Committee approves SB 739 committee substitute reorganizing recovery-residence code and removing registration requirement; witnesses describe certification, un/

A Senate committee approved a committee substitute for Senate Bill 739 and voted to report the measure to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass. The substitute reorganizes statutory sections governing recovery residences, adds legislative findings supporting certification to nationally recognized standards, and removes a statutory requirement that recovery residences collect registration-related data, the committee was told.

Counsel summarized the committee substitute and its effect: the substitute moves legislative findings and definitions, removes the recovery-residence requirement to collect data tied to registration, and repeals the section requiring residences to register with the state; counsel also reported there is no fiscal note, named government agencies affected (Department of Health Facilities/Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification; Department of Human Services; Office of the Inspector General), and said the bill’s effective date would be 90 days if enacted.

Emily Birkin, introduced as executive director of the West Virginia Alliance of Recovery Residences, testified about certification practices and state data. Birkin said the Alliance is the state certification agency for recovery homes and described a four-domain certification process (administrative review, peer-support emphasis, good-neighbor/community integration, and on-site inspection with resident interviews). She said certification began in 2018 and reported that the Alliance has processed 238 grievances to date (11 so far this year), and that about 75% of grievances concern uncertified residences. Birkin also said the Alliance is aware of roughly 275 recovery residences statewide and that 247 had initiated the certification process; elsewhere in her testimony she gave different counts (119 certified at one point and later figures that appear to be a separate snapshot). The transcript shows inconsistent counts across different questions; the differing figures are retained here with source attribution rather than reconciled or averaged.

Birkin described a financial-impact study (with limited provider participation) and said most residences are self-funded: about 20% receive direct state funding and about 10 receive federal funding, with most homes sustained by resident fees. She said the Alliance maintains capacity-tracking, resident surveys at inspection, a gap analysis in progress, and a recovery-capital platform to measure residents’ social and community capital.

Jessica Whitmore, general counsel for the Office of Inspector General (OIG), testified that the OIG generally does not review the Alliance’s certification standards but that OIG officials consider the Alliance standard sufficiently comprehensive for purposes of state funding eligibility. Whitmore said the OIG had received registration information and that every certified applicant had registered with the office, but the transcript redacts the specific compliance percentage. She stated the office is collecting data to identify patient-brokering and human-trafficking indicators and said OIG can investigate complaints and, where rules allow, seek civil penalties.

On penalties and enforcement the committee heard a description of the rule timeline: the transcript states the registration deadline is three months past an effective date of January 7 (listed as April 7 in committee discussion) and that rules provide a 10-day notice for unregistered operators to submit an application; after that 10-day period the office may institute a civil money penalty of up to $20,000. Committee members pressed witnesses about uncertified residences in Huntington/Cabell County and about coordination with municipal officials; Birkin said the Alliance and local officials are working together and that the Alliance developed a verification-of-compliance process municipalities may opt into.

The committee also adopted a floor amendment to correct internal statutory citations (moving cross-references to the reorganized definition section, cited in testimony as changing references to §16-59-1(a)), a motion to which Senator from Burke offered and the committee adopted by voice vote. The committee then voted to report the committee substitute, as amended, to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass.

Ending: The committee approved the committee substitute for SB 739 and reported it to the full Senate; witnesses described certification activity, data collection efforts, enforcement timelines, and remaining gaps in oversight of uncertified residences.