Bill Text: WV HCR97 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced

West Virginia House Concurrent Resolution 97 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Creating the West Virginia Justice Reinvestment Taskforce

Sponsorship: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 5-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2025-04-02 - To Judiciary [HCR97 Detail]

Download: West_Virginia-2025-HCR97-Introduced.html

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 97

(By Delegates Kelly, Howell, Hornby, Hornbuckle, Hanshaw (Mr. Speaker) and Akers)

[Originating in the Committee on Rules; Reported on March 31, 2025]

Creating the West Virginia Justice Reinvestment Taskforce

Whereas, West Virginia has been challenged by staffing shortages and low salaries for staff in regional jails and state prisons; and

Whereas, in FY 2023, 18 percent of the population of people sentenced to prison were housed as a backlog in regional jails, and that backlog constituted more than one quarter of the average daily population of the regional jails; and

Whereas, in 2019, the latest year national data is available, West Virginia regional jails had the highest rate of mortality of jail inmates at 281 deaths per 100,000; and

Whereas, the state’s prison population is aging and increasingly expensive, with 25 percent of prisoners aged 50 or older; and

Whereas, West Virginia has long grappled with a high rate of behavioral health needs and challenges, including among those who are involved in the criminal justice system, with the highest overdose rate in the country; and

Whereas, West Virginia leaders seek to identify a more comprehensive approach to addressing the state’s criminal justice, behavioral health, and corrections challenges, including rising costs and fiscal pressures on state agencies and local governments; and

Whereas, the United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance under President George W. Bush launched the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (hereinafter “JRI”) in 2006, which provides policymakers with resources and tools to increase public safety, hold offenders accountable, and control corrections costs, resulting in a more effective justice system; and

Whereas, JRI depends upon an interbranch, bipartisan, multidisciplinary workgroup of policymakers and justice system stakeholders to guide the process; and

Whereas, this workgroup will unite high-level leadership around a common goal, facilitate a consensus process to guide policy development, and sustain commitment and buy-in during and after implementation; and

Whereas, the Council of State Governments Justice Center has agreed to provide technical assistance to support such a workgroup;

Whereas, this workgroup will receive information from the Council of State Governments Justice Center throughout the JRI process, including case-level data analyses of jail, community supervision, and prison populations, and assessments of available programming and treatments for people who are involved in the criminal justice system; and

Whereas, the goal of the JRI process will be to provide an understanding of key drivers behind jail and prison populations, and how policies and procedures may be strengthened, changed and enacted to improve public safety and public health outcomes;

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the West Virginia Justice Reinvestment Task Force is hereby established; and be it

Further Resolved, that the study should focus on the following elements:

1. The purpose of the Task Force is to undertake a comprehensive analysis of West Virginia’s adult justice system and data and develop system-level recommendations that may include bail and pretrial services, sentencing and release policy, supervision practices, correctional programing, behavioral health and reentry supports, and services for victims of crime.

2. The Task Force shall consist of the following: 21 members:

a. The Governor or his or her designee;

b. The Attorney General or his or her designee;

c. The Administrative Director of the Supreme Court of Appeals or his or her designee;

d. The Director of the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation or his or her designee;

e. The Director of the Division of Administrative Services or his or her designee;

f. The Chairperson of the West Virginia Parole Board;

g. The Commissioner of the Bureau for Behavioral Health of the Department of Human Services or his or her designee;

h. Four members of the West Virginia Legislature, appointed by the Governor from a list submitted by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House;

i. One circuit court judge and one judge of magistrate courts appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals;

j. Nine members who shall serve at the will and pleasure of the Governor and shall be appointed by the Governor as follows:

i. a person who has previously been incarcerated in West Virginia;

ii. a prosecuting attorney;

iii. a defense attorney;

iv. a representative of the Fraternal Order of Police;

v. a county sheriff;

vi. a representative of a community-based corrections program or community criminal justice board; and

vii. a representative of the West Virginia Association of Counties.

viii. a representative of a substance use disorder treatment program; and

ix. a representative of Community Mental Health Programs or other community mental health provider.

3. The members of the Task Force shall receive no compensation.

4. The Task Force and the Council of State Governments Justice Center shall have access to all relevant data and information as needed to complete its work.

5. The Task Force shall first meet at the call of the Governor and shall elect a Chair from the membership. Subsequent meetings shall be at the call of the Chair; and be it

Further Resolved, That the Task Force shall issue a report of its initial findings and recommendations to the Governor by December 2025. Copies of the Report shall be provided to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Delegates; and be it

Further Resolved, That the Task Force shall continue its mission and shall provide additional reports or information to the Governor, President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Delegates, as necessary from time to time, unless otherwise ordered by the Governor to cease.