West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Telling West Virginia's Story
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, (R) Clay, and Senate President Craig Blair, (R) Berkeley, join The Legislature Today from the Capitol building.
Friday evening’s discussion focuses on the challenges and goals of a legislative session in the middle of a pandemic. The 6pm broadcast also highlights the week’s floor debates and updates the status of multiple bills as the session reaches day 10 of 60.
A committee has been formed in the West Virginia Senate to focus on upcoming legislation related to child welfare.
The Senate Select Committee on Children and Families, whose formation was announced Wednesday, will be led by Kanawha County Republican and Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo.
The committee will focus on issues related to the state’s ongoing foster care crisis and substance abuse epidemic, the Senate said in a news release.
The state’s foster ranks have swelled to about 7,000 children as the state grapples with the opioid crisis. West Virginia leads the nation by far in the rate of drug overdose deaths.
The statement cited a recent legislative audit that found the Department of Health and Human Resources’ Child Protective Services did not meet a required time frame for investigating child abuse and neglect allegations in 50 percent of cases in fiscal year 2018.
In addition, Child Protective Services continues to experience high turnover, while the drug epidemic has increased CPS worker caseloads by 79 percent since 2015.
The committee was formed because legislation on child welfare issues otherwise would have had to compete with dozens of other bills if they had been channeled through other committees.
“Our children are our state’s most precious resource, and it’s clear that despite our best efforts, we are falling way short in adequately providing for the needs of the ones who need us the most,” Senate President Carmichael said. “My hope with this new Select Committee is that the members take a deep dive on these issues and work toward the kinds of solutions that will ensure no child in the state of West Virginia gets lost in a bureaucracy that does not put them on the best path to stability, comfort, and self-worth.”
The GOP-controlled legislature began its regular session Wednesday.
Takubo and fellow committee member Ron Stollings, D-Boone, are physicians. The nine-member committee also includes Senate education chairwoman Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, and Democrat Paul Hardesty, a former board of education chairman in Logan County.
“It brings everything to the forefront,” Takubo said in an interview before the Senate convened Wednesday. “Politics will kind of divide Senate members or House members, but the one thing we’ve always been (in the) loop on is families and children. We’re trying to bring in the resources of the Senate members to look at this as a whole.”
The state also faces a federal class-action lawsuit alleging the foster care system has failed to protect children. The state is seeking to dismiss the suit, brought by nonprofit advocacy groups and a law firm on behalf of a dozen children.
Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch continues to make substantive changes to its system.
The lawsuit describes stories of alleged neglect and harm done to foster children in DHHR’s care. Marcia Lowry, executive director of the nonprofit A Better Childhood, has said the state isn’t doing enough to deal with problems in its foster system.
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has picked Republican Charles Clements to fill a state Senate opening left by Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt’s election.The governor’s office says Clements is a former member of the state House of Delegates. Clements currently serves as executive director of the West Virginia Route 2 and I-68 Authority and was on the governor’s transition policy committee on transportation.
Leonhardt, a Republican, left the 2nd District Senate seat by winning the agriculture commissioner race in November.
Clements served in the U.S. Army and owned Clements Oil Company for 34 years. He has operated H&R Block in New Martinsville since 2004.
The 2nd Senate District covers all of Wetzel, Tyler, Doddridge, Ritchie and Calhoun counties and parts of Marshall, Monongalia, Marion and Gilmer counties.
A conference committee of seven members of the House of Delegates and seven members of the Senate began work Monday on finding compromise in their budget bills. Each chamber approved their own version of the Fiscal Year 2016 budget last week.
Senate Finance Chair Mike Hall said each chamber is walking into the negotiations with some priorities.
In the Senate, members chose to approve a bill that contains a $6 million increase in funds for the West Virginia State Police and their forensics lab.
Because of staffing shortages, Hall said the lab has a backlog of thousands of cases which in the end increases costs for counties.
“The problem there is that if somebody is stuck at a regional jail waiting for their trial and their trial is delayed and delayed and delayed, the speculation is the counties are paying on the low end $13 million, on the high end $25, $30, $40 million of regional jail costs that if these things were done quickly would save a lot of money,” Hall said Monday.
“So, this $6 million is not just being thrown to the wind. There is a significant return on investment for the counties.”
The House is also looking to get a “return on investment” for their dollars, choosing to prioritize Community and Technical College funding in their budget.
Gov. Tomblin’s proposed budget included a 1.$ percent across the board cut for Higher Education. The House chose to restore the cut funds to all but one CTC in the state.
“We have a lot of need in our Community and Technical Colleges right now, especially with the growth in certain areas like the oil and gas in the north as well as in the Eastern Panhandle with needs in increased enrollment,” Nelson said.
“So, we just felt that we were putting money back to where it was going to have the biggest return going forward.”
Because of other differences in budget lines, the chambers differ, in the end, in the amount of one-time dollars pulled from the state’s Rainy Day Fund.
Delegates have passed a bill taking about $21 million from the Rainy Day Fund while Senators needed around $27 million to balance their proposed budget.
Governor Tomblin used $15 million from the one-time reserve for 2016, but said he will be working with lawmakers during budget week to keep the number below $30 million.
Members of the Senate approved a resolution Thursday calling for a convention of states to add a balanced budget amendment to the U. S. Constitution.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 13 was debated for days in the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, and passed by the full chamber after a voice vote following hours of impassioned debate.
Proponents of the resolution say spending in Washington is out of control. With a national debt of more than $18 trillion, they worry the country’s fiscal future hangs in the balance and say lawmakers in Washington aren’t willing to do anything about it.
Opponents of the convention of states say it’s not the balanced budget amendment they worry about, it’s the ability to control the agenda and authority of the convention once it’s called. A similar convention hasn’t been called since 1787.
A convention of states can only be called by Congress after 34 states have approved similar resolutions. As many as 28 states have approved the resolution before West Virginia lawmakers.
Members of the Judiciary Committee heard testimony that as many as 32 states had passed resolutions in the past, but the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy says many of those states have rescinded their resolutions.
Congress ultimately has the authority to decide when 34 applications have been received.
SCR 13 now heads to the House of Delegates for its consideration. Resolutions, unlike legislation, do not require multiple readings on the chamber floor nor a signature by the governor to take effect.
Senate bills that appear to have died in the House are being revived, so to speak, by Senators. Members of the Judiciary Committee made major changes to a fireworks bill Monday.
House Bill 2646 as approved by the House would allow consumer exploding or display fireworks currently banned in West Virginia to be sold at certain retail locations.
The original bill created retailer fees on top of the sales tax and dedicated 20 percent of the collections to be split between veterans programs, the state Fire Marshal’s Office and Volunteer Fire Departments.
The Senate Judiciary Committee revised the bill to include provisions of other pieces of legislation they’ve taken up this session, starting with a tobacco tax.
The committee’s version includes a 50 cent increase in the tax starting in July of this year and a second 50 cent increase in July of next year. The tax could mean up to $130 million new in the state’s coffers so members began dividing that money between state programs, starting with Sen. Bob Williams.
“Because this is in a fireworks bill, [I moved] to dedicate $2 million of that tax to the volunteer fire departments of the state,” Williams said.
For the 420 volunteer departments in West Virginia, that would mean an additional $5,000 per year. His amendment was approved by the committee.
The committee also added a provision dedicating $20 million from the first year of tobacco tax revenues to build a veterans nursing home in Beckley. That project is estimated to cost $25 million in state funds.
Twenty million dollars of the revenue earned from the tax in the second year would be dedicated to building a secure substance abuse treatment facility somewhere in West Virginia.
“I think taking $22 million out of that [tax] and dedicating to certain very worthy sources will actually increase support for the bill,” Williams said after the committee meeting.
“Folks who didn’t support increasing the fireworks side of the bill will certainly support the volunteer fire departments and the veterans and I think it will certainly help improve support for the bill.”
The committee also included provisions allowing veteran organizations, like VFWs, and race track casinos to allow indoor smoking, something banned by most local county health departments.
With so many provisions and only a few days left in the legislative session to consider them, Williams warned it could be tricky to get the legislation approved.
“This time of the legislative session every legislator should be nervous. There are all kinds of things happening in both the House and Senate,” he said.
“It is a short period of time, but this is a very important piece of legislation. Now, it’s even more important that we’ve put the tobacco tax in it. So, I think it’s one that will get some attention by the leadership to make sure that it moves through the process as quickly as possible.”
Williams expects the bill to be put in a conference committee.