WV lawmakers approve tax cut, teacher pay raise; House chaos in final hour derails other GOP bills

/repub

by Amelia Ferrell Knisely, Caity Coyne and Lori Kersey, West Virginia Watch
March 15, 2026

West Virginia’s 2026 regular legislative session ended Saturday night, with lawmakers passing 303 of the 2,777 bills introduced — roughly 11%. 

It was an irregular session. The state budget — the only bill required to be passed before sine die — was approved by both chambers a week before deadline, leaving relatively light schedules for the remaining few days.

The final night of session ended with a fiery, drawn out debate in the House of Delegates over Raylee’s Law, proposed legislation that would pause a parent’s request to remove their child from public school for homeschooling if the parent is in involved in an active child abuse or neglect investigation initiated by a teacher. House members loaded up the measure with amendments, passing a version of it at 11:59 p.m., which left no time for the Senate to agree.

While the House argued over several amendments to Raylee’s Law, they failed to concur with the Senate on other legislation — including the E-Verify Safe Harbor Act and increased special education funding — before the midnight deadline. 

Before the session started, Republicans in the state House of Delegates said their agenda would focus on economic development efforts. Several of those bills — ones creating business-ready sites for developers, the Portable Benefit Act, reimbursing small businesses for offering employee training and more — were passed and sent to Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s desk for signature. The caucus’ first priority — the TEAM-WV Act, which would have created a nonprofit to help form a more cohesive approach for developing sites for industry and growing partnerships between sectors — died in Senate Finance.

The Senate’s Republican caucus took a different approach than the House. There, the supermajority did not set a clear agenda before session started. 

Morrisey won’t see many of his key measures make it to his desk for consideration, but he will get a personal income tax cut he pushed for this year. 

Lawmakers approved a 5% tax cut on the final night of session; the governor had asked for 10% but didn’t do the work in his own budget proposal to account for a $250 million loss in revenue. A 5% tax cut will cost the state an estimated $125 million in revenue. The Senate proposed making up for a small fraction of those dollars by increasing taxes on vape products, but the House didn’t go for that. Most of the tax cut will benefit West Virginia’s wealthiest families. 

The governor’s hallmark foster care measure was sidelined after lawmakers declined to vote on his bill aimed at bringing hundreds of out-of-state foster children back to West Virginia. The measure lacked details, lawmakers said, while they had other foster care priorities. Lawmakers did pass a Morrisey-requested measure that allows the state to move Child Protective Services workers to high-demand areas while high caseloads persist. 

Discussion on the state’s troubled foster care system took up much of the session, and some bills made it to the governor’s desk, including a GOP measure to improve the amount of clothes and supplies children receive when they enter foster care. Lawmakers didn’t pass a controversial measure to offload West Virginia’s foster care system to a private company. 

Read on to learn more about legislation that our team spent the last 60 days covering at the state Capitol. We’ll have deeper coverage on these topics in the coming weeks. 

 

Teacher pay raise passes, locality pay removed 

State workers, including teachers, will see a 3% pay increase — a priority for Morrisey — after the Senate signed off on it late Saturday night. The Senate tried to add locality pay in for educators, which would have most benefited teachers in wealthier counties, but the House didn’t agree to it. 

Lawmakers didn’t make immediate adjustments to the state’s school funding formula despite county superintendents making multiple trips to the Capitol to ask for help because they keep having to cut teaching and staff jobs. Student enrollment is tied to the state funding amount in the current funding formula, meaning West Virginia’s dwindling population has negatively impacted public schools’ budgets. 

The growing number of special education students has also impacted school finances, and counties have reported a $224 million deficit by paying for the mandated services because the funding formula doesn’t account for special education costs. The Senate approved a measure that would have increased funding for special education students in 2027, but it failed to get through its final step in the House.

Lawmakers did send a measure to the governor’s desk that is supposed to undo West Virginia’s controversial high school sports transfer rule.

Southern West Virginia gets nothing for clean water, Aboveground Storage Tank Act weakened

Advocates from the state’s southern coalfields went into this legislative session pleading with lawmakers to finally address the region’s longstanding and continuous water crisis. Thousands of people in communities across the coalfields cannot drink their tap water, which is often discolored, contaminated or not running at all due to long term infrastructure challenges.

Advocates requested $250 million to go toward infrastructure upgrades to help communities fix their water systems. But a bill allocating those funds was never actually introduced.

Instead, lawmakers introduced two bills asking for $10 million each — which would cover only a small fraction of the upgrades needed in the region. One of those bills died without consideration in House Energy and the other was voted down in the committee and later attempts to discharge it for passage failed.

After crossover day on March 4, the Senate Workforce Committee originated a study resolution to look into issues residents in Southern West Virginia face regarding their water services. The Senate passed the resolution via voice vote on Saturday, but the resolution died when the House did not take it up.

Another bill impacting the state’s waterways was sent to Morrisey’s desk on Friday for signature. SB 641, as it was passed, will loosen regulations for aboveground storage tanks near drinking water sources that are smaller than 10,000 gallons and contain only brine water.

The original version of the bill passed by the Senate applied to tanks that were 50,000 gallons or less and holding other liquids, including diesel, oil, methanol, benzene and more. Proponents for the original bill said it was necessary to help small “mom and pop” oil and gas operators that were struggling to meet current regulatory standards.

When the bill advanced to the House, lawmakers on the House Energy Committee narrowed its scope down to the current version. The bill passed the full House on Thursday. On Friday, the Senate concurred with the House’s version and the bill was sent to governor’s desk for signature

New data center rules adopted with no changes that address residents’ concerns

One of the most impactful pieces of legislation passed during the 2025 session was HB 2014, which created the state’s certified microgrid and high impact data center program. 

This year, lawmakers were tasked with adopting rules directing how the state’s Department of Commerce should certify high impact data centers or microgrids.

Legislators on the joint Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee initially approved the proposed rules in January. Through the rulemaking process, they made numerous changes, including the addition of an “inordinate burden” provision. That required developers to flag if their proposed projects could place a significant and unreasonable burden on the community due to its location, environmental risks it may bring, the proximity to schools, homes or historic sites and more.

During session, the Senate amended that provision to include that water use should also be considered. On Friday, the House approved the Senate’s amended version 82-15 with two members absent and not voting.

Before the session started, Senate President Randy Smith told local media in Tucker County — where a major data center proposal has caused community ire and widespread pushback — that he believed changes needed to be made to HB 2014. Specifically, he said, the law should be amended to return some power to localities. The current version of the law strips local governments from enforcing any regulations or zoning ordinances against such high impact data centers or the natural gas power plants built to power them.

But neither the Senate nor the House made any efforts to revisit those parts of the law, or any others.

Several pieces of legislation — including ones to restore local control, create a buffer zone between the developments and houses, prohibit the state from subsidizing data centers and change how tax revenue would be distributed — were introduced by both Republicans and Democrats in both chambers this year. 

None of those bills, however, were ever put on committee agendas.

Flood resiliency fund gets money for the first time

For the first time since its inception, the state’s Flood Resiliency Trust Fund could receive funding. Lawmakers approved an amendment to the budget from House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, to allocate $25 million in surplus money to the fund.

Through budget compromises between the Senate and the House, that amount was reduced to $5 million. 

Morrisey’s initial budget proposal requested $10 million for the Flood Resiliency Fund, which was meant to be used to develop a warning system to give residents in flood-prone areas more notice and, hopefully, save lives. 

The flood warning system was the only proposal made by Morrisey regarding flooding for this legislative session. Since two other bills that would have changed how money could be distributed through the fund — and allow it to be used for the warning program — both died in committee, it’s unlikely that the program will happen.

The state’s Flood Resiliency Trust Fund as well as a separate flood prevention fund were created in 2023. No money has ever been allocated to either fund. 

The $5 million allocation is the final item listed to receive surplus funds. The money will only be allocated if dollars remain available after everything else is funded.

EMS gets permanent funding source, Rural Health Transformation bills pass and more health bills

Much of the 2025 legislative session was dominated by an unsuccessful effort to add exemptions to the state’s strong school vaccine requirements. This year, with the state Supreme Court expected to take on a case at the center of the issue, vaccine exemption legislation did not advance. An effort to amend vaccine exemptions into Senate Bill 773, requiring the state to report alpha-gal cases to the Centers for Disease Control, failed when the House moved the bill to its inactive calendar.

Under HB 5168, the state’s emergency medical services will have a permanent funding source for the first time. The bill diverts $12 million from the State Lottery Fund to create three new funding streams for training, equipment, maintenance and mental health care for EMS service providers. Two of those funds — each worth $3 million — would go to county commissions for the services as long as counties can provide a 30% match for the money. One of those funds would be for all counties and the other would only go to counties that have current levies in place for such services.

The original bill passed the House in February, and lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee later approved a committee substitute that changed what the money could be used for and the mechanism for matching funds. The whole Senate passed the bill on Friday, and on Saturday the House concurred with its changes 96-1 with two members absent and not voting.

HB 5108, would have allocated a portion of interest from the state’s Rainy Day B fund towards anti-smoking efforts, but the bill died before going to a vote in the House. The Legislature did complete HB 5691, which, if Morrisey signs it into law, would allocate $2.9 million of the state’s JUUL settlement dollars towards youth tobacco prevention and programs.

SB 173, prohibiting abortifacients, will not become law. West Virginia has outlawed abortion with narrow exceptions. SBl 173 would have prohibited the prescribing or sending of abortion-causing medication to people in West Virginia. The Senate passed the bill 31-1 last month, but the bill was still pending in the House Judiciary committee on Saturday. 

SB 805 would have added abortion pill reversal — a controversial procedure — to the list of covered expenses through the West Virginia Mothers and Babies Pregnancy Support Program, but the bill died. The legislation passed in the Senate and was pending in the House Finance committee on Saturday. 

The Legislature completed HB 5582, extending a program that drug tests state welfare recipients. The state has drug tested recipients of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program since 2017. Under current law, the drug testing program would have ended Dec. 31, 2026. HB 5582 would remove the sunset date altogether. 

Lawmakers completed HB 4089, requiring health insurance plans to pay for scalp cooling systems, which help some chemotherapy patients mitigate hair loss. 

Last year, Morrisey’s move to repeal the state’s Certificate of Need process failed. This year, lawmakers had even less of an appetite to change the code. HB 5096 would have exempted facilities that provide intellectual development disability services and personal care services from the requirements. The bill passed the House in February. Lawmakers on the Senate Health Committee, however, voted against sending it to the full body for consideration, killing the bill.

Several bills were introduced this session that would have allowed for over-the-counter sale of ivermectin, a medication generally prescribed to treat people with topical conditions or infections that stem from parasitic worms, over-the-counter and without a prescription.

On addiction, a bill to ban all syringe service programs in the state initially passed the House Subcommittee on Public Health early in session. But the full House Health Committee never took the bill up for consideration, leaving it dead on arrival.

Perhaps Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s biggest health priority this year was legislation related to the Rural Health Transformation Program, a five-year federal program that granted the state nearly $200 million for 2026. Morrisey held two news conferences urging lawmakers to pass SB 570, which authorized the state to spend the money. Lawmakers completed the bill Friday.

The Legislature also completed HB 4982, the Make West Virginia Healthy Act of 2026, which will require the state board of education to implement the Presidential Fitness Test in an effort to better position the state to receive continued funding under the federal program and HB 4740, allowing the West Virginia Department of Health to use its own purchasing division for the federal money, without having to go through the state’s purchasing division. 

The Legislature also completed HB 4951 — another Rural Health Transformation bill — which will require physicians in the state to complete continuing education in nutrition.

Guns, Baylea’s law, the death penalty and more criminal justice bills 

During the session, lawmakers worked on several bills related to crime and law enforcement, including legislation to increase penalties for driving under the influence causing death, a bill aimed at homeless people who live on public property and one that would have required the state police to sell machine guns. 

The Legislature completed HB 4712, which would increase the penalties for driving under the influence, causing death. “Baylea’s Bill” was named for Baylea Bower, a Boone County woman killed in a DUI accident last year. 

A Raleigh County judge sentenced the driver of the other vehicle to home confinement, which caused an outcry from people in her community who thought the sentence was too light. The bill creates a new offense of driving under the influence causing death or acting with deliberate disregard for the safety of others and sets the fines at between $2,000 and $10,000 and incarceration of between 5 to 30 years. It requires that the sentence is mandatory and that a person convicted is not eligible for home detention.  

HB 5319 would have prohibited camping on certain property, but the bill died. The bill would have imposed fines and jail time for homeless people who live or store their property in certain public areas. The bill passed in the House of Delegates but not the Senate. 

SB 1037 would have reinstated the death penalty for people convicted of first-degree murder and first-degree sexual abuse of children in the same proceeding. The bill died. The Senate judiciary committee approved the bill and referred it to the Senate Finance Committee, where it was still pending Saturday. 

SB 590 would have prohibited drag shows and other “adult cabaret performance” on public property or where they could be viewed by a minor, but the bill died. The bill passed the Senate with a 31 to 2 vote. It was pending in the House Judiciary committee on Saturday. 

Under SB 1083, transgender people who change in a locker room aligning with their gender identity would be guilty of indecent exposure and, if convicted, required to register as a sex offender. The bill died. It passed in the Senate, but was still pending in the House Judiciary committee on Saturday. 

SB 1071, Creating Public Defense and Provisioning Act, died. The bill would have required the West Virginia State Police to sell machine guns to certain residents all over the state. The Senate Judiciary committee approved the bill and referred it to the Senate Finance Committee, but at the direction of Smith, the Senate did not take up a message concerning the bill, which effectively killed the bill. Smith said in a statement that the legislation would not have passed the House of Delegates, and would have faced legal challenges to implementation if it did pass.

Lawmakers completed action Saturday on HB 4106, which, if signed into law, would allow 18 to 20 year olds to carry a concealed weapon without a permit or training. 

Lawmakers in the House in February passed HB 4725, which would have made sexual contact with animals explicitly illegal in state code for the first time. The bill started as an effort to increase penalties for animal cruelty offenses, but lawmakers in the House adopted an amendment that added the sexual contact language. West Virginia is the last state in the nation to not have such offenses explicitly outlawed in state code.

The bill was sent over to the Senate, where it died in the judiciary committee after lawmakers there didn’t take it up for consideration.

Absentee ballots and campaign finance reports 

HB 4600 would have required that absentee ballots be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted. The bill passed in the House of Delegates, but died in the Senate. It was pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Saturday. 

SB 640 changes what information is publicly available on campaign finance reports. The bill — which passed the Senate and the House in February and was signed by the governor on March 2 — will keep the home addresses of people who donate to candidates off of campaign finance reports. It will also keep donor’s employers off of reports, though all information will still be kept by the Secretary of State’s office.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

SUPPORT

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.