Effective 90 Days From Passage: June 2025

A look at the laws taking effect in WV this summer.

We often think that once the Legislature adjourns, the work is over until the next Session. However, in the 90 days following, the bills that passed begin to take effect and change within State Code.

Throughout the next couple weeks, we’ll highlight the bills that passed during the 2025 Legislative Session. While we have covered some of these in previous posts, as well as the 11 that were vetoed by the Governor, we wanted to provide a guide for the new changes in our State Code and how these will impact West Virginians.

We also include the bill’s lead and co-sponsors, but the full House of Delegates and State Senate rosters are also available. Bills are presented in order of the date in which they go into effect.

June 5th, 2025

SB 490: Prohibiting ranked-choice voting in elections in West Virginia

• Lead Sponsor: Senator Woodrum (R-Summers, SD 10)

• Bill Sponsors: Senators Oliverio (R-Monongalia, SD 13), Rucker (R-Jefferson, SD 16), and Rose (R-Monongalia, SD 2)

Under this legislation, ranked choice voting is prohibited from occurring anywhere in West Virginia. Ranked choice voting is the method where voters rank candidates by preference, with votes transferred through elimination rounds until a candidate receives a majority, or all offices are filled. This applies to all federal, state, county, and local government elections, including those for municipalities, school districts, and special taxing districts, and voids any existing or future local ordinances/laws that would seek to implement ranked choice voting systems. Currently, ranked choice voting is not used in any jurisdiction within West Virginia.

June 9th, 2025

SB 456: Defining “Men” and “Women”

• Lead Sponsor: President Smith (R-Preston, SD 14)

• Bill Sponsor: Senator Woelfel (D-Cabell, SD 7)

One of Governor Morrisey’s top priority bills this Legislative Session, it defines "male" and "female" based on biological sex at birth and requires sex-segregated facilities in government spaces. Domestic violence shelters, public schools, colleges, and prisons must designate restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters exclusively by biological sex. The law requires "reasonable accommodations", such as single-occupancy facilities, for those unwilling to use their designated spaces; however, it bars access to opposite-sex facilities when others are present. Exceptions to this law exist for maintenance workers, medical staff, law enforcement, emergencies, and young children with caregivers. Effectively, this legislation prevents transgender individuals from using facilities matching their gender identity, requiring them to use those corresponding to their biological sex. Despite these restrictions, the bill contains no criminal penalties, fines, or enforcement guidelines, leaving unclear how violations would be handled.

June 11th, 2025

HB 2053: Relating to Including the United States Space Force in the Definition Armed Forces

• Lead Sponsor: Delegate Smith (R-Mercer, HD 39)

• Bill Sponsor: Delegate Heckert (R-Wood, HD 13)

This bill updates eleven sections of State Code regarding the Armed Forces to include the Space Force, which was created in 2019. Currently, State Code recognizes the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard when defining “Armed Forces” or “uniformed services”. It ensures those serving in the Space Force are covered in areas regarding: retirement systems, veterans' affairs, taxation, public safety, education, law enforcement training, domestic relations, and criminal procedure, ensuring that Space Force members receive the same benefits, protections, and recognition as other military service members.

June 12th, 2025

SB 138: Enhancing penalties for fleeing officer

• Lead Sponsor: Senator Hamilton (R-Upshur, SD 11)

• Bill Sponsors: Senators Deeds (R-Greenbrier, SD 10) and Bartlett (R-Kanawha, SD 8)

This bill toughens penalties for fleeing law enforcement through escalating felony charges for repeat offenses and extends the lookback period from 10 to 15 years. Fleeing on foot now carries mandatory jail time starting at 10 days, while vehicle fleeing escalates from misdemeanor to felony, with up to 15 years imprisonment for aggravated cases. The legislation treats fleeing under the influence like a DUI and imposes specific penalties for property damage (up to $8,000 fines), bodily injury (3-15 years), or death (5 years to life). It also makes felony fleeing offenses eligible for West Virginia's three-strikes law, which can trigger life sentences.

SB 240: Updating Crime of Sexual Extortion

• Lead Sponsor: Senator Hamilton

• Bill Sponsors: Senators Deeds and Rucker

In an effort to address the rising threat of digital blackmail, this legislation cracks down on sexual extortion by expanding what counts as threats. It broadens traditional extortion beyond just money to now include sexual acts and private images, carrying penalties of 1-10 years for completed crimes and 1-3 years plus fines for attempts. Two new felonies were created: sexual extortion (using private photos to force victims into providing more images, money, or sexual acts) with sentences from 1-5 years initially up to 10-20 years for repeat offenders, and aggravated sexual extortion (targeting minors, vulnerable adults, or causing serious harm) punishable by 10-20 years. The law includes special options for young offenders, such as mandatory counseling, and lets prosecutors file charges where threats were either made or received.

SB 291: Extending time frame for pharmacies to register from annually to biennially

• Lead Sponsor: Senator Chapman (R-Ohio, SD 1)

• Bill Sponsor: Senator Deeds

This bill reduces administrative burden on pharmacies by extending registration renewals from annually to every two years, while keeping all other requirements intact. The change applies to pharmacies, ambulatory health care facilities, and charitable clinic pharmacies, with each location still needing separate registration and reinspection required if registration lapses. Exemptions remain for nonprescription drug sales and home peritoneal dialysis supplies meeting specific requirements. This brings pharmacy registration in line with many other professional licenses that already operate on two-year cycles.

June 15th, 2025

SB 487: Removing ineligible voters from active voter rolls

• Lead Sponsor: Senator Woodrum

This bill streamlines voter roll maintenance by reducing the inactivity period that triggers confirmation notices from four years to two years. It keeps the existing systematic purging program that runs between October 1 of odd-numbered years and February 1, which compares voter records across counties and with data from the United States Postal Service to identify voters who have potentially moved. Those who don't respond to confirmation notices are marked inactive. The legislation maintains the additional four-year review after presidential elections but now targets voters who haven't updated registration or voted in the past two years instead of four, making voter roll maintenance more frequent for our County Clerks and their staff.

June 17th, 2025

SB 8: Providing additional sites and devices for newborn safe surrender

• Lead Sponsor: Senator Thorne (R-Hampshire, SD 15)

• Bill Sponsors: Senators Woodrum, Helton (R-Fayette, SD 9), Rucker, Rose, Deeds, Chapman, and Grady (R-Mason, SD 4)

This bill expanded safe haven laws by allowing emergency medical service facilities, police departments, 911 call centers, and sheriff's departments to serve as safe-surrender sites for newborns up to 30 days old. These facilities join hospitals, health care facilities, and fire departments who are already authorized as safe surrender sites. These facilities can install newborn safety devices with dual alarm systems that alert staff within 30 seconds and automatically call 911 if there's no response within 15 minutes. The safe-surrender sites must be staffed around the clock by licensed emergency medical providers, display public notification signs, and have liability immunity when acting in good faith. Surrendered infants must be immediately transported to hospital emergency rooms for evaluation and care. Cities such as Morgantown and St. Albans have implemented these safe haven surrender sites.

SB 486: Clarifying eligibility requirements to vote in WV elections

• Lead Sponsor: Senator Woodrum

• Bill Sponsor: Senator Oliverio

This bill clarified voting eligibility requirements by establishing that United States citizens may vote if they are registered, at least 18 years old (or will be by the next general election), not ruled totally mentally incompetent by a circuit court, and bona fide state residents. People convicted of treason, felony, or election bribery lose voting rights from conviction until they complete their full sentence, which includes jail time, parole, and probation, or receive a pardon, while those in deferred prosecution without a guilty verdict keep their voting rights. It should be noted that other sections of State Code already outlined that one must be a US citizen in order to vote.

June 22nd, 2025

SB 492: Removing Outdated Provisions Governing Political Committees

• Lead Sponsor: Senator Woodrum

• Bill Sponsor: Senator Oliverio

The purpose of this bill was to remove outdated code provisions that only applied to political committees terminated within three years of the 2002 legislative changes, therefore eliminating 23-year-old language that no longer applies. The bill keeps the current process allowing political committees to terminate through filing written requests stating they won't receive more contributions or make payments and have no outstanding debts, with leftover funds transferable to other committees by the same candidate. It also preserves the Secretary of State's authority to handle insolvent political committees and their closure.

SB 621: Authorizing Digital Court Records

• Lead Sponsor: Senator Willis (R-Berkeley, SD 15)

• Bill Sponsor: Senators Woelfel and Thorne

This bill modernizes court recordkeeping by allowing digital records alongside traditional physical records. The duties of the Clerk of the Supreme Court of Appeals are expanded to include preserving both digital and physical court records, allows court orders to be maintained digitally by clerks rather than only in physical books, and eliminates the mandate that order books be signed by judges or presiding officers. This modernization effort brings West Virginia's courts in line with digital record-keeping practices while maintaining proper preservation standards for court documents.

June 29th, 2025

SB 823: Clarifying and Separating Duties between Division of Emergency Management and DEP

• Lead Sponsor: Senator Rucker

This bill clarified and separated emergency response duties between the Division of Emergency Management and the Department of Environmental Protection regarding industrial facility accidents and well/pipeline incidents. It transfers investigation and penalty enforcement authority from Emergency Management to the DEP, which will now investigate violations and impose civil penalties of up to $100,000 for industrial facilities and $2,500-$50,000 for pipeline/well operators who fail to report emergency events within required timeframes. It also maintains the 15-minute reporting requirement to the Mine and Industrial Accident Emergency Operations Center but designates DEP as the enforcement agency, with all collected penalties deposited into the Hazardous Waste Emergency Response Fund, separating who conducts the emergency response from who enforces the rules.

HB 2387: To Repeal the Class A1 Pistol Stamp for Hunting

• Lead Sponsor: Delegate Horst (R-Berkeley, HD 95)

• Bill Sponsors: Delegates Funkhouser (R-Jefferson, HD 98), Smith, Coop-Gonzalez (R-Randolph, HD 67), Hornby (R-Berkeley, HD 93), Sheedy (R-Marshall, HD 7), Worrell (R-Cabell, HD 23), Jeffries (R-Kanawha, HD 61), Maynor (R-Raleigh, HD 41), Clark (R-Jefferson, HD 99), Crouse (R-Putnam, HD 19)

This bill repeals the Class A-1 small arms hunting stamp. The current state law allows hunters 18 and older (or residents 65+) to hunt small and big game with revolvers or pistols having barrels at least four inches long during designated seasons. Currently, the cost of this stamp is $8 annually or $75 for a lifetime version, with fees funding Division of Natural Resources law enforcement activities, and requires hunters to carry handguns in an unconcealed, visible manner while hunting. The repeal eliminates this specialized handgun hunting permit system, though it's unclear whether handgun hunting will be prohibited entirely or integrated into standard hunting licenses under different regulations.

HB 2516: To Repeal Antiquated and Inoperative Portions of Code

• Lead Sponsor: Delegate Ellington (R-Mercer, HD 38)

• Bill Sponsors: Delegates Statler (R-Monongalia, HD 77), Hornby, Crouse, Willis (R-Brooke, HD 3), Dittman (R-Braxton, HD 63), Toney (R-Raleigh, HD 43), and Campbell (R-Greenbrier, HD 46)

This bill repealed 29 sections of outdated code pertaining to K-12 education, including: eliminating the Vision 2020 education blueprint provisions, state camp and conference center operations, college and career readiness initiatives, the entire textbook and instructional materials adoption system (Article 2A), the comprehensive School Innovation Zones Act (that allowed regulatory waivers for experimental schools), and two vocational-technical education programs. It also removed expired strategic plans, defunct programs, and regulatory frameworks that are no longer operational.

HB 3192: To Repeal Obsolete, Conflicting or Inoperative Provisions of Code that Pertain to Higher Education

• Lead Sponsor: Delegate Ellington

• Bill Sponsors: Delegates Statler, Toney, and Kump (R-Berkeley, HD 94)

This bill repealed 88 outdated and inoperative sections of West Virginia State Code pertaining to higher education, including provisions related to: West Virginia University governance, state teachers' colleges, educational benefits for military families, student loan programs, higher education compacts and accountability measures, community and technical college reorganization, and various studies and reporting requirements. It removes antiquated, conflicting, and duplicative statutory language from the state's education framework.

June 30th, 2025

HB 2043: Relating to use of Dog and/or Drones for Tracking or Locating Mortally Wounded Deer, Elk, Turkey, Wild Boar or Bear

• Lead Sponsor: Delegate Burkhammer (R-Lewis, HD 64)

• Bill Sponsor: Delegate Horst

This bill amended hunting regulations to authorize hunters who reasonably believe they have mortally wounded a deer, elk, turkey, wild boar, or bear to use leashed dogs and/or unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as UAVs or drones) for tracking and recovery of the animal. All participants are required to hold valid hunting licenses, and mandates that UAV operators on others' property obtain FAA Part 107 certification. Additionally, commercial tracking service providers are required to be licensed as outfitters/guides. Only the original hunter (or their designated handler if the hunter is physically unable) may kill the wounded animal, which counts toward the hunter's bag limit. The state wildlife director must annually publish a list of licensed tracking service providers by September 1st.