Senate Bill No. 21
(By Senators Wiedebusch, Bailey, Minear, Walker and Sharpe)
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[Introduced; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend chapter thirty-six of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article seven-a, relating to
the creation and administration of self-sufficiency trusts;
providing for a short title; setting forth definitions;
creating a self-sufficiency trust account within the state
treasurer's office; authorizing the department of health and
human resources to administer funds in the account; effect of
other benefits; and establishing a special account for the
disabled.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter thirty-six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding
thereto a new article, designated article seven-a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 7A. SELF-SUFFICIENCY TRUST FUND ACT.
§36-7A-1. Short title.
This article may be cited as the "Self-Sufficiency Trust Fund
Act".
§36-7A-2. Definitions.
As used in this article, the term:
(1) "Department" means the department of health and human
resources;
(2) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department of
health and human resources or his or her designee;
(3) "Self-sufficiency trust" means a trust created by a
nonprofit corporation organized pursuant to the provisions of
article one, chapter thirty-one of this code which has received
from the Internal Revenue Service a determination letter that is
currently in effect stating that the organization is exempt from
federal taxation as described in subsection 501(c)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code, for the purpose of providing for the care
and treatment of one or more persons who are residents of this state and who are developmentally disabled, mentally ill,
physically disabled or otherwise eligible for services, as
determined by the secretary.
§36-7A-3. Creation of self-sufficiency trust account.
(a) A self-sufficiency trust account, designated the
"self-sufficiency trust account" is hereby created within the state
treasury. The state treasurer shall deposit to the credit of the
trust account funds received from a self-sufficiency trust for that
purpose. The state auditor shall direct payments from the trust
account by warrant on the treasurer upon claims certified by the
secretary.
(b) The assets of the trust account are to be preserved,
invested and expended in the manner and for the purposes set forth
in section four of this article. At the end of each fiscal year,
the unexpended trust account balance shall carry forward to the
next fiscal year and shall not revert to the general revenue fund
of the state.
§36-7A-4. Administration of trust account.
(a) The department may accept funds from a self-sufficiency
trust for deposit in the self-sufficiency trust account pursuant to
an agreement with the self-sufficiency trust naming one or more beneficiaries who are residents of this state and who are
developmentally disabled, mentally ill, physically disabled or
otherwise eligible for services, as determined by the secretary.
The agreement shall include provisions specifying the care or
treatment to be provided for each named beneficiary. All funds in
the trust account are to be accounted for separately for each named
beneficiary. The funds in the trust account may only be used by the
department to provide for the care or treatment of the named
beneficiary in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
(b) If the secretary determines that the funds in the trust
account for a named beneficiary cannot be used to provide for the
care and treatment of the beneficiary in a manner consistent with
the agreement, or upon request of the self-sufficiency trust, the
remaining funds in the trust account for the named beneficiary,
together with any accumulated interest, shall be promptly returned
to the self-sufficiency trust that provided the funds for deposit
in the trust account.
(c) The trust account funds are to be deposited in the state
treasury and invested as provided for the "state account"
established in section eight, article six, chapter twelve of this
code and the investment earnings thereon credited to the trust account.
§36-7A-5. Benefits not affected.
The receipt by a beneficiary of supplemental services as a
result of the self-sufficiency trust account or of care and
treatment provided by the self-sufficiency trust may not in any way
reduce, impair or diminish the benefits to which the beneficiary is
otherwise entitled to by law.
§36-7A-6. Special account.
There is created within the self-sufficiency trust account a
special account for the disabled, designated "self-sufficiency
trust disabled account". The department may accept funds from any
source for deposit into the special account. The funds in the
special account may only be used by the department, subject to
appropriations, for the purpose of providing for the care and
treatment of low-income, developmentally disabled, mentally ill and
physically disabled persons, or low-income persons otherwise
eligible for services, as determined by the secretary.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a
self-sufficiency trust account in the state treasury to enable
private moneys to be deposited into an account, administered by the Department of Health and Human Resources, for the purpose of
providing supplemental services to persons who are developmentally
disabled, mentally ill, physically disabled or otherwise eligible
for services, as determined by the department.
Article 7A is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.