Bill splitting West Virginia DHHR into three completes legislative action; Gov. Justice will consider the bill when it reaches his desk

HB 2006 would terminate DHHR and split it into a Department of Human Services, a Department of Health and a Department of Health Facilities effective Jan. 1. All three new departments would have their own cabinet secretaries, but share one central Office of Shared Administration for administrative support services similar to the departments of Commerce, Tourism and Economic Development.

“The purpose of this bill is to reorganize the Department of Health and Human Resources,” said Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha. “The bill provides that the existing DHHR shall be devolved and divided into three new departments.”

The Senate passed its version of a DHHR split bill on the first day of the 2023 legislative session. Senate Bill 226 also would have split DHHR into the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health Facilities. The bill passed 33-0.

The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice, who vetoed a similar bill last year but has expressed willingness this year to consider a split of the state’s largest department.

When asked about the bill’s passage at a virtual administration briefing Wednesday, Justice said he would review the bill.

“I haven’t gotten it yet. When it makes its way to my desk and everything, I will approach it in a very positive way, because truly there is lots and lots of folks with a lot of opinions,” Justice said. “We want to continue to make things better. Absolutely I’ll look very open minded and in a real positive way, because that’s all I want to do is make it better.”

The Legislature passed a bill last year, House Bill 4020, that would have split DHHR into a Department of Health and a Department of Human Services. Justice vetoed that bill, stating in his veto message that HB 4020 did not take into account the complexity of splitting the state’s largest department that manages more than $7 billion worth of state and federal funds and employs more than 4,900 full-time workers.

Instead, Justice called for DHHR to conduct an independent top-to-bottom review of its operations. The McChrystal Group, a Virginia-based management services company, was awarded a $1.08 million contract last June to conduct an organizational assessment and a strategic plan for DHHR.

In a report released in November, the McChrystal Group found issues with DHHR’s structure, strategic focus and its operational processes. Some of the group’s recommendations included establishing an executive leadership team of deputy secretaries to coordinate efforts between the department’s many bureaus, and improving communication between those bureaus and the public. It also recommended against splitting up DHHR.

Justice last year appointed Dr. Jeff Coben, associate vice president for health affairs at West Virginia University and dean of the School of Public Health, as the interim cabinet secretary for DHHR after Bill Crouch, the previous DHHR cabinet secretary, announced his retirement.

Since the McChrystal Group report was released, DHHR has promoted two staffers to new deputy secretary positions and hired a new chief operating officer as it implements the report’s recommendations.

DHHR has come under fire for the state’s consistently poor showing in health and social rankings for decades, the state’s substance use disorder and drug overdose crisis, the number of children in the foster care system and juvenile correction system and the treatment of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

When bills are passed during the 60-day legislative session, a governor has five days to either sign or veto the bill upon receiving it, or they can let the bill become law without their signature if they take no action within the five-day time frame.

“If we can help more of our folks in regard to DHHR, that’s what we want to do,” Justice said. “If we can do it better, absolutely I’m all in.”