WEST VIRGINIA CODE











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WVC 5 - 16 B- 4

§5-16B-4. Children's health policy board created; qualifications

and removal of members; powers; duties; meetings; and

compensation.

(a) There is hereby created the West Virginia children's

health insurance board, which shall consist of the director of the

public employees insurance agency, the secretary of the department

of health and human resources, or his or her designee, and six

citizen members appointed by the governor, one of whom shall

represent children's interests and one of whom shall be a certified

public accountant, to assume the duties of the office immediately

upon appointment, pending the advice and consent of the Senate. A

member of the Senate, as appointed by the Senate president and a

member of the House of Delegates, as appointed by the speaker of

the House of Delegates, shall serve as nonvoting members. Of the

five citizen members first appointed, one shall serve one year, two

shall serve two years and two shall serve three years. All

subsequent appointments shall be for terms of three years, except

that an appointment to fill a vacancy shall be for the unexpired

term only: Provided, That the citizen member to be appointed upon

the reenactment of this section during the regular session of the

Legislature, two thousand, shall serve a term which corresponds to

the term of the member initially appointed to serve one year.

Three of the citizen members shall have at least a bachelor's

degree and experience in the administration or design of public or

private employee or group benefit programs and the children's representative shall have experience that demonstrates knowledge in

the health, educational and social needs of children. No more than

three citizen members may be members of the same political party

and no board member shall represent or have a pecuniary interest in

an entity reasonably expected to compete for contracts under this

article. Members of the board shall assume the duties of the

office immediately upon appointment. The director of the agency

shall serve as the chairperson of the board. No member may be

removed from office by the governor except for official misconduct,

incompetence, neglect of duty, neglect of fiduciary duty or other

specific responsibility imposed by this article or gross

immorality. Vacancies in the board shall be filled in the same

manner as the original appointment.

(b) The purpose of the board is to develop plans for health

services or health insurance that are specific to the needs of

children and to bring fiscal stability to this program through

development of an annual financial plan designed in accordance with

the provisions of this article.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code to the

contrary, any insurance benefits offered as a part of the programs

designed by the board are exempt from the minimum benefits and

coverage requirements of articles fifteen and sixteen, chapter

thirty-three of this code.

(d) The board may consider adopting the maximum period of

continuous eligibility permitted by applicable federal law, regardless of changes in a family's economic status, so long as

other group insurance does not become available to a covered child.

(e) The board shall meet at the time and place as specified by

the call of the chairperson or upon the written request to the

chairperson by at least two members. Notice of each meeting shall

be given in writing to each member by the chairperson at least

three days in advance of the meeting. Four voting members shall

constitute a quorum.

(f) For each day or portion of a day spent in the discharge of

duties pursuant to this article, the board shall pay each of its

citizen members the same compensation and expense reimbursement as

is paid to members of the Legislature for their interim duties.





Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2015 Regular Session

The WV Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.