Kill Bill: Volume 2

Some ideas are best left on the drawing board.

Out of the 2,460 bills introduced this Legislative Session, only 249 completed legislation (152 House Bills, 97 Senate Bills). Below we highlight 11 of the bills that did not pass the finish line.

SB 521: Requiring Party Affiliation to be Listed for all Candidates

SB 521 would have changed judicial elections in West Virginia back from nonpartisan to partisan. Justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals, Circuit Court judges, Family Court judges, and Magistrates would be required to run in partisan primary and general elections rather than in nonpartisan contests. The bill passed the Senate 22-12, but failed to pass out of the House Judiciary Committee.

SB 564: Prohibiting voters not affiliated with major political party from voting ballot of political party in primary election

SB 564 prohibited independent and unaffiliated voters from participating in major party primary elections. Currently, it is up to each state political party executive committee whether they allow their primaries to be “open” to Independent/No Party Affiliation voters. In January 2024 the State Republican Party moved to close their primary elections, taking away the ability for these voters to participate in the Republican primaries. This bill would have changed existing law by removing the ability for unaffiliated or independent voters to request and vote on a major party's primary ballot. Instead, these voters would only have been allowed to vote on nonpartisan candidates and public questions, such as levies, during the primaries. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Government Organization and then to the Judiciary Committee, but did not make it out of committee.

SB 592: Relating Generally to Aboveground Storage Tanks

SB 592 sought to modify regulations for aboveground storage tanks (ASTs). Specifically it would have exempted certain smaller tanks from regulations by excluding devices with a capacity of 210 barrels or less containing brine water or fluids from hydrocarbon activities when not located in critical water zones. It also proposed prohibiting regulators from requiring tanks to be physically moved for visual leak inspections unless a release was confirmed. Additionally, it would have exempted certain tanks in critical water zones from third-party inspections, allowing for self-inspection and self-certification instead, while requiring monthly secondary containment inspections. The bill passed the Senate 25-7, but was placed on the House Inactive Calendar after the second reading and failed to pass.

SB 579: Relating to Home Rule Reform

SB 579 aimed to prohibit cities participating in the Home Rule Program from establishing nondiscrimination ordinances that include protected classes beyond those already recognized in state law. The bill would have added a new provision in the Municipal Home Rule Program statute declaring that municipalities could not pass ordinances "that recognize additional classes of persons entitled to protection in addition to those classes of persons recognized by existing state statutes," and would have voided any such existing ordinances. The bill passed the Senate 25-8, but failed to make it out of the House Judiciary Committee.

HB 2381: Relating to Permitting a Citizen of This State to Vote in the Election of a Municipality in Which the Citizen Does not Reside

HB 2381 would have allowed West Virginia citizens to vote in municipalities where they don't live if they met certain conditions: they paid fees to that municipality in the past year, owned property inside city limits for at least 60 days with a minimum 50% ownership, or owned at least 25% of a business that paid municipal taxes. It included provisions that nonresidents could only vote using a paper ballot for at-large positions, not ward-specific representatives, and maintained the principle of one person-one vote. The nonresident voters would be required to establish their eligibility with the county clerk prior to the election. This bill made it through the House Legal Services Subcommittee but failed to pass the House Judiciary Committee.

HB 2382: Camping Ban on Certain Public Property

HB 2382, which was modeled after a similar ordinance passed by the Morgantown City Council in 2024, defined and criminalized public camping on certain government property. It would have created a system of graduated penalties for camping on public property, including streets, parks, trails, and other government-owned lands. After an initial warning, subsequent violations would have resulted in fines up to $500 and possible jail time up to 30 days for a third offense. The bill defined terms like "camp," "camp facilities," and "camp paraphernalia," and required authorities to provide information about alternative shelter options to violators. Exceptions were included for legitimate campgrounds, state park camping, and people sleeping in registered and legally parked insured vehicles. HB 2382 passed the House of Delegates by a vote of 89-9, but failed to pass the Senate, having been moved to the Committee on Rules after its second reading on the floor.

HB 2400: Prohibiting the Delivery of Unsolicited Absentee Ballot Applications to any Person who has not Specifically Requested one From the County Clerk

HB 2400 would have prohibited election officials from providing unsolicited absentee ballot applications to voters, making such actions a misdemeanor offense punishable by fines up to $500 and/or imprisonment up to six months. It also would have prohibited non-election officials from providing more than 10 unsolicited absentee ballot applications to voters, with similar penalties. Currently, absentee ballot applications are publicly available for printing and use on the Secretary of State’s website. The bill passed out of the House Judiciary Committee, but was moved to the House Inactive Calendar and failed to move out of the chamber.

HB 2719: Campaign Finance and Reporting

HB 2719 would have made significantly changes to West Virginia's campaign finance laws by allowing corporations and membership organizations to contribute directly to candidates, candidates' committees, and political action committees. It would have modified reporting requirements in candidates' financial statements to accommodate corporate and membership organization contributions. While maintaining some limitations on contribution amounts ($2,800 per candidate per election cycle, $10,000 to state party committees, and $5,000 to PACs), this bill would have fundamentally altered West Virginia's longstanding ban on direct corporate political contributions. The House of Delegates rejected this bill by a floor vote of 41-54.

HB 3387: Relating to the Creation of a Regional School District Pilot Program

HB 3387 proposed creating a regional school district pilot program to address challenges faced by county school districts in West Virginia, and would have authorized the State Board of Education to implement a pilot program combining up to three contiguous counties into regional school districts. This would have targeted counties under or anticipated to be under emergency state control. These regional districts would have been granted authority to consolidate schools, make financial decisions, and override their county boards of education within their jurisdiction. The bill passed out of the House Education Committee but was placed on the House Inactive Calendar after the second reading on the floor.

HB 3412: Relating to Exemptions from Disclosure of Certain Records; and Exempting the Legislative Branch if it Adopts its own Rules

HB 3412 would have amended the state's public records law by removing the Legislative branch from the definition of "public body" and adding a new section that would exempt the Legislature from public records disclosure requirements if it adopted its own rules regulating such disclosures. It would have effectively allowed the Legislature to create its own separate transparency standards outside the regular Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requirements that apply to other government entities. The bill passed the House of Delegates by a vote of 58-42, then after being amended by the Senate passed 25-9. However, the House of Delegates failed to concur with the Senate on the amendments, therefore the bill failed to pass.

HB 3518: Relating to the Medicaid Waiver Expansion Program

HB 3518 was a trigger bill aiming to amend the state's Medicaid program by requiring automatic disenrollment and elimination of coverage for individuals who gained Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act expansion if federal funding for that expansion was reduced. Originating in the House Committee on Finance after the deadline for bills to be introduced in the House of Delegates, it received a wide range of public backlash due to potentially cutting over 160,000 West Virginians off their healthcare. While the bill made it to the House floor, it was ultimately placed on the House Inactive Calendar and not taken up for consideration.