Latest / Commentary - TJ Meadows / DoHS Drops the Bal... A Lot

Transcript

DoHS Drops the Bal... A Lot · Commentary - TJ Meadows

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The West Virginia Department of Human Services needs to pick
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the ball back up and fast. Sunday Veteran newsman Brad
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: mcelhaney detailed his efforts to learn what happened to the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: state's attempt to allow certain hot foods to be purchased
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: with SNAP benefits. He asked basic questions he couldn't provide
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: answers because DOHS still hasn't fulfilled the Freedom of Information
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Act request he submitted last August. Yes, nearly a year ago,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the Berlin Wall fell and Germany reunited in three hundred
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: twenty eight days. Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment and enough
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: states ratified it to abolish slavery in three hundred nine days.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: The Constitution was drafted in just one hundred sixteen days.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: The fifteen hundred mile Alaska Highway was built in about
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: eight months. WVU built its new baseball stadium in roughly
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: ten At this rate, Mountaineer Field may have a new
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: press box before McIlhenny receives his records. Not good ever,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Wonder why you don't learn about government actions sooner. This
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: is one of the reasons why West Virginia Watch reporter
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Amelia nicely revealed on Friday that Dohs has not implemented
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: House Built four one nine one, the law intended to
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: help struggling childcare centers remain open, passed in March and
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: took effect July one. Dohs says lawmakers never asked the
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: department to testify or prepare a fiscal note, and that
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: implementation requires complicated technology, policy changes and provider training. But
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: House Communications Director and Ali brought the receipts Dohs had
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: nearly two weeks after the bill cleared House Finance to
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: raise concerns before Senate Finance considered it. Ali also produced
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: the Department of Revenues fiscal note. If Dohs believed lawmakers
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: were missing critical information, where was the department? Plain and simple,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Dohs dropped the ball yet again. A year old Foyer
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: request remains unanswered, a duly enacted law remains unimplemented, and
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: claims of a major TANAF fiscal crisis appear increasingly questionable.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: This is no longer an isolated mistake. It looks like
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: an organizational problem, one that's been a long time coming.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Lawmakers should closely examine this multi billion dollar agency and
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: determine what must change. Breaking the old department into smaller
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: agencies has not produced the needed results. West Virginians pay
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: for effective government, they have every right to expect it.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: What they're getting from DOHS is not good enough, and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: it's not acceptable.