MORGANTOWN — With the former Department of Health and Human Resources now trifurcated into three departments, legislators began the process on Thursday of officially naming the new departments.
House Health and Human Resources took up HB 4274: a 709-page bill that can be summarized in a few sentences, reflecting the names already in use.
When the bill becomes law, the new departments will officially be called the Department of Human Services, the Department of Health, and the Department of Health Facilities.
They already have acronyms in use too. A Thursday joint press release from the agencies praising the proposed allocations for them in the budget bill abbreviates the departments as DoHS, DH and DHF, respectively.
A committee amendment corrected an oversight in the bill. The amendment changes the name of the Bureau for Children and Families (within DoHS) to the Bureau for Social Services.
The committee passed the bill unanimously, without debate or discussion. It goes next to the full House.
EMAIL: dbeard@dominionpost.com
TWEET @DominionPostWV
