WEST virginia legislature

2026 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4782

By Delegate Burkhammer

[Introduced; referred

to the Committee on]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new article, designated §49-13-1, relating to the creation of the Sustainable Child-Serving Workforce & Foster Care Modernization Act; and providing for foster care rate modernization and workforce stabilization.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 13. Sustainable Child-Serving Workforce & Foster Care Modernization ACT.

§49-13-1. Foster Care Rate Modernization and Workforce Stabilization.

(a) The Department of Human Services, Bureau for Social Services, shall rebase basic, special, and therapeutic foster care rates using current cost data and implement an automatic annual adjustment based on a recognized index such as the Employment Cost Index (ECI) for Health Care & Social Assistance or the CPI-Medical index.

(b) Therapeutic foster care and child-placing agency administrative rates shall be adjusted to reflect current costs and include incentive payments for retention and placement stability.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the Sustainable Child-Serving Workforce & Foster Care Modernization Act.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.