Justice: Special session to start on Sunday; child care initiatives not included on call

The West Virginia Capitol in Charleston, W.Va. (West Virginia Legislative Photography)

Gov. Jim Justice on Friday announced that the long-awaited special legislative session to amend the state’s budget for fiscal year 2025 will begin at 5 p.m. on Sunday in Charleston, the day before monthly interim meetings are scheduled to take place.

The special session call includes 15 pieces of legislation. All but three of those proposals will redirect funds to programming and budget lines that were either reduced or eliminated in the “skinny budget” passed by lawmakers in March. 

Citing the possibility of a $465 million “clawback” from the federal government related to the state’s use of COVID-19 relief funds for education initiatives, lawmakers during the regular session opted to pass a “skinny budget” with the intent of amending it to increase funding during a special session. In an attempt to stop the clawback, they also allocated millions of dollars to education initiatives.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Education approved a waiver for the state’s use of those COVID-19 funds, at least in part due to the state’s proposed increases for educational funding in FY 2025. That means there is no longer a risk of a clawback.

Outside of the budget, other items in the governor’s proclamation include bills to increase oversight and change Medicaid reimbursement procedures for residential substance use disorder treatment facilities in the state; amend the process for nominating presidential electors in political parties and shift the system for depositing money into the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

The language of the bills that will be introduced in the special session are not yet available. 

The proposed bill for residential treatment facilities reads similar to one that was previously introduced in the 2024 regular session as Senate Bill 805. That bill easily passed the Senate on a unanimous vote, but stalled in the House of Delegates, where lawmakers failed to pass it on the final night before adjourning Sine Die.

SB 805, as it stood at the time it died, would have required residential treatment facilities in the state — which are separate from residential recovery houses — to be accredited and licensed by national professional organizations to receive state Medicaid reimbursements for services.

Most of the budget allocations included in the special session call will return or raise funding levels for certain programs — including Medicaid, services for people with disabilities and a new agricultural lab at West Virginia State University, among others — to those requested by Justice before the start of the regular session in January.

The cuts to services for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities (or IDD) have been met with sharp criticism from families who rely on state programs for in-home care and therapeutic services. 

Republicans, led by Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, defended the cuts, saying they were a result of the Department of Human Services’s murky spending. The newly-formed department didn’t use millions of dollars earmarked for the IDD population and spent some of those funds on things like in-home COVID-19 tests.

Reproductive freedom, child care access not likely in special session plans

Notably missing in the special session call are any initiatives to improve or increase access to child care for West Virginians. Initiatives to do so have had bipartisan support in the Legislature. Despite several bills being introduced during the regular session for child care, none made it to the governor’s desk.

“It’s disappointing that, once again, the governor and legislative leadership are ignoring the child care crisis in the state,” said Del. Mike Pushkin, who chairs the state Democratic Party. “Day after day we hear of child care services shutting down across the state, leaving many parents with fewer and fewer options of child care in order for them to get back to work. It’s at a crisis level and the governor and Legislature are just ignoring it.”

Pushkin, D-Kanawha, said he was also disappointed — especially with the lack of child care initiatives included in the call — to see that the governor’s proclamation did not include a resolution to allow residents to vote on abortion access and reproductive freedom in November’s general election.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Williams earlier this month called on Justice, who is staunchly anti-abortion, to include the abortion ballot measure in the special session. A resolution that would have done the same thing was introduced by Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, during the regular session. It was never brought up for consideration.

“I wholeheartedly supported [Huntington] Mayor [Steve] Williams’ call to add a resolution to provide a constitutional amendment to put reproductive freedom on the ballot this fall, and I’m not alone in this,” Pushkin said. “Thousands and thousands of West Virginians have signed this petition. The governor and the Legislature are ignoring them.”

Special sessions operate, for the most part, like regular legislative sessions, but often on an expedited schedule. Both chambers must approve proposed bills, which will then go to the governor for signature.

During the special session, lawmakers can only entertain and act on policies and proposals included in the governor’s proclamation. The governor, at any time, can issue a new proclamation to extend the session or add other legislative proposals. 

Depending on how long the special session lasts, the meetings and legislating could overlap with monthly interims, which are scheduled to run from Monday to Tuesday. Interim meetings are held regularly throughout the year when the Legislature is out of session. Rarely is action taken during the meetings, but the information shared is often used to inform legislation introduced during regular or special sessions.

For a schedule of interim meetings and their agendas, visit the Legislature’s website. 

The post Justice: Special session to start on Sunday; child care initiatives not included on call appeared first on West Virginia Watch.