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Senate Committee Advances Bill Requiring Bureau of Social Services to File Child‑welfare Policies as Legislative Rules
Summary
A Senate committee voted to report Senate Bill 543 to the full Senate, recommending passage of legislation that would require the Bureau of Social Services to file its complete policy manual — including child protective services and foster‑care guidance — as legislative rules, making those policies subject to public comment and legislative review.
A Senate committee voted to report Senate Bill 543 to the full Senate with a recommendation that it do pass, after counsel told members the proposal would require the Bureau of Social Services to prepare, compile and file its complete policy manual — including policies governing child protective services, foster care, youth services, licensing and casework standards — as legislative rules.
Counsel told the committee the filing would make operational policy subject to the legislative rule process and public comment; counsel also said the Department of Human Services would be the affected agency, there is no fiscal note, and the bill’s effective date would be 90 days. The transcript included an apparent typographical error about an initial filing date; committee counsel described the intended filing deadline as July 1, 2026, not the year printed in the transcript.
“[The bill] requires the Bureau of Social Services to prepare, compile, and file its complete policy manual, including all policies governing CPS, foster care, youth services, licensing, casework standards,” counsel said when explaining the measure to the panel. Counsel also said subsequent amendments and revisions would be filed as legislative rules but that the bill would not stop the agency from issuing internal guidance or emergency procedures.
Vice Chair and sponsor in committee (Senator from Greenbrier) told members the proposal grew from work in the child‑welfare subcommittee and was intended to provide transparency while leaving day‑to‑day details to the agency. After brief discussion there were no amendments; the committee adopted the motion to report SB 543 to the full Senate by voice vote.
The committee recorded the measure as having a second reference to the committee on the judiciary. The next step for the bill is consideration by the referenced committee(s) and then a floor vote in the Senate if it advances out of committee.
