Senate Bill No. 115
(By Senator Burdette, Mr. President,
By Request of the Executive)
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[Introduced January 26, 1994; referred to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to repeal articles five, eight, nine and eleven, chapter
twenty-six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section one, article two, chapter twenty-seven of said code,
relating to the closure, sale, lease, transfer or
contracting of the operations of state health facilities.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That articles five, eight, nine and eleven, chapter twenty-
six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand, nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be repealed; and that section one,
article two, chapter twenty-seven of said code be amended and
reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. MENTAL HEALTH FACILITIES.
§27-2-1. State hospitals and other facilities; transfer of
control and property from department of mental health to
department of health; civil service coverage.
The state hospitals heretofore established at Weston,Spencer, Huntington, Barboursville, Lakin, Guthrie, Roney's
Point, St. Marys and Lewisburg shall be continued and known
respectively as the Weston Hospital, Spencer Hospital, Huntington
Hospital, Barboursville Hospital, Lakin Hospital, Guthrie Center,
Roney's Point Center, Colin Anderson Center and the Greenbrier
School for Retarded Children. Said state hospitals and centers
shall be managed, directed and controlled by the department of
health. Any person employed by the department of mental health
who on the effective date of this article is a classified civil
service employee shall, within the limits contained in section
two, article six of chapter twenty-nine of this code, remain in
the civil service system as a covered employee. The director of
the department of health is hereby authorized to bring said
hospitals into structural compliance with appropriate fire and
health standards. All references in this code or elsewhere in
law to the "West Virginia training school" shall be taken and
construed to mean and refer to the "Colin Anderson Center."
The control of the property, records, and financial and
other affairs of state mental hospitals and other state mental
health facilities is hereby transferred from the department of
mental health to the department of health. As the chief
executive officer, the director of health shall, in respect to
the control and management of such state hospitals and other
state mental health facilities, perform the same duties and
functions as were heretofore exercised or performed by the
department of mental health. The title to all property of suchstate hospitals and other state facilities is hereby transferred
to and vested in the department of health.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code to the
contrary, whenever in this code there is a reference to the
department of mental health, it shall be construed to mean and
shall be a reference to the director of the department of health.
Whereas the need to make better use of taxpayer dollars
while maintaining and/or increasing the quality of patient care
at state-owned or operated acute care, mental health, and
long-term care facilities (hereinafter referred to generally as
"state-owned or operated health facilities") warrants the use of
private sector providers to deliver such services,
notwithstanding any other provision in this code to the contrary,
the secretary of the department of health and human resources
shall, on or before the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-six, close, sell, lease, or otherwise transfer out
of state ownership or operation any state-owned or operated
health facility, or otherwise arrange by contract or any other
lawful means for the operation of any said facility by an entity
other than the state of West Virginia: Provided, That prior to
any transfer of patients or residents from a state-owned or
operated health facility occurring as a result of any such
closure, sale, lease, contract or other form of transfer made
pursuant to this subsection, the secretary must have a detailed
plan providing for the appropriate care, placement and movement
of said patients or residents: Provided, however, That anyperson or entity to whom a state-owned or operated health
facility is sold, leased or otherwise transferred pursuant to
this subsection shall be exempt from the provisions of subsection
(g), section five, article two-d, chapter sixteen with respect to
the addition or construction of nursing beds within a thirty-mile
radius of said state-owned or operated health facility, not to
exceed the number of such beds determined by the health care cost
review authority to be filled by residents or patients in said
state-owned or operated facility immediately preceding said sale
or transfer: Provided further, That all assets not sold, leased,
or otherwise transferred or conveyed to the private sector as a
result of the provisions of this section shall be declared and
treated as surplus state property.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to transfer out-of-state
ownership all state owned or operated health facilities by July
1, 1996.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.