Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he is pleased by passage of legislation to unlock millions of federal dollars from the Rural Health Transformation Program.
Earlier in the week, the governor had expressed frustration that the legislation had not been wrapped up sooner.
On Friday, the governor said, “I want to thank the Legislature for passing the Rural Health supplemental, which allows us to move forward with important steps to strengthen health care access in our rural communities.
“Too many families across our state face long drives or limited options when it comes to basic medical care. This measure gives us the flexibility to begin addressing those challenges and improving the availability of services where they are needed most.”
The House of Delegates on Friday completed action on SB570, which provides $199 million in spending authority to the Department of Health.
Delegates passed the bill on a 96-0 vote, completing legislative action.
In late December, officials announced that West Virginia has secured $199 million this year from the federal Rural Health Transformation Fund. The award almost doubled the guaranteed minimum for the first year.
Of the full amount, $25 billion is being evenly divided among the 50 states, and discretionary dollars are being allocated to states based on each state’s application, the state’s rural nature and other policies. Allocation to each state is based on a competitive application process and guided by the quality of state-proposed strategies.
Nationally, disbursements for states are between $145 million and $281 million for the year.
This is through The Rural Health Transformation Program, created under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” to distribute $50 billion over five years across all 50 states to strengthen rural health care.
The program to support rural health grew out of concerns that changes to Medicaid under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” would undercut already fragile rural health systems.
“West Virginia faces real challenges when it comes to health and workforce participation. Too many of our citizens are sidelined from work because of untreated illness or lack of access to care,” Morrisey said on Friday.
“With the initiatives made possible through President Trump’s Rural Healthcare Transformation Program, we have an opportunity to address those challenges head-on and build a health care system that meets the unique needs of our state while helping more West Virginians return to healthy, productive lives.”
Earlier in the week, the governor hosted a media appearance where he expressed frustration that the House had not acted sooner.
“Now, I think it’s outrageous that here we are at the end of session and that something that should have happened in the first week hasn’t occurred yet—terrible on every level,” Morrisey said Tuesday.
The governor added, “We may very well pay a price for the delay, let me clear, we may pay a price financially for what’s already happened, that’s outrageous and every way and I want everyone in the public to know that.”
Delegates made reference to all that as they considered passage of the bill.
“I know I received a lot of calls from constituents on the timing of these monies. Are they going to put anything in peril?” asked Delegate Sean Hornbuckle, R-Cabell.
House Finance Chairman Vernon Criss, R-Wood, said he does not know of any negative consequence of waiting until lawmakers felt comfortable with oversight of the money.
“Not that I know of,” Criss said. “You remember when this bill came over from the Senate, the explanation from the administration had not even been defined and we waited in the House until we got the explanation.”
Criss said state officials have until September 27 to begin applying the dollars to their mission.
The finance chairman said oversight will occur when representatives of the executive branch report to the legislative Committee on Government and Finance during regular interim sessions: where the money is going, how much is left “and what’s the possibility of a clawback if there is a problem.
Hornbuckle and Criss, as they continued their conversation, agreed on their wish that the legislative branch would have even more oversight.
“It’s a lot of money,” Hornbuckle said. “So, currently, the executive branch has all the power to apply the line items that we have?”
“Yes,” Criss replied. “Unfortunately.”