SUBSTANCE USE IMPACT Substance use disorder and the foster care crisis brought HB 2347, HB 2880 and SB 196.
HB 2347
By Alexander Macia
SENATE: 34-0 � HOUSE: 97-0
The Joel Archer Substance Abuse Intervention Act, HB 2347, is named for a Kanawha County man who overdosed when he was 24 years old. Under existing law, a person suffering from substance use disorder can only be involuntarily committed if deemed likely to cause harm to himself or others. However, HB 2347 permits involuntary commitment even where there is no immediate risk of harm, provided that the individual has lost self-control and is unable to recognize the need for treatment.
The bill further provides that a person involuntarily committed who completes rehabilitation treatment program shall not be considered a person adjudicated to be mentally defective or having had a prior involuntary commitment to a mental institution for purposes of firearm possession. The act started as SB 761 which passed the Senate but was overwritten in the House with another bill. The Senate simply struck out the entirety of the contents of HB 2347 and inserted the contents of SB 761. The House reluctantly concurred in the Senate amendment, thus HB 2347 no longer reorganized the mental hygiene process. Instead it became the Joel Archer Substance Abuse Intervention Act.
Photo by Will Price, WV Legislative Photography.
Photo by Will Price, WV Legislative Photography.
Photo by Perry Bennett, WV Legislative Photography.
HB 2880
By Alexander Macia
SENATE: 32-1 � HOUSE: 98-0
HB 2880 aimed to define the position of parent resource navigator as an individual who assists parents through the legal process required for unification or reunification with their children in child abuse and neglect cases. The bill also added the parent resource navigator to the multi-disciplinary treatment team tasked with assessing and implementing a service plan for those children and their families.
The Senate increased the scope of the bill by adding a new law to comprehensively regulate adolescent residential programs, SB 817, which failed to advance. Ultimately, HB 2880 retained the sections defining parent resource navigators but added sections updating the centralized reporting system for child abuse and neglect cases and permitting electronic access to the foster care ombudsman, the child placement agency and the child’ s temporary custodian. Finally, the bill established a Critical Incident Review Team to investigate the fatality or near fatality of children in the foster care system.
SB 196 By Alexander Macia
SENATE: 34-0 � HOUSE: 98-1
Lauren Cole was a talented student, competitive athlete and gifted performer representing West Virginia University in national cheerleading competitions. In addition, Cole suffered from Opioid Use Disorder. At 26, she was killed when she ingested drugs that had been laced with fentanyl.
Cole’ s death served as the inspiration behind SB 196, known as Lauren’ s Law. The bill increases the penalties for manufacture, delivery, possession with intent to deliver and transportation into the state of fentanyl, methamphetamine, PCP, LSD, cocaine and heroin. The bill also increases the minimum sentence for drug delivery resulting in death from three to 10 years and for failing to seek medical assistance for someone overdosing from one to two years. •
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE