Reporter’s Notebook: White board time
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If Gov. Patrick Morrisey is wanting to fix his relationship with fellow Republicans in the West Virginia Legislature, his handling of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program is going a long way to souring that relationship even further with possible electoral repercussions.
Last week, the Department of Human Services announced that after being open only a week, the application window was closed for the back-to-school clothing voucher program funded through the TANF program due to running out of money. Families still had 20 days left to apply before the program was closed.
DoHS and the governor’s office have pointed to disclaimers stating that the clothing voucher program would be open until Aug. 15 or if the funding was exhausted, whichever came first. But the program application period opened only on July 20. It’s out of TANF funding in eight days?
Last’s year’s clothing voucher program served approximately 55,000 applicants, according to the governor’s office. So far, the program has processed only 52,000 applications for the eight-day period; a number they say could go up once pending applications are processed. Last year’s clothing voucher cost the state $11.4 million.
The clothing voucher program provides $200 per eligible child for back-to-school clothing and supplies. It’s unclear to me if the number of program applicants includes multiple children per application. But let’s assume each application is one child. To get to last year’s clothing voucher applicant number, it would only cost the state an additional $600,000, or $200 per child.
According to the invoices I’ve seen so far from Morrisey’s America 250 Capitol City Celebration, we paid more than $737,000 out of the Governor’s Civil Contingency Fund just for the four-day light show on the front of the Capitol.
A few columns ago, I defended the state for celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But I can’t fault anyone for being upset with the $2 million budgeted for the Capitol City Celebration when $1 million would likely keep the clothing voucher program at least able to get to last year’s applicant number.
Morrisey has been touting what he calls a structure deficit for TANF since May. I’ve talked with the governor in more detail about this and while I broadly understand what he is talking about, I’m still not understanding why this is an issue for the current fiscal year.
In short, an overreliance on COVID-19 federal dollars that dumped additional funding into several programs, such as TANF, caused the state to increase funding into certain TANF-funded programs. Federal TANF funding has largely returned to pre-COVID levels, but spending on state TANF programs has not changed, causing the state to spend more to maintain these TANF-funded programs and use unspent TANF carryover funds to bridge the gap. Those TANF carryover funds are dwindling and could be gone in the next 13 months, causing the state to review TANF-funded programs and make some hard choices.
TANF is made up mostly of federal funding, but the state also is required to include matching funds, usually an 80/20 split. The Legislature amended and approved the governor's recommended general revenue budget line item for TANF for fiscal year 2027 beginning on July 1, which is $177.1 million. But the governor’s office argues that this amount is merely spending authority and not indicative of how much the TANF program has for FY27.
That explanation is not making sense to the lawmakers I have talked to on-the-record for stories or in private conversations. If there was going to be an issue with TANF funding for the current fiscal year, they wonder why the issue was not raised during the 2026 legislative session when the general revenue budget was being crafted instead of Morrisey announcing the issue in May.
Plus, DoHS has a great deal of flexibility to move funds around within its budget despite attempts by the Legislature to limit this authority. Lawmakers wonder why DoHS is not moving money around to deal with the clothing voucher issue. If more money is needed, the governor could call lawmakers into a special session to pass supplemental appropriations.
The issue is putting some Republican lawmakers facing contested elections in November into the position of being on the defensive. Democratic statehouse candidates already have wedge issues, such as the controversy over data centers and lack of local control through House Bill 2014. If I was a Democratic candidate for the House of Delegates or state Senate, I’d be pointing to the TANF issue even though it seems clear to me this was not the fault of the Legislature.
And for Morrisey, the TANF issue is already being used by a potential 2028 GOP primary challenger: State Treasurer Larry Pack, who criticized Morrisey for allowing the clothing voucher to go dry. Now, to be clear, the treasurer’s office has no real role in TANF, so I leave it up to you to decide if it is appropriate for Pack to comment on this issue through his official office instead of in his private capacity. But why hand your political rivals a metaphorical weapon?
When Morrisey first took office, he brought out a white board to explain why his revenue people were projecting a $400 million structural deficit in the FY26 general revenue budget unless he got spending under control. I would urge Morrisey to once again break out the white board and provide additional information on this TANF structure deficit to lawmakers and the general public.