters:
People don’t move alone. They move with kids, responsibilities, and real lives.

4. Grow the economy without abandoning the people who stayed.

Local Business Repatriation Credit

• For returning residents who start or expand small businesses in West Virginia,

• Requires local hiring and in-state operation,

• Designed to strengthen Main Street, not subsidize corporate relocation.

What this means for West Virginian families:
This plan grows the economy for the people, not corporations.

Honoring those who stayed.

This plan does not forget the people who never left.

FOR The ones who:

• Worked the jobs that stayed,

• Raised families when opportunity was scarce,

• Kept towns alive when others moved on.

You held the line—this plan is built to grow the economy with you, not around you.

Guardrails

• No credits without residency,

• No benefits without work or community contribution,

• No short-term flipping or absentee exploitation.

This is about building lives and strengthening community bonds, not gaming the system.

If o'er sea o'er land I roam, Still I'll think

of happy home,

And my friends among the West Virginia hills.

--West Virginia State Song