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No More Room: Bill limiting Wood County’s substance use treatment beds passes in West Virginia House

Delegate Scot Heckert, R-Wood, said HB 3337 would help limit the number of substance use treatment beds in Wood County. (Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography)

CHARLESTON — A bill sponsored by several Wood County lawmakers to cap the number of substance use treatment beds in counties passed the West Virginia House of Delegates Thursday.

House Bill 3337, prohibiting additional drug and alcohol treatment facilities and services in certain counties, passed in a 77-21 vote, sending the bill to the state Senate.

HB 3337 would prohibit the granting of certificates of need to expand the number of licensed substance abuse treatment beds in any county which already has greater than 250 licensed beds. The bill doesn’t apply to newly constructed facilities or buildings being converted into facilities prior to Feb. 1.

According to testimony in 2021 before lawmakers by Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce, Wood County alone has 281 substance use treatment beds, accounting for 25% of the licensed treatment beds in the state, with 206 of those beds in Parkersburg city limits. Parkersburg City Council voted 8-1 in 2021 to prevent additional facilities from setting up within city limits.

“This bill was not designed to hurt or help any county in the State of West Virginia,” said Delegate Scot Heckert, R-Wood, the lead sponsor of the bill. “Recovery is not something that starts or stops on will and demand. What this will do is keep Wood County from being overrun by the counties that don’t want them, don’t want to take responsibility for them, and the other states that don’t want them.”

House Health and Human Resources Committee Minority Chairman Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, said he appreciated the intent of the bill, but was concerned about future unintended consequences.

“I still have a real issue with putting an artificial number on how many people we can help at any given time in a certain county,” Pushkin said. “I understand the issue and I sympathize with the issue going on in Wood County where there is a disproportionate amount of these kinds of treatment beds in one county, but I don’t think this is the way to deal with it by passing a state law that would put an artificial limit on each county.”

House Bill 2459, passed in 2017, exempted the construction and development of drug and alcohol treatment facilities from certificate of need laws. These facilities also are exempt from municipal zoning laws due to substance abuse being classified as a disability. Substance abuse treatment facilities in West Virginia are regulated through the Department of Health and Human Resources’ Office of Health Facility Licensure & Certification.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.

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