H. B. 207
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson, and Delegate Armstead)
[By Request of the Executive]
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[Introduced August 19, 2007; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization.]
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A BILL to repeal §5-26-1, §5-26-2, §5-26-2a, §5-26-3, §5-26-4,
§5-26-5, §5-26-6 and §5-26-8 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; to repeal §18-5-18d of said code; to amend
and reenact §16-5K-2 and §16-5K-4 of said code; to amend
said code by adding thereto a new article, designated §49-
6C-1; and to amend and reenact §49-9-3 and §49-9-15 of said
code, all relating to repeal of the code provisions
authorizing the Governor's Cabinet on Children and Families;
transferring necessary powers and duties from said cabinet
to the Bureau for Children and Families and transferring
administration and control of the children's trust fund from
said cabinet to the Secretary of the Department of Health
and Human Resources or his or her designee.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-26-1, §5-26-2, §5-26-2a, §5-26-3, §5-26-4, §5-26-5,
§5-26-6 and §5-26-8 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be repealed; that §18-5-18d of said code be repealed;
that §16-5K-2 and §16-5K-4 of said code be amended and reenacted;
that said code be amended by adding thereto a new article,
designated §49-6C-1; and that §49-9-3 and §49-9-15 of said code
be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 16. PUBLIC HEALTH.
ARTICLE 5K. EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES FOR CHILDREN WITH
DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS.
§16-5K-2. Definitions.
Unless the context clearly otherwise indicates, as used in
this article:
(a)
"Cabinet" means the governor's cabinet on children and
families. "Bureau" means the bureau for children and families,
department of health and human resources.
(b) "Council" means the governor's early intervention
interagency coordinating council.
(c) "Department" means the department of health and human
resources.
(d) "Early intervention services" means developmental
services which:
(1) Are designed to meet the developmental needs of
developmentally delayed infants and toddlers and the needs of the
family related to enhancing the child's development;
(2) Are selected in collaboration with the parents;
(3) Are provided under public supervision in conformity with
an individualized family service plan, and at no cost to
families;
(4) Meet the state's early intervention standards, as
established by the department of health and human resources with
the assistance of the governor's early intervention interagency
coordinating council;
(5) Include assistive technology, audiology, audiology case
management, family training, counseling and home visits, health
services necessary to enable a child to benefit from other early
intervention services, medical services only for diagnostic or
evaluation purposes, nursing services, nutrition services,
occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychological services,
social work services, special instruction, speech-language
pathology, vision and transportation; and
(6) Are provided by licensed or otherwise qualified
personnel, including audiologists, family therapists, nurses,
nutritionists, occupational therapists, orientation and mobility
specialists, physical therapists, physicians, psychologists, social workers, special educators, speech-language pathologists
and paraprofessionals appropriately trained and supervised.
(e) "Infants and toddlers with developmental delay" means
children from birth to thirty-six months of age who need early
intervention services for any of the following reasons:
(1) They are experiencing developmental delays, as measured
by appropriate methods and procedures, in one or more of the
following areas: Cognitive, physical, including visual and
hearing, communicative, adaptive, social, language and speech, or
psycho-social development or self-help skills; or
(2) They have a diagnosed physical or mental condition that
has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay; or
(3) They are at risk of having substantial developmental
delays if early intervention services are not provided.
§16-5K-4. Interagency coordinating council.
(a) The governor's early intervention interagency
coordinating council is hereby established. The council is
composed of at least fifteen members appointed by the governor
with additional ex officio members representing specific agencies
serving infants and toddlers with developmental delays.
(b) The membership of the council shall consist of the
following:
(1) At least three parents of children, ages birth through
six years of age, who have developmental delays;
(2) At least three persons, representative of the public or
private service providers;
(3) At least one member of the House of Delegates
recommended by the speaker of the House of Delegates and one
member of the Senate recommended by the Senate president;
(4) At least one person from higher education involved in
training individuals to provide services under this article; and
(5) A representative of each of the agencies involved in the
provision of or payment for early intervention services to
infants and toddlers with developmental delays and their
families.
(c) The council shall meet at least quarterly and in such
place as it considers necessary.
(d) The council is responsible for the following functions:
(1) To advise and assist the department of health and human
resources in the development and implementation of early
intervention policies;
(2) To assist the department in achieving the full
participation of all relevant state agencies and programs;
(3) To collaborate with the
governor's cabinet on bureau for
children and families in the coordination of early intervention
services with other programs and services for children and
families;
(4) To assist the department in the effective implementation
of a statewide system of early intervention services;
(5) To assist the department in the resolution of disputes;
(6) To advise and assist the department in the preparation
of grant applications; and
(7) To prepare and submit an annual report to the governor,
the Legislature and the United States secretary of education on
the status of early intervention programs within the state.
CHAPTER 49. CHILD WELFARE.
ARTICLE 6C. CHILDREN'S TRUST FUND
§49-6C-1. Continuation and transfer of control of trust fund.
(a) The children's fund, created for the sole purpose of
awarding grants, loans and loan guaranties for child abuse and
neglect prevention activities by enactment of chapter four, Acts
of the Legislature, third extraordinary session, one thousand
nine hundred ninety, as last amended and reenacted by chapter one
hundred fifty-nine, Acts of the Legislature, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-nine, is hereby continued and renamed the "West
Virginia Children's Trust Fund":
Provided, That, upon the
effective date of the enactment of this section during the second
extraordinary session of the Legislature in two thousand seven,
the fund shall be administered by the secretary of the department
of health and human resources or his or her designee. Gifts,
bequests or donations for this purpose, in addition to appropriations to the fund, shall be deposited in the state
treasury in a special revenue account under the control of the
secretary of the department of health and human resources or his
or her designee.
(b) Each state taxpayer may voluntarily contribute a portion
of the taxpayer's state income tax refund to the children's trust
fund by so designating the contribution on the state personal
income tax return form. The secretary or his or her designee
shall approve the wording of the designation on the income tax
return form, which designation shall appear on tax forms. The tax
commissioner shall determine by the first day of July of each
year the total amount designated pursuant to this subsection and
shall report that amount to the state treasurer, who shall credit
that amount to the children's trust fund.
(c) All interest accruing from investment of moneys in the
children's trust fund shall be credited to the fund. The
legislative auditor shall conduct an audit of the fund before the
first day of July, two thousand eight and at least every three
fiscal years thereafter.
(d) Grants, loans and loan guaranties may be awarded from
the children's trust fund by the secretary of the department of
health and human resources or his or her designee for child abuse
and neglect prevention activities.
(e) Upon the effective date of the enactment of this
section, all employees, records, responsibilities, obligations,
assets and property, of whatever kind and character, of the
governor's cabinet on children and families are hereby
transferred to the bureau for children and families within the
department of health and human resources, including but not
limited to all rights and obligations held by the governor's
cabinet on children and families under any grants, loans or loan
guarantees previously awarded from the children's fund.
(e)All orders, determinations, rules, permits, grants,
contracts, certificates, licenses, waivers, bonds, authorizations
and privileges which have been issued, made, granted or allowed
to become effective by the governor, by any state department or
agency or official thereof, or by a court of competent
jurisdiction, in the performance of functions which have been
transferred to the bureau for children and families within the
department of health and human resources, and were in effect on
the date the transfer occurred continue in effect, for the
benefit of the department, according to their terms until
modified, terminated, superseded, set aside, or revoked in
accordance with the law by the governor, the secretary of the
department of health and human resources, or other authorized
official, a court of competent jurisdiction or by operation of
law.
ARTICLE 9. MISSING CHILDREN INFORMATION ACT.
§49-9-3. Clearinghouse function.
(a) The missing children information clearinghouse is
established under the West Virginia state police. The state
police:
(1) Shall provide for the administration of the
clearinghouse; and
(2) May promulgate rules in accordance with the provisions
of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to carry out
the provisions of this article.
(b) The clearinghouse is a central repository of information
on missing children and shall be used by all law-enforcement
agencies in this state.
(c) The clearinghouse shall:
(1) Establish a system of intrastate communication of
information relating to missing children;
(2) Provide a centralized file for the exchange of
information on missing children and unidentified bodies of
children within the state;
(3) Communicate with the national crime information center
for the exchange of information on missing children suspected of
interstate travel;
(4) Collect, process, maintain and disseminate accurate and
complete information on missing children;
(5) Provide a statewide toll-free telephone line for the
reporting of missing children and for receiving information on
missing children;
(6) Disseminate to custodians, law-enforcement agencies, the
state department of education, the
governor's cabinet on bureau
for children and families and the general public information that
explains how to prevent child abduction and what to do if a child
becomes missing;
(7) Compile statistics relating to the incidence of missing
children within the state;
(8) Provide training materials and technical assistance to
law-enforcement agencies and social services agencies pertaining
to missing children; and
(9) Establish a media protocol for disseminating information
pertaining to missing children.
(d) The clearinghouse shall print and distribute posters,
flyers and other forms of information containing descriptions of
missing children.
(e) The state police may accept public or private grants,
gifts and donations to assist in carrying out the provisions of
this article.
§ 49-9-15. Clearinghouse Advisory Council; members, appointments
and expenses; appointment, duties and compensation
of director.
(a) The Clearinghouse Advisory Council is continued as a
body corporate and politic, constituting a public corporation and
government instrumentality. The Council shall consist of eleven
members, who are knowledgeable about and interested in issues
relating to missing or exploited children, as follows:
(1) Six members to be appointed by the Governor, with the
advice and consent of the Senate, with not more than four
belonging to the same political party, three being from different
congressional districts of the state and, as nearly as possible,
providing broad state geographical distribution of members of the
Council, and at least one representing a nonprofit organization
involved with preventing the abduction, runaway or exploitation
of children or locating missing children;
(2) The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources or his or her designee;
(3) The Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police or
his or her designee;
(4) The State Superintendent of Schools or his or her
designee;
(5) The Director of the Criminal Justice and Highway Safety
Division or his or her designee; and
(6) The
Executive Director of the Governor's Cabinet on
Commissioner of the Bureau for Children and Families.
(b) The Governor shall appoint the six Council members for
staggered terms. The terms of the members first taking office on
or after the effective date of this legislation shall expire as
designated by the Governor. Each subsequent appointment shall be
for a full three-year term. Any appointed member whose term is
expired shall serve until a successor has been duly appointed and
qualified. Any person appointed to fill a vacancy shall serve
only for the unexpired term. A member is eligible for only one
successive reappointment. A vacancy shall be filled by the
Governor in the same manner as the original appointment was made.
(c) Members of the Council are not entitled to compensation
for services performed as members but are entitled to
reimbursement for all reasonable and necessary expenses actually
incurred in the performance of their duties in a manner
consistent with the guidelines of the Travel Management Office of
the Department of Administration.
(d) A majority of serving members constitutes a quorum for
the purpose of conducting business. The chair of the Council
shall be designated by the Governor from among the appointed
Council members who represent nonprofit organizations involved
with preventing the abduction, runaway or exploitation of
children or locating missing children. The term of the chair
shall run concurrently with his or her term of office as a member
of the Council. The Council shall conduct all meetings in accordance with the open governmental meetings law pursuant to
article nine-a, chapter six of this code.
(e) The employee of the West Virginia State Police who is
primarily responsible for the clearinghouse established by
section three of this article shall serve as the Executive
Director of the Council. He or she shall receive no additional
compensation for service as the Executive Director of the Council
but shall be reimbursed for any reasonable and necessary expenses
actually incurred in the performance of his or her duties as
Executive Director in a manner consistent with the guidelines of
the Travel Management Office of the Department of Administration.
(f) The expenses of Council members and the Executive
Director shall be reimbursed from funds provided by foundation
grants, in-kind contributions or funds obtained pursuant to
subsection (b), section seventeen of this article.
(g) The Executive Director shall provide or obtain
information necessary to support the administrative work of the
Council and, to that end, may contract with one or more nonprofit
organizations or state agencies for research and administrative
support.
(h) The Executive Director of the Council shall be available
to the Governor and to the Speaker of the House of Delegates and
the President of the Senate to analyze and comment upon proposed legislation and rules which relate to or materially affect
missing or exploited children.
(i) The Council shall prepare and publish an annual report
of its activities and accomplishments and submit it to the
Governor and to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance on
or before the fifteenth day of December of each year.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to repeal the sections
of the code authorizing the now defunct Governor's Cabinet on
Children and Families, transfer powers and duties of said
cabinet to the Bureau of Children and Families in the
Department of Health and Human Resources, and transfer control
and administration of the children's trust fund from said
cabinet to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added. Section 49-6C-1 is new; therefore,
strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted in that
section.
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