FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: January 21, 2026
Time Requested: 04:37 PM |
| Agency: |
Health, WV Department of |
|---|
| CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
| 2194 |
Introduced |
HB4666 |
|
|---|
| CBD Subject: |
Health |
|---|
|
FUND(S):
0432 - Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Sources of Revenue:
General Fund
Legislation creates:
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
The purpose of this bill is to require medical examiners to review medical and immunization records and document any immunizations or emergency countermeasures given within 90 days before their death of any person under age 20 who died unexpectedly and includes penalties for medical examiners who fail to comply with these requirements.
Implementation of the legislation as introduced would increase the costs of casework and personal services for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner(OCME), specifically through mandating additional laboratory testing, mandating additional histological requirements, and mandating additional content to be added to autopsy reports. The additional laboratory testing and histological requirements are outside of the capacity of the OCME laboratory and would have to be outsourced. The additional testing and histological requirement results will then require interpretation and conclusions to be made by the assigned forensic pathologist, increasing the man hours needed for each case. In addition, the mandated content to be added to the autopsy reports will also increase the man hours needed for each case. This legislation, as introduced, will result in an increase to the number of autopsy cases each year, as the mandates will shift cases from non-ocme involvement (decline jurisdiction) to autopsy (accept jurisdiction).
The Department estimates the fiscal impact of this legislation to be $2,169,243 for the first year and $2,263,499 ongoing.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2026
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2027
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
0 |
2,169,243 |
2,263,499 |
| Personal Services |
0 |
473,553 |
483,024 |
| Current Expenses |
0 |
1,695,690 |
1,780,475 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
Personal services and benefits would total $473,553, the amount was derived using the average per hour salary of the current forensic pathologist staff ($265 per hour) times four (4) hours added per case ($1,060.00) times the projected number of cases per year (415 based on average number of cases annually from 2021 thru 2025) to equal $439,900.00. Since these are temporary positions the employee benefits would only include 7.65% for SS match ($33,653). Subsequent year, $483,024, is based upon a 2% increase in salary costs ($448,698 + SS match at $34,326).
For current expenses, the amount was derived by the current histological cost ($15.50) per histology slide times the average number of slides per case (12), times the projected number of cases per year (415 based on average number of cases annually from 2021 thru 2025) to equal $77,190.00. This amount was added to the cost associated with the number of additional autopsies that would be added to the caseload (415) times the average cost of an autopsy ($3,900.00) for a subtotal of $1,618,500.00, making the total $1,695,690.00. Subsequent years are based upon a 5% increase in costs. Subsequent years are based upon a 5% increase in salary costs (first full year $1,780,475).
Memorandum
Please identify any areas of vagueness, technical defects, reasons a bill would not have a fiscal impact, and/or any special issues not captured elsewhere on this form.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Arvin Singh, Secretary, EdD, MBA, MPH, MS, FACHE
Email Address: osafiscalnotes@wv.gov