Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
REGULAR SESSION
               Introduced House Bill 5556
             By Delegate Campbell [Introduced February 12, 2024; Referred to the Committee on Senior, Children, and Family Issues then Health and Human Resources]
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  A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new article
         designated §49-12-1, §49-12-2, §49-12-3, §49-12-4, §49-12-5, §49-12-6, §49-12-7, §49-
         12-8, §49-12-9, §49-12-10, §49-12-11, and §49-12-12, all relating to creating the
         Comprehensive Services Act, a collaborative system of services and funding that is child-
         centered, family-focused and community-based when addressing the strengths and needs
         of troubled and at-risk youths and their families in this state; intent purpose and definitions;
         and establishing state and local advisory teams; establishing Community policy and
         management teams.
     Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
     ARTICLE 12. COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES ACT.
     §49-12-1. Intent and purpose; definitions.
         (a) It is the intention of this article to create a collaborative system of services and funding
  that is child-centered, family-focused and community-based when addressing the strengths and
  needs of troubled and at-risk youths and their families in this state.
         (b) This article shall be interpreted and construed so as to effectuate the following
  purposes:
         (1) Ensure that services and funding are consistent with the state's policies of preserving
  families and providing appropriate services in the least restrictive environment, while protecting
  the welfare of children and maintaining the safety of the public;
         (2) Identify and intervene early with young children and their families who are at risk of
 developing emotional or behavioral problems, or both, due to environmental, physical or
 psychological stress;
        (3) Design and provide services that are responsive to the unique and diverse strengths
 and needs of troubled youths and families;
        (4) Increase interagency collaboration and family involvement in service delivery and
 management;
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        (5) Encourage a public and private partnership in the delivery of services to troubled and
 at-risk youths and their families; and
        (6) Provide communities flexibility in the use of funds and to authorize communities to
 make decisions and be accountable for providing services in concert with these purposes.
        (c) As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:
        "CSA" means the Children's Services Act.
        "Council" means the Bureau for Social Services.
     §49-12-2.     State and local advisory team;      appointment;       membership.
         The state and local advisory team is established to better serve the needs of troubled and
  at-risk youths and their families by advising the Council and by managing cooperative efforts at the
  state level and providing support to community efforts. The team shall be appointed by and be
  responsible to the Council. The team shall include one representative from each of the following
  state agencies: the Department of Health, the Division of Juvenile Services, the Bureau for Social
  Services, the Bureau for Behavioral Health, the Bureau for Family Assistance, the Senior Services
  Bureau, and the Department of Education. The team shall also include a parent representative
  who is not an employee of any public or private program that serves children and families and who
  has a child who has received services that are within the purview of the Children's Services Act; a
 representative of a private organization or association of providers for children's or family services;
 a local Children's Services Act coordinator or program manager; a juvenile and domestic relations
 district court judge; a representative who has previously received services through the Children's
 Services Act, appointed with recommendations from entities including the Departments of
 Education and the Bureau for Social Services and the West Virginia Chapter of the National
 Alliance on Mental Illness; and one member from each of five different geographical areas of the
 state who is representative of one of the different participants of community policy and
 management teams. The nonstate agency members shall serve staggered terms of not more than
 three years, such terms to be determined by the Council.
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         The team shall annually elect a chairman from among the local government
 representatives who shall be responsible for convening the team. The team shall develop and
 adopt bylaws to govern its operations that shall be subject to approval by the Council. Any person
 serving on such team who does not represent a public agency shall file a statement of economic
 interests as set out in §6B-2-1 et seq. of this code (Public Officers and Employees; Conflict of
 Interest Financial Disclosure). Persons representing public agencies shall file such statements if
 required to do so pursuant to §6B-2-1 et seq. of this code.
     §49-12-3.       State and local advisory team;       powers and duties.
          The state and local advisory team may advise:
          (1) The Council on state interagency program policies that promote and support
  cooperation and collaboration in the provision of services to troubled and at-risk youths and their
  families at the state and local levels;
          (2) The Council on state interagency fiscal policies that promote and support cooperation
  and collaboration in the provision of services to troubled and at-risk youths and their families at the
  state and local levels;
          (3) State agencies and localities on training and technical assistance necessary for the
  provision of efficient and effective services that are responsive to the strengths and needs of
 troubled and at-risk youths and their families; and
         (4) The Council on the effects of proposed policies, regulations and guidelines.
     §49-12-4. Duties of agencies represented on state and local advisory team.
          The state agencies represented on the state and local advisory team shall provide
  administrative support for the team in the development and implementation of the collaborative
  system of services and funding authorized by this article. This support shall also include, but not
  be limited to, the provision of timely fiscal information, data for client- and service-tracking, and
  assistance in training local agency personnel on the system of services and funding established by
  this article.
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     §49-12-5. Community policy and management team; appointment; fiscal agent.
         (a) Every county, municipality, or combination of counties or municipalities shall establish a
  community policy and management team in order to receive funds pursuant to this article. Each
  such team shall be appointed by the governing body of the participating local political subdivision
  establishing the team. In making such appointments, the governing body shall ensure that the
  membership is appropriately balanced among the representatives required to serve on the team..
  When any combination of counties, cities or counties and cities establishes a community policy
  and management team, the board of supervisors of each participating county or the council in the
  case of each participating municipality shall jointly establish the size of the team and the type of
  representatives to be selected from each locality. The governing bodies of each participating
 county and municipality served by the team shall appoint the designated representatives from
 their localities. The participating governing bodies shall jointly designate an official of one member
 municipality or county to act as fiscal agent for the team.
        (b) The county or municipality that comprises a single team and the county or municipality
 whose designated official serves as the fiscal agent for the team in the case of joint teams shall
 annually audit the total revenues of the team and its programs. The county or municipality that
 comprises a single team and any combination of counties or cities establishing a team shall
 arrange for the provision of legal services to the team.
     §49-12-6. Community policy and management teams; membership; immunity from liability.
         (a) The community policy and management team to be appointed by the local governing
  body shall include, at a minimum, at least one elected official or appointed official or his or her
  designee from the governing body of a locality that is a member of the team and the local agency
  heads or their designees of the Departments of Education and the Bureau for Social Services and
  the West Virginia Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Juvenile Services Division in
  §49-4-701 to §49-4-726 of this code, Department of Health, Bureau for of Social Services, and
  county schoolboards. The team shall also include a representative of a private organization or
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  association of providers for children's or family services if such organizations or associations are
  located within the locality and a parent representative. Parent representatives who are employed
 by a public or private program that receives funds pursuant to this article" or agencies represented
 on a community policy and management team may serve as a parent representative provided that
 parent representatives who are not employed by a public or private program that receives funds
 pursuant to this article or agencies represented on a community policy and management team are
 prioritized for participation where practicable. Those persons appointed to represent community
 agencies shall be authorized to make policy and funding decisions for their agencies.
        (b) The local governing body may appoint other members to the team, including, but not
 limited to, a local government official, a local law-enforcement official, and representatives of other
 public agencies.
        (c) When any combination of counties, cities or counties, and cities establishes a
 community policy and management team, the membership requirements previously set out shall
 be adhered to by the team as a whole.
        (d) Persons who serve on the team are immune from any civil liability for decisions made
 about the appropriate services for a family or the proper placement or treatment of a child who
 comes before the team, unless it is proven that such person acted with malicious intent. Any
 person serving on such team who does not represent a public agency shall file a statement of
 economic interests as set out in §6B-2-1 et seq. of this code (Public Officers and Employees;
 Conflict of Interest Financial Disclosure), as well as persons representing public agencies.
        (e) Persons serving on the team who are parent representatives or who represent private
 organizations or associations of providers for children's or family services shall abstain from
 decision-making involving individual cases or agencies in which they have either a personal
 interest, as defined in §6B-2-1 et seq. of this code (Public Officers and Employees; Conflict of
 Interest Financial Disclosure) or a fiduciary interest.
     §49-12-7.    Community policy and management teams;     powers and duties.
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         The community policy and management team shall manage the cooperative effort in each
  community to better serve the needs of troubled and at-risk youths and their families and to
  maximize the use of state and community resources. Every such team shall:
         (1) Develop interagency policies and procedures to govern the provision of services to
  children and families in its community;
         (2) Develop interagency fiscal policies governing access to the state pool of funds by the
  eligible populations including immediate access to funds for emergency services and shelter care;
         (3) Establish policies to assess the ability of parents or legal guardians to contribute
  financially to the cost of services to be provided and, when not specifically prohibited by federal or
 state law or regulation, provide for appropriate parental or legal guardian financial contribution,
 utilizing a standard sliding fee scale based upon ability to pay;
        (4) Coordinate long-range, community-wide planning that ensures the development of
 resources and services needed by children and families in its community including consultation
 with the Department of Human Services on the development of a community-based system of
 services established.
        (5) Establish policies governing referrals and reviews of children and families to the family
 assessment and planning teams or a collaborative, multidisciplinary team process approved by
 the Council, including a process for parents and persons who have primary physical custody of a
 child to refer children in their care to the teams, and a process to review the teams'
 recommendations and requests for funding;
        (6) Establish quality assurance and accountability procedures for program utilization and
 funds management;
        (7) Establish procedures for obtaining bids on the development of new services;
        (8) Manage funds in the interagency budget allocated to the community from the state pool
 of funds, the trust fund, and any other source;
        (9) Authorize and monitor the expenditure of funds by each family assessment and
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 planning team or a collaborative, multidisciplinary team process approved by the Council;
           (10) Submit grant proposals that benefit its community to the state trust fund and enter into
 contracts for the provision or operation of services upon approval of the participating governing
 bodies;
           (11) Serve as its community's liaison to the Department of Human Services, reporting on
 its programmatic and fiscal operations and on its recommendations for improving the service
 system, including consideration of realignment of geographical boundaries for providing human
 services;
           (12) Collect and provide uniform data to the Council as requested by the Department of
 Human Services;
           (13) Review and analyze data in management reports provided by the Department of
 Human Services to help evaluate child and family outcomes and public and private provider
 performance in the provision of services to children and families through the Department of
 Human Services. Every team shall also review local and statewide data provided in the
 management reports on the number of children served, children placed out of state,
 demographics, types of services provided, duration of services, service expenditures, child and
 family outcomes, and performance measures. Additionally, teams shall track the utilization and
 performance of residential placements using data and management reports to develop and
 implement strategies for returning children placed outside of the Commonwealth, preventing
 placements, and reducing lengths of stay in residential programs for children who can
 appropriately and effectively be served in their home, relative's homes, family-like setting, or their
 community;
           (14) Administer funds;
           (15) Have authority, upon approval of the participating governing bodies, to enter into a
 contract with another community policy and management team to purchase coordination services
 provided that funds described as the state pool of funds are not used;
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        (16) Establish policies for providing intensive care coordination services for children who
 are at risk of entering, or are placed in, residential care through the Department of Human
 Services, consistent with guidelines developed; and
        (17) Establish policies and procedures for appeals by youth and their families of decisions
 made by local family assessment and planning teams regarding services to be provided to the
 youth and family pursuant to an individual family services plan developed by the local family
 assessment and planning team. These policies and procedures may not apply to appeals made
 pursuant to, or in accordance with, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or federal or state
 laws or regulations governing the provision of medical assistance pursuant to Title XIX of the
 Social Security Act.
     §49-12-8. Family assessment and planning team; membership; immunity from liability.
         Each community policy and management team shall establish and appoint one or more
  family assessment and planning teams as the needs of the community require. Each family
  assessment and planning team shall include representatives of the following community agencies
  who have authority to access services within their respective agencies: community services
  board, Division of Juvenile services pursuant to §49-2-901 through §49-2-919 of this code,
  Department of Social Services, and county school boards. Each family and planning team also