In the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on the Department of Transportation Accountability, the DOT’s annual report was discussed. It was submitted on January 4th.

The number of slips has been reduced from 2300 slips to 506 in the last few years. In pothole patching, the Department used 10,000 tons less asphalt than last year. Record pacing is taking place every year. The General Revenue Paving consisted of 336 projects, which used 97 percent of the estimated projections. With the remaining funds, a few more projects will be added to be paved in the spring.

On bridge projects, 26 bridge projects in the Northern Panhandle have been completed. Annual bridge inspections take place unless bridges need to be inspected more frequently. Unsafe bridges are closed when deemed necessary by a bridge engineer. If an inspector would find an issue, they would notify engineers and the bridge would be closed and the public notified.

Questions about the Market Street Bridge connecting WV and OH were brought forward. The bridge had its weight limit reduced several months ago. During a recent inspection, it was closed due to suspension line concerns. It will be inspected again in a couple of months to see how much it deteriorates with no traffic to determine how to proceed. The Jennings Randolph Bridge reopened yesterday. More work will take place on it, but it is believed the work can be done with only outer lane closures.

Another federal bridge program has provided funding for an additional 95 bridges to be repaired.

The Joint Committee on Judiciary met this morning to hear a report on the WV Strategic Plan to divert Justice-Involved Individuals. In 2023, Senate Bill 232 passed requiring the development of a study group for West Virginia using the Sequential Model to move at-risk populations away from the criminal justice system, provide treatment, and promote continuity of care and intervention.

The populations focused on in this model are juveniles, adults with mental illness, individuals with intellectual development disabilities, cognitive impairment and traumatic brain injury, and individuals struggling with substance use disorder. Stakeholders have been meeting via Zoom to discuss the model and needs in the state.

The Sequential Intercept Model details how individuals with mental health issues encounter and move through the criminal justice system. It helps communities identify resources and gaps in services at each intercept and develop local strategic action plans. The goal is to use intercepts to divert individuals with mental illness out of the criminal justice system. There are six intercepts in the model:

• Zero – before any contact with law enforcement
• One – contact with local law enforcement
• Two – court hearings
• Three – Trial, jail
• Four Prison/Jail reentry
• Parole/Probation

Common themes identified by the study group were that the state has numerous programs for different issues and problems but there is a communication issue. There is little to no communication sharing between agencies. Programs need sustainable funding. Programs are inconsistent in implementation across the state.

The group’s recommendations are:

• To create a Council for Coordination of Forensic Mental Health Services: this would be a continuation of the study group in a council with the addition of active legislative member participation and input.
• Changes to the WV State Code
• Expansion of continuum of care services for justice-involved individuals with mental illness: this would include stepdown, transitional living, crisis stabilization, and group homes.
• Increased Communications between agencies: this would require the creation and use of shared databases.

Moving forward the group wants to continue working together, identify funding sources, develop standards and protocols, and create the Sequential Model as planned.

West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), a non-profit organization often activated for flood relief in the state, came under scrutiny for possible misuse of funds during Sunday afternoon’s meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Flooding.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Eric Tarr (R-Putnam, 04) called for the Legislature’s Commission on Special Investigations, the criminal investigation arm of the Legislature, as well as the Legislative Auditor and State Auditor’s office to look into several allegations raised against the organization regarding possible financial irregularities.

“I’m not convinced that the funds that went through VOAD, and I’m not sure how much of that would have been state dollars with just the recent appropriations, let alone what’s happened since 2016, were used appropriately,” Tarr said.

Tarr asked VOAD Executive Director Jenny Gannaway several questions under oath regarding actions taken by her and VOAD staff. These actions include the hiring of family members for VOAD by Gannaway and others. Gannaway admitted to hiring her brother, her great niece and great nephew-in-law. Gannaway said the hires did not require approval of VOAD’s board, and that Gannaway and other employees did not directly supervise employed family members.

Gannaway explained that the hires were made during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when it was hard to find employees willing to work. She noted that she would never make similar hires again but at the time, with so much to do, and being short staffed, she felt that was her only option to get the job done.

Tarr also asked about whether Gannaway took as her own some items that had been donated to VOAD to help with relief efforts.

Gannaway said she made donations in exchange for the materials.

“We had permission to take donations for items we could not give out to flood survivors,” Gannaway said. “I gave large donations for any items I took that I may have given to someone.”

According to Tarr, VOAD received approximately $896,000 through the state Department of Commerce from West Virginia’s nearly $149 million in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery dollars stemming from the 2016 flooding in southern and central West Virginia.

Tarr also asked about the use of federal Paycheck Protection Program loans for bonuses for Gannaway and others. According to Tarr, VOAD received approximately $400,000 in PPP loans, meant to help retain and pay workers during COVID-19 shutdowns in the spring of 2020.

Gannaway informed the committee that much of the PPP funding was returned to the federal government, but confirmed that PPP helped provide bonuses, including for herself. It is unclear how much was paid out in these bonuses, but according to a letter read by Tarr from Gannaway to a VOAD employee, that staff member received more than $7,000. Gannaway said these bonuses were cleared by VOAD’s CEO and auditor.

The Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability met today.

The Committee received a report from the Center for Nursing. In 2023, 23 percent of the 828 medical students enrolled in their first-year classes at the state’s three medical schools are from West Virginia. The graduation rate for all schools is 45 percent or higher and the licensure passage rate is 95 percent. There has been an increase in retaining medical professionals after training is complete. The location of residency determines practice areas. If a student does their residency in WV, they are more likely to stay in West Virginia.

In pharmacy education, 44 percent of students enrolled in their first-year classes are WV students. In dentistry, 50 percent of the students enrolled in their first-year classes are WV students.

There are several programs to help students with education funding. The Health Sciences Service Program is a state-funded program that provides financial awards for health professions students who agree to practice in underserved areas of the state. The WV Nursing Scholarship Program is a state-funded program that provides nursing scholarships to LPN, RN, and graduate nursing students in exchange for completing service obligations in WV. The Medical Student Loan Program is a need-based program for students at WV medical schools. Choose WV Practice Program provides a tuition waiver for non-resident WV medical students who agree to practice in underserved areas of the state after completing education and training. The Mental Health Loan Repayment Program is awarded to practicing health professionals who agree to complete service obligations in underserved areas.

The committee also heard a report from the State Superintendent and the finances of the school districts.

Division of Natural Resources Elk Project Leader Randy Kelly gave an update on the health of the herd and the progress made since reintroduction began in West Virginia in 2015 during an interim meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Kelly noted the state of Virginia started its elk reintroduction in 2013 and has benefited greatly from Kentucky’s elk program. Due to the proximity and terrain, a large number of Kentucky elk have roamed into roamed into Virginia, much more so they they have into West Virginia.

DNR Director Brett McMillion informed lawmakers they are considering importing elk from other locations, but movement of any cervid species has become a complicated process due to the fear of Chronic Wasting Disease and other afflictions.

Kelly told lawmakers West Virginia’s herd was still trying to recover from the impact of a loss of a large number of animals rounded up in Arizona and sent to West Virginia.

“We were under a 120 day holding rule and had to keep them penned up. No matter how much food we gave them or how gently we handled them, they became extremely stressed,” Kelly said.

Crews captured 60 elk in Arizona for transport but Kelly said 14 were lost in the required quarantine period and another 33 percent were lost to a parasite called brain worm.

“When your body is stressed you’re more susceptible to parasites or disease. After they recovered from that, it’s calmed down and we are starting to recover from that loss,” he said.

Kelly noted that the herd is currently very young and there was discussion regarding what level the herd would need to reach before a limited hunt could be allowed. Kelly was reluctant to put any number on the herd which would trigger conversations for a controlled hunt, but he agreed with lawmakers that at minimum, 200 to 250 elk needs to be achieved in West Virginia before consideration.

“We’re still at a really young age structure, even our bulls are young. They’re not consistent breeders until they are three and they only have one calf a year,” Kelly said. “We don’t want to do it too early because you can hinder reproduction, so we want to be cautious.”

The Joint Committee on Health met this afternoon.

The Committee received an update from the Bureau for Behavioral Health and recommendations on IDD and ICF. The agency has had routine and ongoing meetings with patients and staff at state hospitals, as well as bi-weekly meetings with Disability Rights of WV.

Three barriers/challenges were identified by the Bureau: (1) workforce, (2) discharge planning, and (3) crisis services. Currently, there is no central point of coordination to oversee training, monitoring, and coordination across state health agencies. Staffing positions in professional and direct services are difficult to address, as there is a lack of professionals trained in applied behavioral analysis and positive behavior support. Resources are currently being directed to children with IDD and not adults.

Community providers are less involved in the discharge process now. They frequently refuse to serve people wones they have been committed through the state mental hygiene process. Individuals who do not qualify for waiver are more difficult to discharge to the community without proper funding. DHHR has no power to relocate or reallocate beds, even though about 10 percent of licensed ICF beds are unavailable due to workforce availability. There has been an increase in young adults aging out of care in out-of-state placements and then being committed to state hospitals. Providers already see the current regulatory oversight as overbearing and punitive.
The current crisis response structure makes it difficult to access the level of care that is needed in real-time. The current mobile crisis teams are not trained to manage the special needs of individuals with IDD. Community-based crisis stabilization units are reluctant to serve individuals with IDD. Existing crisis units designed to serve individuals with IDD do not have the capacity to serve in crisis. Currently, one of the two units is temporarily closed due to lack of workforce.

The Bureau had several recommendations relating to the workforce. First, it recommends hiring and training a qualified individual to serve as the director for IDD services to implement the recommendations identified and to develop a strategic plan. An existing position and funding are available for this. Another recommendation is developing a pilot project for community engagement specific to IDD to facility community discharge placement. The Bureau will continue working on the full implementation of ECHO and continue to offer specialized training to first responders. It was recommended that training be increased at all staffing levels and include coaching and mentor training. Funding needs to be re-established for PBS to adults. Another recommendation is to develop a technical assistance center that can be used to help providers stay current on best practices and policy development.

It was recommended to use comprehensive centers to continue to improve participation in discharge planning. Responsibilities relating to discharge planning need to be clarified. Training needs to be provided to hospital staff and community-based providers for discharge planning and trauma-informed care. The Bureau wants to explore housing options for permanent housing support or HUF 811 projects for individuals not eligible for the IDD waiver. The Bureau needs to determine if there is an additional need for group homes to serve individuals with IDD. Another recommendation was to develop a three-year strategic plan for the re-entry of out-of-state youth preparing to age out of foster care and have an IDD diagnosis. A resource manual for providers that includes community-based responses that will complement, and augment clients’ treatment plans was also recommended.

In order to address crisis service needs, it was recommended to establish a three-region crisis response team with specialized training in IDD. Additionally, it was recommended to replicate other states’ promising practices such as establishing three to four four-bed short-term stabilization homes to help avoid hospitalization or shorten the length of state in-state hospitals.

The Bureau also had policy recommendations: a peer review of the civil commitment process, exploring the possibility of modifying Chapter 27 of the WV code to allow community providers to service people with challenging behaviors where state hospitals can still be the backup for crisis services, and assure unused intermediate care facility beds are available to clients.

The Committee also heard updates on the proposed state labs as well as the Center for Local Heath and Tobacco Cessation.

The Committee received an update on the controlled substance monitoring database. Controlled substances dispensed are declining across the state in most drug types, buprenorphine and some stimulants are increasing. All opioid dispensing has declined. The utilization of the CSMP remains high; 15 million queries or more a month.

Finally, the committee discussed the 2024 draft legislation relating to CON mobile exemption, drug test strips, and psychiatrist residency program. All motions were adopted to introduce the legislation in the 2024 session.

The Joint Committee on Economic Development met this afternoon.

An update on Tourism in the State was the first presentation. All 55 counties are seeing growth in tourism. Data is compared to “pre-pandemic” data. National travel growth is 1.2 percent. West Virginia’s travel growth is 7 percent. There has been rapid growth in tourism since the pandemic.

Tourism is using a variety of ads to draw audiences to the state including print ads in magazines, TV ads, and digital ads. The Department is thinking outside of the box for ads and targeting growing audiences. Washington DC, and Pittsburgh are the fastest growing markets for WV tourism. The targeted audience was once just people who lived within a three-hour drive of the state. However, audiences have grown beyond that, first, there was a regional focus, and now the target audience is anyone in the US. The Department has even focused on some international markets, specifically Canada, UK, and Germany. The focus is expanding to Brazil and other markets that have shown interest in traveling to states near WV.

The Department has entered partnerships with companies like Hooper and Vrbo. The partnerships push ads for West Virginia when individuals are looking for vacations in areas near WV. In addition to Tourism’s Brand Advertising Program, the Department also has a Cooperative Advertising Program. It is a public/private partnership fund, that purchases ads in coordination with brand advertising, and partners, such as counties, municipalities, organizations, etc, can buy into it. All ads direct people to the Tourism website. The Department also creates high-quality vacation guides, showcasing all 55 states.

The Department is also focusing on the growing outdoor enthusiast market. It has teamed up with AllTrails, an app for hiking, camping, biking, and other outdoor activities. The Department is also targeting the hunting and fishing markets. Major League Fishing has arrived in the state; the competition will air in February.

It was stated that regardless of the season in West Virginia, the top-performing ad is always a waterfall. With this revelation, Tourism created a Waterfall Trail, where people can check into waterfalls and win prizes. This first started as an in-state initiative to get citizens of the state to visit their waterfalls but has become so much more. People from 49 states and 12 countries have checked in at the waterfalls.

The Department launched a Culinary Trail for people looking for high-quality dining experiences. The initiative launched three weeks ago and 10,000 people have signed up. Individuals can win prizes for checking into one of the 27 featured restaurants across the state.

Tourism in the state is expected to continue to grow. There is currently $43 million in new investments taking place. The Department does have a 100-page document with grants and funding that can be utilized to help with tourism projects in the state. The Tourism Act Tax Credit was also a big help. One thing that could slow tourism growth would be workforce development. There are 21,000 annual job openings, many of which are management-level jobs paying $60,000 and up. The Department does have a $5 million grant to train current tourism industry employees, so they can fill these management jobs and educate the communities to prepare them for visitors. The Tourism Department had partnered with the Department of Education and added tourism courses into the curriculum in middle and high schools. Currently, there are 9,000 students enrolled in tourism courses across the state. Starting next year, students will be able to earn credits towards degrees in high school, like the Nursing Pathways Program. It was stressed to educate citizens on tourism and provide information to them to help promote awareness of tourism activities in their area.

All in all, tourism has a bright future in West Virginia.

The Committee also heard a presentation on the Planned Huntington Tristate Southside Aviation Development.

The Legislative Oversight Commission on the Department of Transportation Accountability met this afternoon.

First, the commission heard an update on the operations and finances of the Multimodal Division. The aviation grant program is being restructured for a more uniform application process. This took place on November 1, 2023 and will govern all aviation awards in the future.

The commission then heard an update on DOT operations and road maintenance. Seven of the 10 districts have completed all core plan maintenance work for the year and by the end of December, the remaining three districts should have work completed as well. The Division of Highways completed 200 slip-and-slide repairs this year. The weather has allowed for later-than-usual paving. The Department has had a net gain in employees, solved a lot of internal cultural issues, and installed good leadership. The Department has $4 billion in active construction projects underway and just under $1 billion in engineering projects. It is believed that sales taxes would help with funding.

Finally, the commission received an update on the DMV’s electronic titling system. The Department is in the second year of a three-year rollout of electronic liens and titles. All car dealers are using the electronic system. The system has 700 lien holders enrolled and it’s moving forward. The DMV was able to pull 7,000 records from the mainframe system to move into the new system. The processing time for titles has been reduced tremendously. Previously, processing would take anywhere from 45 to 65 days and now it is at about five days with most being processed in real time.

The DMV has the pilot program started for the clearing house with three early adopters in it, including Vroom. It was noted that the DMV is first in a lot of national categories. The Department is in partnership with other state agencies. For example, the DMV was working with the Treasury Office on Unclaimed Property.