WVa governor vetoes health department split, seeks review

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have split the massive Department of Health and Human Resources into separate agencies, saying he first wants a review of its “issues, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies.”

“I am committed to making the DHHR better, but we cannot afford to play politics when people’s lives hang in the balance," Justice said in a statement. "We need to be certain before we act.”

Under the bill, the DHHR would have been divided into the Department of Health and Department of Human Resources.

The bill originated in the House of Delegates, where some supporters had said the move was long overdue for such a large agency and could help better address the state’s substance abuse crisis. West Virginia has the nation’s highest drug overdose death rate.

There also were attempts in the recent legislative session to address the state's foster care system, which falls under the DHHR. More than 6,500 children are in the care of the state. Pay raises for social workers were gutted after a bill aimed at improving foster care services unraveled on the Legislature's final day in March.

“We all want to address and correct the very real issues within DHHR, but before we undertake such a drastic change to an enormous agency that affects the lives of our most vulnerable West Virginians, I believe we need to take a deeper look at every aspect of how this would work,” Justice said.

The Republican governor said the DHHR bill “does not provide adequate direction on the many questions that must be addressed in this massive endeavor, including important questions regarding how the federal funds will flow to ensure we don’t jeopardize significant federal funding.”

While the bill would have split the DHHR by next January,...