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Committee advances pilot to create child protection commissioners, ties funding to Medical Cannabis Program Fund
Summary
A committee reported House Bill 5684, which would authorize a pilot program for child protection commissioners to handle preliminary abuse-and-neglect matters and issue nonbinding recommendations to circuit judges. The bill links startup funding to a companion Medical Cannabis Program Fund bill; an amendment requiring measurable outcomes and annual reporting was adopted.
A Senate committee voted to report House Bill 5684, a measure that would authorize the Supreme Court of Appeals to establish a pilot program of child protection commissioners to handle preliminary abuse-and-neglect proceedings and issue nonbinding recommendations to presiding circuit court judges.
Counsel explained the commissioners would be able to conduct preliminary, adjudicatory and dispositional hearings, monitor diversion and pre-petition matters, authorize emergency removals as permitted by law, and issue reports and recommendations to circuit judges; the circuit court would retain final decision-making authority. Counsel and the bill sponsor said the model is drawn from a commission system used in Texas.
Sponsor and chairman of the House Judiciary (identified in the transcript as the bill sponsor) argued the program would increase court efficiency and improve outcomes for children, noting that West Virginia has seen a decline in available guardians ad litem (reportedly from 207 to 187) and that circuit dockets are overloaded. The sponsor said no new general-fund appropriation is requested; instead the funding mechanism is tied to companion House Bill 5074 and the Medical Cannabis Program Fund. Counsel and the sponsor said the fund has accumulated about $38,000,000; the proposal calls for a $3,000,000 startup allocation and thereafter a 10% annual disbursement (estimated at about $1,000,000 per year based on roughly $10,000,000 annual revenues).
Opponents raised concerns that the proposal would create a new layer of bureaucracy and that the bill lacks a sunset date or required reporting metrics. The senior senator from the fourth offered an amendment directing the administrative director of the Supreme Court of Appeals to identify measurable outcomes for the pilot, require a pre-implementation baseline, and provide annual reporting to the joint committee on government and finance that includes costs and projected costs. Counsel restated the amendment language and senators supported it; the amendment was adopted by voice vote.
After adopting the measurable-outcomes amendment, the committee voted by voice to report House Bill 5684, as amended, to the full senate with a recommendation that it pass. The transcript records voice votes and the chair’s declarations; no roll-call tallies are recorded. The bill will move to the full senate for further action.
