H. B. 4438
(By Delegates Hatfield, Guthrie, Marshall,
Poore, Spencer, Brown, Skaff, Moore and Wells)
[Introduced February 11, 2010; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §18-21-1, §18-21-2,
§18-21-3 and §18-21-4, all relating to creating a commission
to develop a pilot program to help at-risk youth in West
Virginia; creation of commission; composition of the
commission; powers and duties of the commission; outcome
recommendations for pilot program; goals of the pilot program;
and operation of the pilot program.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §18-21-1, §18-21-2,
§18-21-3 and §18-21-4, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 21. THE GOVERNOR'S COMMISSION ON IMPROVING OUTCOMES FOR
AT-RISK YOUTH.
§18-21-1. Legislative findings and definitions.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares:
(1) That fourteen percent of pregnant women do receive
adequate prenatal care;
(2) That nearly twenty percent of pregnant women abuse
alcohol, prescription or illegal drugs;
(3) That West Virginia has the highest rate of women who smoke
during pregnancy;
(4) West Virginia has one of the nation's highest rates of
child abuse and neglect;
(5) Over one thousand children are in-state or home placement;
(6) Nearly four hundred children are in out-of-state
placement;
(7) Over two thousand children are in Department of Health and
Human Resources custody;
(8) Over three thousand children are in the West Virginia
foster care system;
(9) Over four hundred minority youth are in Division of
Juvenile Services custody;
(10) Almost seven thousand children drop-out of school each
year;
(11) Almost seven thousand children appear before the Juvenile
Court each year;
(12) West Virginia has been cited by the United States Justice
Department for having the highest over-representation of minority
youth in its juvenile justice system;
(A) These negative outcomes for many of West Virginia's youth drains financial resources, depletes the workforce and lowers the
tax base; and
(B) The cost of housing a youth in the Division of Juvenile
Services in West Virginia is over $90,000 a year;
(13) West Virginia has the lowest workforce participation rate
in the country at fifty-five percent and the workforce
participation rate for young adults age sixteen to twenty-four has
dropped significantly over the last few years;
(14) According to the West Virginia Picture Funding Report for
Children and Families there are more than two hundred fifty
different state and federal funding streams that provide over $5.2
billion dollars for services that benefit children, directly
support families or strengthen communities;
(A) These services lack coordination and there is no
comprehensive planning process that would provide adequate and
appropriate resources when they are most needed;
(B) There is not an effective delivery system at the local
community level to deliver these services.
(15) Many youth aging out of the juvenile justice and
foster-care system graduate into the adult criminal justice system
and therefore contributes to and exacerbates the overcrowded prison
population and costs the state money; and
(16) There is a growing need to help at-risk youth, that have
entered the juvenile justice system, reform their lifestyle through
educational tutoring and mentoring, to help them on a path where crime is no longer necessary in their life and therefore avoid the
adult criminal justice system.
(b) As used in this article:
(1) "At-risk youth" means all children between birth and
seventeen and young adults between the ages of eighteen and
twenty-one who are low income still receiving benefits from the
West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, legally
under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health and Human
Resources in custody of the West Virginia Division of Juvenile
Services or the selected counties Juvenile Court/Probation
Department, or the selected counties school system;
(2) "Commission" means The Governor's Commission on Improving
Outcomes for At-Risk Youth; and
(3) "Status offenders" means youth guilty of behavior that
would not be a crime if they were an adult.
§18-21-2. Creation and composition of the commission.
(a) Effective July 1, 2010, there is created the Governor's
Commission on Improving Outcomes for At-Risk Youth.
(b) The commission is composed of fourteen members: Governor
of the State of West Virginia, or his or her designee; Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Resources, or his or her
designee; two members from the West Virginia Division of Juvenile
Services, appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of
the Senate; one member from the West Virginia Board of Education,
appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate; the West Virginia State School Superintendent's Director of
Institutional Education; one representative from the Governor's
Workforce Investment Division, appointed by the Governor, with the
advice and consent of the Senate; three community representatives
from the county that houses the state's largest juvenile
delinquency population, one of which will be from the local
Workforce Investment Board Youth Council, appointed by the
Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate; the Chief
Juvenile Probation Officer, from the county with the most court
involved youth; a member from the private mental health profession,
appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the
Senate; a member of local law-enforcement whose county has the
highest number of juvenile arrests, appointed by the Governor, with
the advice and consent of the Senate; and the county school
superintendent or his or her designee whose county has the highest
number of students drop out of school.
(c) The Governor shall appoint a chairperson for the
commission that will determine meeting agendas and preside over
those meetings.
(d) The Speaker of the House of Delegates shall appoint a
member of the House of Delegates and the President of the Senate
shall appoint a member of the Senate to serve as advisors to the
commission.
(e) Members of the commission are not entitled to compensation
for services performed as members but may be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred for each day engaged in the
performance of their official commission duties in a manner
consistent with the guidelines of the Travel Management Office of
the Department of Administration.
§18-21-3. Commission powers and duties.
The commission shall:
(1) Identify a county with the most at-risk youth, that also
has adequate facilities and community leadership, to run a
community based pilot program that brings together both state and
local organizations, to work collaboratively to provide
comprehensive, intense wrap around services to at-risk youth and
their families in a seamless coordinated system; and
(2) Identify the challenges confronting the most at-risk youth
and their families and make specific recommendations to the pilot
program administrators to improve the outcomes for these youths;
specifically, to reduce the number of abuse and neglect cases, to
reduce high school drop-out rates, to reduce substance abuse among
youth including smoking, to reduce teen pregnancies, to reduce
juvenile delinquency and to reduce the number of juvenile
delinquents and youth aging out of foster-care that eventually
enter into the adult criminal justice system.
§18-21-4. Organization and goals of the pilot program.
(a) The pilot program shall be operated by a local
community-based organization in partnership with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, West Virginia Division of
Juvenile Services, Prestera Center for Mental Health Services, West
Virginia State School Superintendent, county superintendent's
office, local juvenile probation department and with other partner
agencies to serve as a clearing house to coordinate comprehensive
youth and family services. The pilot program shall be housed
within the community and will be directed by a local
community-based nonprofit organization.
(b) The pilot program shall operate out of a centrally located
building to coordinate service to youth and their families in the
selected county from birth to twenty-one years of age who are
referred by Department of Health and Human Resources, the counties
juvenile court and probation department, West Virginia Division of
Juvenile Services, the selected counties school system, social
service agencies, churches, community based organizations and
parents.
(c) The goal of the pilot program is to improve outcomes for
at-risk youth as measured by the following objectives:
(1) Coordinate services for at-risk youth and their families
in the county chosen for the pilot program;
(2) Reduce the number of youth in out-of-home placement;
(3) Reduce the number of youth in out-of-state placement;
(4) Reduce the number of status offenders referred to
Department of Health and Human Resources;
(5) Reduce the number of status offenders that progress to being adjudicated delinquent;
(6) To reduce the number of youth that appear before the
courts within the selected county;
(7) Enroll, at least, one hundred of the most at-risk youth in
a program where they receive intensive tutoring and mentoring;
(8) Increase the academic performance of youth enrolled in the
tutoring and mentoring program; and
(9) Reduce the dropout rate for youth enrolled in the program.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a commission that
will develop a pilot program to help at-risk youth in a selected
county in West Virginia by introducing prevention strategies for
children through early intervention and diversion strategies.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added
.