ENROLLED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

                             FOR

H. B. 2395

            (By Delegates Williams, D Campbell, Moye,

                   Perdue, Pino and Ellington)

    [Passed April 10, 2013; in effect ninety days from passage.]

AN ACT to amend and reenact §16-5P-15 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to senior services in-home care registry; providing for sixty-day waiver of initial registration fee; clarifying rule-making authority for the Bureau of Senior Services to require an applicant to obtain a state or federal criminal background check; and requiring legislative rules to be proposed for legislative approval during the 2014 legislative session.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    ARTICLE 5P. SENIOR SERVICES.

§16-5P-15. Establishment of In-home Care Registry.

    (a) There is continued within the Bureau of Senior Services an in-home care worker registry which is to be maintained by the bureau. The purpose of the registry is to provide the public a list of in-home care workers, along with their qualifications, who voluntarily agree to be included and who have obtained a criminal background check.

    (b) "In-home care worker" means an unlicensed person who provides personal care or other services and supports to persons with disabilities or to the elderly in order to enhance their well-being and which involves face-to-face direct contact with the person. Functions performed may include, but are not limited to, assistance and training in activities of daily living, personal care services, and job-related supports.

    (c) The bureau shall propose rules for legislative approval during the 2014 legislative session in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to establish the following:

    (1) The registry of in-home care workers;

    (2) The requirements for inclusion on the registry as an “in-home care worker”, including educational attainment;

    (3) A fee schedule: Provided, That the Commissioner of the Bureau of Senior Services shall waive the initial registration fee for the first sixty days the registration is active;

    (4) Requiring an applicant to obtain a state or federal criminal background check, as determined in legislative rule by the bureau;

    (5) How a person obtains information from the registry; and

    (6) Any other requirement necessary to implement the provisions of this section.