The State Senate adopted two resolutions during a very brief floor session Thursday morning.
Senate Resolution 3 recognizes the importance of strengthening US medical supply chains.
Senate Resolution 4 expresses support for West Virginia law-enforcement professionals.
The body also introduced Senate bills 251-429 and assigned them to committees.
The Senate is adjourned until tomorrow, Jan. 16, at 9:30 a.m.
Afternoon Committee Meetings:
Health at 1 p.m. in 451M
Finance at 3 p.m. in 451M
The House Judiciary Committee met this morning.
The committee heard from two agencies discussing the state of child welfare across the state of West Virginia.
The committee had no bills up for markup or passage this morning. The Judiciary Committee indicated that they will prioritize reviewing child welfare.
Cindy Largent-Hill, director of the Division of Children’s Services, provided a presentation comparing the state of child welfare over the past few years and its current status.
In 2024, 5,489 juvenile abuse petitions were filed. As of 2025, there has been a 9% decrease in filed petitions, resulting in 5,018 petitions.
On the county level, 18 counties had an increase in petitions from 2% to 113%, remaining counties petitions decreased anywhere from 1% to 95%.
Before 2025, the organization saw a 149 decrease in the number of beds for children who need long-term care. In Feb. 2020, there were 810 beds for children. In Feb. 2025, there was a decrease to 661 beds. After Aug. 1, 2025, there are currently no beds for children needing long-term psychiatric treatment.
Hill said children who need to receive long-term psychiatric treatment are currently being sent out of state to receive the necessary care.
Following Hill’s presentation, Alex J. Mayer, cabinet secretary for the Department of Human Services, reported on the department’s listening tour conducted across May and June 2025.
The Department of Human Services listening tour consisted of eight in-person sessions with the goal of receiving different opinions, ideas and perspectives about child welfare across the state. This tour had more than 350 participants.
The department also held 10 targeted virtual sessions to gather perspectives from any person who works within or is affected by the child welfare system.
Hill said one of the biggest findings from the listening tour is a high rate of inconsistency across the state with child welfare cases, in practice, and policy regarding the system.
The Department of Human Services for West Virginia currently does not have a practice model for child welfare cases. Hill said that without this practice model, creating consistency among cases is challenging.
It was a brief floor session in the House today. Several committee meetings were announced.
Resolutions introduced can be found here.
Bills introduced can be found here.
Committee Meetings, Today January 14
Committee Meetings, Tomorrow January 15
The House is adjourned until 11 a.m. tomorrow, January 16, 2026.
This morning, the Senate Finance Committee heard a presentation on the governors’ FY2027 budget plan. Governor Morrisey’s FY2027 budget proposal prioritizes education, infrastructure, healthcare, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD), and the child welfare system. The presentation provided to legislators highlighted the following key funding areas:
“Tough fiscal decisions have already been made by the Governor in preparing his budgets, as will be the case over the next few years, to right-size our ongoing base expenditures,” the presenter said.
The West Virginia House of Delegates convened for the second session of the 87th Legislature at noon today.
First, letters of resignation and appointment were read. Then a quorum was established.
The rules were suspended to adopt House Resolutions 1 and 2.
House Resolution 1 amends House Rule 32 to allow the Speaker to recognize a member by name; however, members in debate cannot address one another by name. The resolution also amends Rule 82 to allow the motion to discharge to be tabled.
Two amendments to HR 1 were offered and rejected. The first amendment would have required a registered vote for the motion to table a discharge motion. This amendment was rejected with 27 in favor and 68 opposed. The second amendment would have required the video streaming and video archiving of legislative floor sessions and committee meetings. This amendment was rejected with 20 in favor and 75 opposed.
Additionally, rules were suspended to adopt House Concurrent Resolutions 1 and 2.
House Concurrent Resolution 1 invites the Governor to address the Legislature for the State of the State.
House Concurrent Resolution 2 amends Rule 31 of the Joint Rules relating to infrastructure naming resolutions.
Resolutions introduced can be found here.
Bills introduced can be found here.
Committee Meetings, Today, January 14
Committee Meetings, Tomorrow, January 15
The Senate convened the Second Regular Session of the 87th Legislature today at Noon.
After adopting various procedural resolutions to begin the work of the session, the body adopted Senate Resolution 2, which creates the Senate Select Committee on School Choice.
The Senate also adopted Senate Resolution 5, which designates January 14, 2026 as Foster Care Child Welfare Day at the Capitol.
The body also introduced Senate Bills 1-249 as well as 17 resolutions.
The Senate is in recess until 6:30 p.m.
Committee Meetings for Jan. 15, 2026:
Finance at 9 a.m. in 451M
Health at 1 p.m. in 451M
The Joint Committee on Flooding met yesterday to discuss disaster recovery and state emergency management.
Laura Pierce, disaster services specialist for Catholic Charities, spoke to the committee this morning about the pressing need for case management in West Virginia.
Pierce said several nonprofits seek and organically receive funding for long-term case management and recovery after disasters. She said there is currently over half a million dollars available to nonprofits for direct assistance in disaster recovery in West Virginia, but organizations are unable to access it without trained disaster case managers.
Pierce said, historically, the Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) has provided long-term case management for disaster victims through federal funding. The organization received funding from FEMA 10 years ago.
As of now, VOAD has no available funding for disaster case management for existing events.
Pierce said that as the role of FEMA has shifted, funding has wavered, and nonprofit organizations have had to seek funding themselves.
Catholic Charities has received a grant that will allow it to provide disaster case manager training free for the next two years. Pierce said the lack of disaster case managers has caused stress on the long-term disaster recovery process.
When asked about the biggest issue for families receiving help following a crisis, Pierce said the six months or more after the crisis is the problem. She said families will receive immediate aid but little help afterward due to a lack of disaster case managers.
Pierce said more than 20 counties in the state have experienced disaster events within the recent past.
Pierce said Catholic Charities has covered 100% of households affected by Hurricane Helene; however, of the six recent disasters in West Virginia, three have gone without disaster coverage. Of the 1255 cases reported in West Virginia for Hurricane Helene, Catholic Charities has completed three.
During the McDowell County floods in February 2025, 3,955 households were reported to be affected. 47 million dollars in federal funding. Pierce said the households of McDowell County would likely need $ 20 million to continue supporting the county.
The last three events (go and find specifics) have not received FEMA funding approval for disaster case managers.
Pierce said West Virginia’s Disaster Recovery Trust Fund was originally established in 1990 and then was revamped in 2023. She said that since 2023, this fund has not received any allocation of funds.
Following Pierce, Catherine Clinch, president of Tidal Basin, and Eric Letvin, vice president of resiliency for Tidal Basin, spoke about the future of state emergency management. Clinch said the current federal administration has stressed the state’s role in disaster response.
Clinch said Tidal Basin would like the West Virginia Emergency Management Division to spread out its offices across the state to promote local communication between offices.
Clinch said after speaking with Matthew Blackwood, deputy director of the WVEMD, that they would look at strengthening the continuity of operations program and continuity of government.
Tidal Basin’s key points focused on enhancing training exercises, regional advocacy, funding, and the state being proactive in disaster response. Clinch said FEMA’s role is changing and might not have the same capacity to support the states.
Letvin shared ideas of how West Virginia should move forward with disaster response, such as decreasing the federal role and increasing the state role in disaster response, especially after an increase of the threshold for federal declaration.
The threshold for federal disaster declarations has increased by a factor of 4. According to Letvin, with this new factor increase, Pennsylvania, other than COVID, would not have received a declaration for these disasters since 2011.
This evening, Delegate John K. Jordan was sworn in as a member of the House of Delegates. Jordan was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Brandon Steele. Clerk Jeff Pack administered the oath of office.
Jordan, the Lead Pastor of Calvary Assembly of God, accepted this appointment to become more involved in his community.
“I’ve always encouraged my congregation to get involved with the community. So, when I was asked, I decided I needed to do the same,” Jordan said.
Delegate Jordan represents the 42nd District, which is Raleigh County.
Delegate Jordan was accompanied by his wife, Stephanie, for the swearing-in ceremony. Delegates Rohrbach and Bell were also in attendance.
The Joint Committee on Children and Families met this afternoon to hear presentations on proposed 2026 legislation. Bills presented proposed legislation on case workers, out-of-state placement, social services, and case decisions.
Presenters proposed dozens of bills, including the Case Worker Service Pilot Program bill, County Bureau of Social Service Monthly Meeting bill, Assistant Guardian ad Litem and Raise and Compensation bill.
All bills were reported to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance with a recommendation that it be introduced during the next regular session of legislature.
The Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability met this afternoon to hear a report on the Third Grade Success Act and the Beginning-Of-Year Benchmark/Screener Report.
The Third Grade Success Act is a program that provides additional support to students with learning deficiencies through initiative centers surrounding the science of reading, professional learning, early childhood development, writing instruction, literacy, and numeracy support.
“The department continues to ensure every child builds solid reading and math foundations by third grade,” Drew McClanahan, WVDE Legislative and Policy Officer, said
The presenter states that more than 1,120 educators and 200 administrators participate in professional learning. Literacy and numeracy networks launched a multi-tiered system offering coaching support to all districts and classrooms. Professional learning, coaching, and strategy planning are shared across counties to ensure collaborative growth and promote district-wide success
Intensive support is provided through dyslexia training, early intervention and guidance for struggling readers, ECAT training, and classroom support. Nineteen regional mathematics training sessions were provided, with over 600 participants engaging.
The presenter states that Harvard and Stanford did a study where they presented that West Virginia rose from 42nd to 11th nationally in reading growth and from 22nd to 6th nationally in numeracy growth.
We are very optimistic and thankful to this body for the Third Grade Success Act and the support to continue the work,” McClanahan said.
Transitioning from education to healthcare, Amanda McCarty, Senior Director of Health Sciences, briefed legislators on a 2025 Health Sciences and Rural Health Report Card.
The presenter states that West Virginia Health Science professions are competitive nationally and have lower tuition and debt than other states.
The West Virginia nursing board is facing an aging workforce and retention challenges. Workforce and distribution challenges are prevalent in rural areas.
There are three state-funded medical schools in the state of West Virginia. West Virginia enrolls more medical students per capita than any other state. The MCAT scores for each school are above the national average. All three schools are reported to have one of the lowest tuitions in the nation. In-state tuition ranges from $23,000 and $35,000, and out-of-state tuition ranges from 70,000 per year. Medical license pass rates are between 97 and 100 percent. Thirty percent of graduates chose to remain in the state for residency.
The presenter states that rural areas are lacking healthcare access, and medical schools in West Virginia encourage students to stay in the state for residency.
Nationally, more than 138,000 nurses have left the workforce since 2022, and 40 percent intend to leave by 2029 due to age and retirement. Workforce West Virginia estimates 1,500 job openings each year due to growth and replacement needs in the nursing workforce. The nursing workforce in West Virginia has grown 1.3 percent since the pandemic.
Also, Brian Weingart, Senior Director of Financial Aid, presented a Comprehensive Report on WV Financial Aid 2025.
There have been higher FAFSA completion rates this year than in the past 10 years.
The presenter states there will be legislation for online streaming focus groups for students to make the financial aid process easier, to eliminate burdens while maintaining integrity.
Due to the budget reconciliation from the Big Beautiful Bill, student loans will be capped and prorated starting next year, and graduate plus loans will be limited, along with loans for part-time students.
The committee then heard from Sarah Tucker, chancellor of the Higher Education Policy Commission and the Community and Technical College Council, who reported on the Dual Enrollment Pilot Program Report. Dual Enrollment allows high school students to take college-level courses, earning college credits in high school.
Dual Enrollment is now offered to private school students, public school students, and homeschooled students.
Eight thousand students have earned over 72,000 college credits in the past year. This past fall, 8,000 students enrolled. The presenter states that the growth number is in double digits each year.
Students are encouraged to enter pathways that will lead to jobs in the state, such as health science, education, social service, and welding, pathways that will lead to jobs in the state.
The presenter states that 3.6 million is needed due to the growth of the program.
