CHARLESTON — Since its creation 13 years ago, the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs has worked to promote discussions of issues facing Black residents and other minorities in the state. But the office is receiving no further funding, causing concern that the office’s service may cease.

July 1 marked the beginning of the fiscal year 2026 general revenue budget. The Legislature passed a balanced budget bill setting the fiscal year 2026 general revenue budget at $5.318 billion. Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed it after issuing 29 line-item vetoes that reduced the budget to $5.28 billion.

House Bill 2026, the budget bill, appropriated $6.3 million to the Governor’s Office for fiscal year 2026, but there was no line item listed for the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs (HHOMA).

The $6.3 million budget for the Governor’s Office represented a $305,552 decrease from the fiscal year 2025 general revenue budget for the Governor’s Office of $6.6 million under former governor Jim Justice. That year, the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs was funded at $396,726.

According to the Governor’s Office, no line item was included for the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs because the office has sufficient funding for its operations for the new fiscal year. Jill Upson, the office’s director since her appointment by Justice in 2018, will also be leaving the office effective Tuesday while remaining in an interim role.

“While the Fiscal Year 2026 budget did not provide any new general revenue funding for the HHOMA, there is sufficient funding to support the office’s operations,” said Alex Lanfranconi, communications director for Morrisey, in a statement Monday. “Jill Upson…will be taking an economic development position in state government on July 1st. She will also serve as the Acting Director of HHOMA to ensure the office’s statutory functions continue to be carried out.”

According to legislative sources, there was no directive language allowing for any leftover funds previously appropriated to HHOMA to roll over for the new fiscal year and with no money appropriated in the fiscal year 2026 budget, the office itself has no appropriated money. Any leftover funds as of the end of fiscal year 2025 on Monday would go into the general revenue fund for fiscal year 2026. But the Governor’s Office has $2 million within its accounts for current expenses, which could be used to fund the office going forward.

House Bill 4015, passed by the Legislature on March 10, 2012, created the Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs. According to State Code, the office was created within the Governor’s Office, with the governor appointing the office’s executive director.

The mandate of HHOMA is to create a forum to discuss issues affecting minorities in the state, identify and promote best practices and services, review information and research, make public policy recommendations to the governor and Legislature, apply for public grants and private gifts, coordinate state grants and loan programs aimed at minorities, and award grants and loans for programs managed by the office.

HB 4015 also created a special revenue fund called the Minority Affairs Fund, consisting of all gifts, grants, bequests, transfers, appropriations or other donations or payments received by HHOMA. Money from the fund can be used to provide matching funds for federal grants, or to award grants and loans for minority affairs programs.

“Throughout the year, HHOMA continued to serve people in all 55 West Virginia counties,” Upson wrote in a 2024 report to Morrisey. “As a vital resource to historically and currently underserved populations, we combined critical constituent services with consequential public forums and transformative cultural events to further expand our robust outreach efforts. These are just a few examples of how HHOMA works every single day to unite and strengthen our communities.”

Last year, the HHOMA held listening tours across the state; participated in the West Virginia Broadband Workforce Development Council; sponsored events across the state for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, marking the end of Black slavery in the U.S. at the end of the Civil War; and hosted a Minority Business Expo.

However, according to the HHOMA website, the office has not held events since Jan. 20, when the office hosted an award ceremony to celebrate the student winners of the Project on Racism Contest and 41st Annual Poster Competition following the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Ecumenical Service.

The West Virginia Democratic Party may be considering leading a coalition of groups to file suit against Morrisey over the concerns that the Morrisey administration may be trying to end the HHOMA by defunding it. During a virtual summer meeting of the West Virginia Democratic Executive Committee, party Vice Chairwoman Teresa Toriseva accused the governor of trying to Illegally close the office.

“This is simple. This is an abuse of executive authority,” Toriseva said. “This is the executive authority literally ignoring a law passed by the Legislature since 2012, a Legislature that has failed to repeal that law. If it’s so easy to repeal, then do it. If that’s what they wanted to do, they would do it.

“If he can ignore this statute, he can ignore them all,” Toriseva continued. “What I can tell you is we’re taking action on this.”