A proposal to split West Virginia’s largest agency, DHHR, into three is heading to the full House of Delegates.
The three would be the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Health Facilities. The House Finance Committee voted to advance the bill Wednesday afternoon following about an hour of discussion.
“This bill is about three years in the works,” said Delegate Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell.
“I don’t think anyone in this legislature either chamber has been real happy with a lot of the things we’ve had reported about DHHR it’s been no one individuals fault because I would contend to you that DHHR has been a bit too big for a long time for any one individual to get their hands around.”
House Bill 2006 does some rearranging of departments that have been within DHHR. And the bill in the House significantly empowers the Office of Inspector General in the newly-established health department. Administrative offices, such as payroll, continue to be shared.
“We can be a little bit more mission focused, get leadership that’s adept at running facilities, for instance, and that we can stop trying to be everything to everybody, which is what our current situation is,” Rohrbach said. “I think this is long overdue.”
Lawmakers have been considering the big change for months, and the Senate has already passed its version of the reorganization on day one of the regular legislative session.
Last year, a bipartisan set of West Virginia lawmakers said experience had taught them the state’s largest agency is just too unwieldy to get a handle on its operations or finances. The total annual budget for the Department of Health and Human Resources is $7.5 billion to handle a wide range of health and social services issues.
Governor Justice vetoed a bill that would have divided the agency, saying a restructuring needs a longer, more careful examination. The governor called for a top-to-bottom review. The result was a million-dollar consultant’s report that concluded splitting the agency would be disruptive but instead recommended the empowerment of a stronger set of deputy secretaries.
This year, lawmakers are back with a different restructuring proposal that would divide DHHR into the three agencies.
House and Senate leaders have seemed to agree on that concept heading into the session. The Senate passed a bill on the first day of the regular session, to divide the agency into three. The bill advancing through the House is similar in concept but with some differences.
Much of the discussion in House Finance had to do with how dividing the agency into three might affect overall costs.
“We’re adding. We’re adding secretaries. We’re adding positions,” said Delegate Doug Skaff, D-Kanawha, who said he’d like to know more about the financial estimates.
Dr. Jeffrey Coben, the acting secretary for DHHR, said those financial questions are reasonable.
“How can you make me feel more comfortable that we’re not eliminating services or what we provide to the State of West Virginia to get to that point where there’s a net zero or cost savings?” Skaff asked him.
Coben responded, “It’s very difficult for me to do because quite honestly I’m not sure that we can.” He added, “I think it’s going to be very difficult to not have some duplication of services and not have additional costs.”
House Health Chairwoman Amy Summers, who also serves on Finance, noted that some current leadership positions at the agency would have parallels in the new structure.
Coben acknowledged that point, but suggested the independent departments will need their own support and the staff to provide it.
“So I’m not disputing the fact that there are resources spread across the department and some consolidation could happen, but I think net zero is very unlikely with this plan.”
Summers, R-Taylor, responded, “It’s government. We understand.”