STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA
 

PRELIMINARY PERFORMANCE REVIEW OF THE
 

Women's Commission
 

The Women's Commission Is Moving
in the Direction of Developing a Unique
and More Active Role in Advocating
Changes to Improve the Status of Women
in West Virginia

The West Virginia Women's Commission
Needs to Improve Its Compliance with the Open
Meetings Law



Issue 1: The Women's Commission Is Moving in the Direction of Developing a Unique and More Active Role in Advocating Changes to Improve the Status of Women in West Virginia.
 

In January 1999, the Legislative Auditor issued a preliminary performance review of the Women's Commission, an agency created in 1977 to advocate and educate on issues relating to women. The Women's Commission was found to be ineffective in achieving significant change due to: 1) relying primarily on dissemination of information; 2) its lack of an effective legislative initiative; and 3) its duplication of state programs developed since 1977. The Legislative Auditor concluded that "... If the Legislature chooses not to terminate the Women's Commission, then the Legislature should consider giving the Women's Commission a three year continuance to give it the opportunity to improve its effectiveness and develop a unique (non-duplicative) and more active role in advocating for changes which it believes would improve the status of women in West Virginia." The use of "unique" and "non-duplicative" is to encourage the Commission to direct its limited resources to issues or programs that have limited support or that cannot be developed without the Commission's assistance, instead of areas that have widespread support and awareness.
 

Women's Commission Responds to the 1999 Report

This current review, two and a half years through the continuance, finds that the Women's Commission has taken seriously the recommendations of the 1999 Legislative Auditor's report and is moving toward developing a unique and more active role in advocating changes. The Commission Chair encouraged members by stating, "We have our work cut out for us...Now we have got to show the legislature what a group of strong, hard-working women can do. And we will." The day after the report was presented, the Executive Director resigned. In the year and a half following the review, the Commission hired a new director, secretary and program manager. A review of the Commission's meeting minutes reflects the following four attempts by the Commission to implement the Legislative Auditor's recommendations: