Text of WV SB 13 (2021)

WEST virginia legislature 2021 regular session Introduced Senate Bill 13 By Senator Tarr [Introduce February 10, 2021; referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources] A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated §49-10-1, §49-10-2, §49-10-3, and §49-10-4, all relating to protecting rights of conscience for child welfare services providers; defining terms; defining applicability; setting forth protection for child welfare services providers; and providing for secondary services providers in catchment area. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: ARTICLE 10. Protecting Rights of Conscience for Child Welfare Service Providers. §49-10-1. Definitions. (a) “Adverse action” means any action that directly or indirectly adversely affects the person against whom the adverse action is taken, places the person in a worse position than the person was in before the adverse action was taken, or is likely to deter a reasonable person from acting or refusing to act. An adverse action includes, but is not limited to: (1) Denying an application for, refusing to renew, or canceling funding; (2) Declining to issue, refusing to renew, or canceling a contract; (3) Declining to issue, refusing to renew, or canceling a license; (4) Terminating, suspending, demoting, or reassigning a person; and (5) Limiting the ability of a person to engage in child welfare services. (b) “Catchment area” means a geographic service area for providing child protective services or child welfare services. (c) “Child welfare services” means social services provided to or on behalf of children, including: (1) Assisting abused or neglected children; (2) Counseling children or parents; (3) Promoting foster parenting; (4) Providing foster homes, general residential operations, residential care, adoptive homes, group homes, or temporary group shelters for children; (5) Recruiting foster parents; (6) Placing children in foster homes; (7) Licensing foster homes; (8) Promoting adoption or recruiting adoptive parents; (9) Assisting adoptions or supporting adoptive families; (10) Performing or assisting home studies; (11) Assisting kinship guardianship or kinship caregivers; (12) Providing family preservation services; (13) Providing family support services; (14) Providing temporary family reunification services; (15) Placing children in adoptive homes; and (16) Serving as a foster parent. (d) “Child welfare services provider” means a person, other than a governmental entity, that provides, seeks to provide, or applies for or received a contract, subcontract, grant, subgrant, or cooperative agreement to provide child welfare services. The person is not required to be engaged exclusively in child welfare services to be a child welfare provider. (e) “Governmental entity” means: (1) The State of West Virginia or a municipality or other political subdivision of this state; or (2) Any agency of the State of West Virginia or of a municipality or other political subdivision of this state, including a department, bureau, board, commission, office, agency, council, and public institution of higher education. §49-10-2. Applicability (a) This article applies to any ordinance, rule, order, decision, practice, or other exercise. (b) This article applies to an act of a government entity, in the exercise of governmental authority, granting or refusing to grant a government benefit to a child welfare services provider. §49-10-3. Child Welfare Services Providers Protected. A governmental entity or any person that contracts with this state or operates under governmental authority to refer or place children for child welfare service may not discriminate or take any adverse action against a child welfare services provider on the basis, wholly or partly, that the provider: (A) Has declined or will decline to provide, facilitate, or refer a person for child welfare services that conflict with, or under circumstances that conflict with, the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs; (B) Refuses to enter into a contract that is inconsistent with or would in any way interfere with or force a provider to surrender the rights created by this article. §49-10-4. Secondary Service Providers and Referrals. (a) A child welfare services provider may not be required to provide any service that conflicts with the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs. (b) A governmental entity or any person that operates under governmental authority to refer or place children for child welfare services shall: (1) Ensure that a secondary child welfare services provider is available in that catchment area to provide a service described by subsection (a) to a child; or (2) If there is an insufficient number of secondary services providers willing and available in that catchment area to provide that service, provide for one or more secondary services provider in a nearby catchment area. (3) A child welfare services provider who declines to provide a child welfare service as authorized by this section shall: (A) Provide to the person seeking the services written information directing the person to: (B) The web page on the department’s internet website that includes a list of other providers licensed in child welfare services providers; or (C) Other information sources that identify other licensed child welfare services providers who provide the service being denied; or (D) Refer the applicant to another licensed child welfare services provider who provides the services being denied. NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to maintain a diverse network of service providers that offer a range of foster capacity and that accommodate children from various cultural backgrounds. This bill permits reasonable accommodation to be made by the state to allow people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs to be a part of meeting the needs of children in the child welfare system. The bill prevents a governmental entity or any person that contracts for child welfare services from discriminating to taking any adverse action against a child welfare services provider on the basis, wholly, or partly if that provider has declined to provide a service or refer a person for services that conflict with the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs. Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.