CHARLESTON, W.Va. — As the new legislative session gets underway of the 84th Legislature, a new select committee is beginning in the West Virginia Senate that Senate President Mitch Carmichael calls crucia
Carmichael announced the Children and Families Committee on Wednesday morning before the session got underway.
According to a news release, the two of the Committee’s primary areas of focus will be addressing issues that stem from West Virginia’s continuing foster care crisis and substance abuse epidemic.
“It’s the creation of a new committee that will be solely focused on children and families,” Carmichael said on Wednesday’s MetroNews ‘Talkline.’ “We need to demonstrate an awareness of essentially the crisis that we have in our foster care system with 7,000 children that are now wards of the state. We don’t have enough foster parents.”
Carmichael said they have a strong committee that includes Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, who has been named the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Children and Families. Senate Majority Whip Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, will serve as Vice Chairman. Other committee members include Senator Sue Cline, R-Wyoming; Senator J.R. Pitsenbarger, R-Nicholas; Senator Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh; Senator Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson; Senate Minority Leader Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, Senator Paul Hardesty, D-Logan; and Senator Ron Stollings, D-Boone.
More than 7,000 children in the state are in foster care, Carmichael said. According to a recent legislative audit of the Department of Health and Human Resources Child Protective Services, CPS “did not meet the statutorily required time frame for investigating child abuse and neglect allegations in 50% of cases during the federal Fiscal Year 2018,” according to a Senate release.
Carmichael said most of the issues were brought up in the Health and Human Resources Committee in the past but this needs to be a primary focus in 2020.
“While those are health-related issues, there is also transcends economic issues, education issues, counseling issues, a lot of factors go into that,” he said.
“We wanted one committee that could amalgamate all those different entities and bring forth solutions.”
Carmichael said he is confident laws will be in and out of the community and the Senate will get to work because that is what they do. “The Last-Dollar In bill” focused on community and technical college was brought up as an example.
“We do big things in the Senate,” Carmichael said. “You look at Senate Bill 1, 3,000 people are now in the community and technical college education in West Virginia just since June 30 that will now have an opportunity for more advance in their careers or education.”