MORGANTOWN – Gov. Jim Justice announced on Wednesday that he vetoed the bill splitting the Department of Health and Human Resources in two, along with three other bills.
HB 4020 would have split DHR into the Department of Health and the Department of Human Resources. It passed with bipartisan support: 83-11 in the House, 32-2 in the Senate then 94-4 back in the House.
Justice described what he saw as flaws in the bill.
“We all want to address and correct the very real issues within DHHR, but before we undertake such a drastic change to an enormous agency that affects the lives of our most vulnerable West Virginians, I believe we need to take a deeper look at every aspect of how this would work,” he said. “The bill, as presented, does not provide adequate direction on the many questions that must be addressed in this massive endeavor, including important questions regarding how the federal funds will flow to ensure we don’t jeopardize significant federal funding. Additionally, this bill would have split the DHHR by January of next year, but it wouldn’t have made budgetary changes take effect until six months after that. It is unclear how the different effective dates could work in concert.”
Justice said he will engage with national experts and industry leaders to coordinate and complete a top-to-bottom review of the DHHR, “so that we may clearly identify its issues, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies. We will work to develop a plan to address any and all problems, which may very well require a full reorganization of the agency. But we will do so in an effective and efficient way, so we can make sure there is no lapse in any vital support or services for the West Virginians who rely on the DHHR.”
Justice also vetoed HB 4001, the broadband bill, for what he termed fatal flaws and violations of federal law. He’s directed the Department of Economic Development to work with legislative leadership, the sponsors and stakeholders to revisit and perfect the bill for inclusion in the April special session.
He also vetoed SB 573, dealing with magistrates operating outside of regular court hours because of a conflict with HB 2910, reallocating magistrates around the state; and HB 2300, including family court judges in the Judges Retirement System, for a code conflict. TWEET David Beard @dbeardtdp EMAIL dbeard@dominionpost.com
