ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4259
(By Delegates Ennis, Hatfield, Iaquinta, Perdue,
Talbott, Yost and Leggett)
[Passed March 13, 2004; in effect from passage.]
AN ACT to repeal §5-26-7 and §5-26-9 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §5-26-1, §5-26-2, §5-
26-3, §5-26-4 and §5-26-8 of said code; and to amend said code
by adding thereto two new sections, designated §5-26-2a and
§5-26-2b, all relating generally to the governor's cabinet on
children and families; clarifying statement of purpose;
revising membership of cabinet; establishing citizen advisory
council; defining family resource networks; revising duties
and powers of cabinet; requiring state plan; requiring annual
reports; and providing for continuation of cabinet and
council.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-26-7 and §5-26-9 of the code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be repealed; that §5-26-1, §5-26-2, §5-26-3, §5-26-4
and §5-26-8 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that said
code be amended by adding thereto two new sections, designated §5-
26-2a and §5-26-2b, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 26. GOVERNOR'S CABINET ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES.
§5-26-1. Legislative findings; statement of purpose.
(a) The Legislature finds that in order to avoid the human and
financial costs to the state of individual and family instability,
and to benefit the state and society as a whole, it is in the best
interests of the state to provide programs and services to support
children and families. The Legislature further finds that children
and families are best supported by programs and services in or as
close to the local community as possible.
The Legislature intends to accomplish its goals relating to
children and families through a family-centered, comprehensive,
community-based system for the provision of social services,
programs and facilities for children and families overseen by the
highest levels of state government.
(b) The Legislature hereby declares that one purpose of this
article and the policy of the state is to achieve the coordination
of programs and services to children and families through a cabinet
in the governor's office which is independent from any state agency
and which shall act as an interagency cabinet created to nurture a
flexible system for the comprehensive, unified, effective and
efficient administration of programs and services to children and
families which avoids fragmentation and duplication of programs and
services. For maximum effectiveness, the Legislature intends to
provide services in a long-term manner with such intensity as the
needs of the particular situation require.
(c) The service delivery system shall be driven by the needs and preferences of the child and family, shall reflect local
community characteristics and resources, shall allow for local
input, and shall focus on prevention, education and early
intervention.
The Legislature intends, by this article, to allow diversity
and regional, cultural and ethnic sensitivity in the development of
programs and services for children and families. To the greatest
extent possible, families and communities are to be involved in all
aspects of planning, delivery and evaluation of services. This is
intended to foster strong family and community program ownership
while maintaining clear parameters for program goals and purposes
through the governor's cabinet on children and families.
§5-26-2. Cabinet established.
(a) There is hereby created the governor's cabinet on children
and families, hereinafter referred to as the "cabinet". The
cabinet shall include the secretary of health and human resources
or a designee; the secretary of military affairs and public safety
or a designee; the secretary of administration or a designee; the
state superintendent of schools or a designee; and the attorney
general or a designee; one member of the Senate, to be appointed by
the governor, and one member of the House of Delegates, to be
appointed by the governor, both of whom shall serve in an advisory
capacity only; and three members selected by the governor from the
citizens' advisory council as set forth in section two-a of this
article. The governor may appoint other administrative heads of
government who shall serve in an advisory capacity only.
(b) In order to promote consistency and continuity in the
work of the cabinet
, each cabinet member appointed by virtue of his
or her governmental office is encouraged to select a primary
designee and an alternate designee to serve in his or her place
when necessary.
(c) The cabinet shall be chaired by the governor and shall
convene at least monthly during the first year and thereafter shall
meet at least six times annually. The cabinet shall establish
bylaws which govern its decision making.
(d) The governor shall appoint an executive director to carry
out its work and to oversee staff adequate to fulfill its
functions.
§5-26-2a. Citizen's advisory council.
(a) The governor shall appoint a citizens' advisory council to
assist the cabinet with the implementation of its mission and
policy objectives.
(b) The council shall be comprised of not fewer than twelve
nor more than thirty citizens who will serve terms of one, two or
three years as assigned at the time of appointment. The council
members will have knowledge and experience in serving children and
families in such areas as housing: Health promotion and disease
prevention; education; transportation; reading and literacy; food
and nutrition; clothing; utilities; job training and employment;
child care; child protection; early intervention and crisis
intervention; assessment and diagnosis; home-based family
development; preservation and reunification; financial planning; mental health and counseling; substance abuse prevention counseling
and treatment; addiction awareness training; pregnancy prevention;
and information, referral and placement.
(c) The purpose of the council is to:
(1) Provide a forum for discussion of issues that affect the
state's children and families;
(2) Identify and promote best practices in the provision of
services to children and families;
(3) Review information and research that can inform state
policy;
(4) Make recommendations to the cabinet in areas of policy and
allocation of resources;
(5) Focus attention on accountability and results;
(6) Assist the cabinet in developing a cross-agency multi-year
state plan for improving the well being of children and families;
(7) Connect government officials who make decisions with the
families affected by their decisions;
(8) Engage local communities through family resource networks
to work on local issues and statewide priorities;
(9) Assure that community and family voices are heard by the
cabinet; and
(10) Promote family support practices by all publicly funded
agencies.
(d) The governor shall select three members of the council to
serve on the cabinet, two of whom are family representatives from
families who have received or are receiving services funded, in whole or in part, by federal, state or local governments, and one
of whom is a community representative who is not employed in a
managerial or decision-making position of a provider of services
funded in whole or in part by federal, state or local governments.
(e) The community representative initially appointed shall
serve for a term of one year and the family representatives
initially appointed shall serve for terms of two years and three
years respectively. If a member's term on the cabinet exceeds his
or her term on the council, his or her term on the council will be
extended automatically to coincide with his or her term on the
cabinet. Members appointed subsequent to the initial appointments
shall serve for terms of three years, and may serve up to three
consecutive full terms: Provided, That members appointed under this
section shall continue to serve until their successors are
appointed. An appointment to fill a vacancy will be for the
unexpired term.
(f) Citizen members may be reimbursed for actual and necessary
expenses incurred in the discharge of their official duties in a
manner consistent with guidelines of the travel management office
of the department of administration.
(g) The governor may remove any citizen member from the
council or the cabinet for neglect of duty, incompetency or
official misconduct.
§5-26-2b. Family resource networks.
(a) "Family resource network" means a local community
organization charged with service coordination, needs and resource assessment, planning, community mobilization and evaluation, and
which has been recognized by the cabinet as having met the
following criteria:
(1) Agreeing to a single governing entity;
(2) Agreeing to engage in activities to improve
service
systems for children and families within the community;
(3) Addressing a geographic area of a county or two or more
contiguous counties;
(4) Having nonproviders, which include family representatives
and other members who are not employees of publicly funded
agencies
, as the majority of the members of the governing body, and
having family representatives as the majority of the nonproviders;
(5) Having representatives of local service agencies,
including, but not limited to, the public health department, the
behavioral health center, the local health and human resources
agency and the county school district, on the governing body;
(6) Accepting principles consistent with the cabinet's mission
as part of its philosophy.
(b) A family resource network may not provide direct services,
which means to provide programs or services directly to children
and families.
§5-26-3. Duties of cabinet generally.
In addition to all other duties and responsibilities assigned
to the cabinet in this article and elsewhere by law, the cabinet
shall:
(1) Establish, oversee, evaluate and provide technical assistance, and such moneys as may be made available by legislative
appropriation to family resource networks, starting points centers,
early parent education programs and other community based
initiatives;
(2) Develop a cross-agency multi-year state plan consistent
with priorities established by local plans developed by family
resource networks, which includes provisions for regular updates of
the plan and which requires the cabinet to:
(A) Articulate core results desired by the state for its
children and families;
(B) Choose indicators to measure progress in reaching core
results;
(C) Establish baseline data for measuring progress by
examining current conditions and trends;
(D) Set targets and explore strategies for improving the lives
of children and families;
(E) Put selected strategies into action to achieve core
results;
(F) Monitor progress and make course corrections as necessary;
and
(G) Identify tools to achieve articulated goals, including:
(i) Shifting focus from process to core results;
(ii) Increasing flexibility to remove barriers, encourage
innovation and provide incentives for achieving results;
(iii) Providing flexible financing to reinvest savings and
decategorize, pool, redeploy or reinstate funding;
(iv) Employing results-based budgeting; and
(v) Improving accountability through results-based decision
making.
(3) Prepare a proposed budget for the operation of the cabinet
and recommend it to the governor for inclusion in the executive
budget to be submitted to the Legislature;
(4) Promote the work of the governor's cabinet on children and
families in order to engender strong support from the community,
the Legislature and business leaders;
(5) Report annually to the joint committee on government and
finance on its progress in implementing the comprehensive multi-
year state plan required under subdivision (2) of this section; and
(6) Submit an annual electronic report before the first day of
January to the Legislature and a written copy of the report to the
legislative librarian on its financial transactions for the
preceding year, minutes of its meetings, narrative descriptions of
any training sessions, conferences or other events, and a progress
report on its implementation of the comprehensive multi-year state
plan required under subdivision (2) of this section.
§5-26-4. Powers of cabinet generally.
In addition to all other powers granted to the cabinet in this
article and elsewhere by law, the cabinet may:
(1) Negotiate written agreements and procedures between and
among departments of state government which assure that children
and families are provided with health care, social services,
appropriate education and vocational training, and any other services to which they may be entitled under state and federal law;
(2) Provide or contract with any agencies or persons in this
state and other states for any facilities, equipment or service
necessary to achieve the purposes of this article, and hire staff
sufficient to carry out the duties and responsibilities of the
cabinet;
(3) In addition to the citizens' advisory council established
pursuant to section two-a of this article, form subcommittees,
convene task teams or consult experts to advise the cabinet
generally or on selected topics as necessary to accomplish its
goals or to otherwise carry out its duties under this article;
(4) Develop and implement rules, standards and policies
governing the internal operation and administration of the cabinet;
(5) Delegate any of the cabinet's powers, duties or functions
as the cabinet may deem appropriate, expedient and effective;
(6) Solicit and accept proposals in furtherance of any program
or service required by this article, especially for the
establishment of family resource networks at the regional or local
level and for the implementation of pilot programs;
(7) Waive rules that impede coordinated service delivery;
(8) Solicit, accept and expend grants, gifts, bequests,
donations and other funds made available to the cabinet: Provided,
That all unrestricted grants, gifts, bequests and donations shall
be deposited in the children's fund created pursuant to section six
of this article; and,
(9) Exercise any and all other powers, including the adoption of an official seal and the chartering of public or quasi-public
corporations, necessary for the discharge of the cabinet's duties
and the implementation of the purposes of this article.
§5-26-8. Continuation of cabinet and council.
The cabinet and the council shall continue to exist, pursuant
to the provisions of article ten, chapter four of this code, until
the first day of July, two thousand seven, unless sooner
terminated, continued or reestablished
pursuant to the provisions
of that article.