Funding for people with disabilities in WV Senate’s fast-tracked bills Sunday evening

Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, speaks during the West Virginia Legislature special session on Sunday, May 19, 2024. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography)

Suspending constitutional rules that a bill be read on three separate days before passage, the state Senate fast-tracked and unanimously approved eight bills on Sunday as the West Virginia Legislature convened for its long-awaited special session.

Gov. Jim Justice issued the proclamation for the special session on Friday. All but two of the 15 items on the governor’s call — which he can amend or expand at any time — related to the state budget.

The Senate passed Senate Bill 1001, which would put $183 million in a reserve fund for the Department of Human Services to be used as needed, including on services for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD). 

The bill would give $5 million in reserves to the Department of Health, as well.  

“We set up a reserve fund that if for some reason, if there is a shortfall in those lines, by the time we get to [next] session, then they’re funded at what appropriation the governor would’ve recommended the first time,” Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr said. “ … The secretary has to go through and sign off on each individual transfer, and they can only transfer into lines that were cut.”

Lawmakers earlier this year slashed funding for services for people with disabilities after Tarr raised concerns about how DoHS was spending its funds. 

Last month, state lawmakers learned that DoHS had spent millions of dollars earmarked for people with disabilities on things like in-home COVID-19 tests.

Tarr said he didn’t expect DoHS leadership to use the reserve fund very often as the department has not previously fully spent what was allocated for IDD services.  

In an effort to improve DoHS spending transparency, the bill would require the department secretary to submit a monthly report to lawmakers starting on Aug. 1 about any transfers made from the reserves account. 

DoHS has faced additional recent scrutiny for its lack of information about a high-profile child death and troubled child welfare system.  

“This is forcing more transparency, said Tarr, R-Putnam. “What we tend to hear up here is that if there’s a problem within one of the agencies, it just needs more money … Well, we’ve been throwing more and more money for years and years and problems have not gotten better. They tend to get worse.”  

He continued, “They’re blaming it all on money, it’s hard to fix processes. So, what this does is goes in and takes the money argument away.”

The bill would also provide additional funds to DoHS for programs including the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), child support enforcement and more.

Most Senate bills dealt with budget lines

The May special session was called largely to amend the state budget for fiscal year 2025. Under threat of a federal “clawback” for $465 million in COVID-19 relief funds meant for education, lawmakers during the regular session opted to pass a “skinny budget.” They promised to return later in the year once negotiations wrapped with the federal government.

Last month, Justice announced that the federal Department of Education approved the state’s waiver for use of those COVID-19 relief dollars. In turn, the threat of the clawback — which, officials have said, was unlikely in the first place — ended.

Along with SB 1001, 11 of the other bills introduced by the Senate on Sunday would return funding for those budget lines — including the state Medicaid program, an agriculture lab at West Virginia State University, the road fund and a food bank — to levels requested by Justice before the regular session. 

Also Sunday, the Senate passed a resolution extending a state of emergency that allows West Virginia’s college bound students to get state education aid without completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Justice called the state of emergency late last month, citing the federal government’s botched rollout of a new application. The new application was meant to streamline the process. 

It went live in January, three months later than the application is typically available, and has been plagued by a number of glitches and problems that have caused further delays. Issues with the FAFSA resulted in a 40% reduction in West Virginia high school FAFSA completion rates, Justice said last month. 

Under Senate Concurrent Resolution 102, which was adopted on a voice vote, the state of emergency would be extended through Oct. 15 unless ended earlier by the governor or the Legislature. 

The Senate also unanimously adopted a separate resolution urging the U.S. Department of Education to accelerate the processing of FAFSA.

The House of Delegates also convened Sunday, where members introduced and read 16 bills, all but one for the first time. The chamber did not suspend its constitutional rules to act on the legislation.

Several of the proposed bills — which are the same as those introduced in the Senate — were referred to the House Finance Committee, which is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. on Monday. 

May interims also begin Monday. Because of the scheduling conflicts, it’s likely meetings will either be moved or canceled depending on lawmakers’ availability, among other things. For a full list of interim meetings and available agendas, visit the Legislature’s website.

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