Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
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Interim Report: Oversight Commission on HHR Accountability

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West Virginia’s secretary for human services, Alex Mayer, addressed members of the Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability during interim legislative meetings Monday afternoon at the Capitol.

Mayer emphasized his agency’s continued focus on child welfare needs and the staffing required to meet those needs.

West Virginia’s current child welfare dashboard shows 6,000 current children in the system.

Mayer said one area of heavy focus is the on the state’s foster care children that are housed in hotels. Currently 18 children are in that situation in West Virginia.

“These children are not remaining in hotels because we don’t have enough beds, because we don’t have enough foster parents. It has to do with the complexities and the challenges that these children are facing,” Mayer said.

Mayer noted his agency has been working tirelessly with providers to better understand the needs of foster care children and the ways  the agency can help boost their capacity and their ability to support these kids.

He mentioned that sometimes the issues and the needs of the children are so complex they need to go out of state to get proper care. Mayer said that currently West Virginia has around 600 children in out of state placements.

West Virginia has long had issues recruiting and retaining Child Protective Services workers. Mayer reported progress on that front, telling the committee that the state’s most recent vacancy rate in those jobs was at just 8.3 percent.

The state’s child welfare issues have long been interwoven with the drug addiction problem. Mayer emphasized that the state’s drug overdose numbers are down for the fourth consecutive month and are approaching levels of a decade ago.

Interim Report: Joint Committee on Finance

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State Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson described a moving target and balancing act as state officials begin to devise next fiscal year’s budget. Nelson was speaking before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance during September interim meetings on Monday morning at the Capitol.

Nelson highlighted a number of variables that are likely to create a challenging budgeting process, including the increased costs associated with PEIA and as much as a $200 million cost increase for the HOPE Scholarship program next year.

He told lawmakers the fiscal year 2027 budgeting process is already underway.

“All of the agencies have submitted their initial budgets to the Budget Office as of Sept. 1,” Nelson said. “As is normal, our process begins here in September. The budget teams puts this together, then we will roll into having budget presentations in person by the agencies in October. That product will be put together in November and December and be presented to you all in early January.”

Director of the State Budget Office, Mike Mckown, had positive news, telling lawmakers that the state has around $2 billion in its various reserve accounts. He noted that the state’s various Rainy Day Funds grew by about 7.3 percent over the last fiscal year.

The Income Tax Reserve Fund, which was established to safeguard against the lost revenues from reductions to the personal income tax, has a balance of more than $460 million, according to Mckown.

Interim Report: Joint Committee on Children and Families

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The Joint Committee on Children and Families met Sunday afternoon during September legislative interim meetings, receiving updates on mechanisms intended to hold child placement agencies accountable and provide better communication between state government and foster families.

Members received a report from Kendra Boley Rogers, the deputy commissioner for policy and programs at the Department of Human Services, on performance-based contracting for child placement agencies.

The performance measures include items the state is measured against during its federal review process by the Administration for Children and Families’ Child and Family Services Review through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Other measures include tracking recruitment and retention of foster parents by the child placement agency, as well as the length of time a family has provided foster care.

Brandon Lewis, DoHS Chief of Technology and Information, provided lawmakers an update on the state child welfare electronic portal.

Lewis described the Communication and Operations Mobile Engagement Tool, or C.O.M.E.T., that officially went online at the beginning of the month, first in Randolph County.

C.O.M.E.T. is intended to provide information regarding appointments, visitations, travel and other services available to a foster child, as well as information regarding court hearings and meetings with guardians ad litem and multidisciplinary teams. Health records for the foster child and other information is also available.

According to Lewis, C.O.M.E.T. will be rolled out to Mason, Monongalia, Wirt,  and Putnam counties next, with a gradual statewide rollout planned over the next three months.

Bill Bell Takes Oath of Office

This afternoon, Delegate Bill Bell was sworn in as a member of the House of Delegates. Bell was appointed to fill the vacant seat of David Kelly, who was appointed as the Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Clerk Pack administered the oath of office.
 Bell, a teacher, accepted the appointment to make the lives of his students and community better. “My students are why I’m here,” Bell said.
Delegate Bell represents the 8th District, which includes Doddridge County and parts of Wetzel and Tyler County.
Delegate Bill’s fiancé, Samantha, was in attendance for the swearing-in ceremony, along with Speaker Hanshaw and Majority Leader McGeehan.

Interim Report: Joint Committee on Finance

Lawmakers heard a report Monday morning regarding fiscal year 2025 budget matters from Peter Shirley, deputy secretary for the state Department of Revenue, during the second day of June interim meetings at Stonewall Resort State Park in Lewis County.

As of the end of May, fiscal year-to-date tax collections for the general revenue budget of $4.9 billion were 5 percent more than the $4.7 billion revenue estimate, leaving West Virginia with $236.9 million in surplus tax collections before fiscal year 2025 ends on June 30. Much of that surplus has already been appropriated.

Shirley said the state anticipates some significant budget pressures in the coming years, including increased costs associated with the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) and monetary support for the Hope Scholarship program, which aids students seeking education outside the public school system.

Shirley told lawmakers that state financial officials anticipate a $49 million cost increase for PEIA for fiscal year 2027 and a $56 million increase for fiscal year 2028.

“PEIA is obviously something that there’s a lot of discussions regarding a lot of work being done to try and think about the long term future of how we how we stabilize PEIA,” Shirley said.

The cost of the Hope Scholarship is expected to eventually balloon to as much as $300 million annually. The cost of the program in the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget is $110 million, up from $45 million in the current fiscal year. Shirley said the cost is likely to go up up by an additional $190 million in fiscal year 2027.

The scholarship amount for each student is expected to be $5,267.38 for the 2025-2026 school year. Shirley said the cost to the state is a mathematical problem of how many students opt in to the program for the coming year.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to refine those numbers in the not-too-distant future now that we’ll soon know what the actual enrollment, at least to receive a full-year scholarship, will be going forward,” Shirley said.

Changes at the federal level also are likely to affect state finances, according to Shirley. Those include proposed changes to the federal tax code as well as changes to provider taxes and changes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Interim Report: Joint Judiciary Committee

The Joint Judiciary Committee heard a presentation from the Department of Commerce on state vs. local broadband preemption. Preemption is the ability of one party to purchase a service before another.

The federal government has preemption over most things, but the state can modify and change powers granted by general law. West Virginia does not have a law that would prevent or preempt local government ownership of networks; general revenue could be used to purchase networks. There are several federal programs for broadband expansion. The Office of Broadband views itself as a tool for the private sector to use in assistance but not as a competitor to the public sector.

West Virginia Code Chapter 31G – Broadband Enhancement and Expansion Policies was discussed briefly. The state has preemption laws pertaining to installation.

Alabama, Montana, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas with regulations and/or fees. Some states have removed preemption laws to allow for broadband expansion.

The Department of Commerce is neutral on the subject.

Interim Report: Joint Committee on Education

The Joint Committee on Education attended a presentation today at West Virginia Wesleyan for the start of June’s Traveling Interim Meetings. The presentation was about the Allied Health Programs the school offers.

Wesleyan enrolled 1,055 students in Fall 2024 from 32 states and 24 countries. Fifty-three of the 55 counties are represented in the student population. In the nursing program, 97 percent of the students are West Virginians, 86 percent of counseling students are West Virginians, and 37 percent of athletic training students are West Virginians.

The presenters stated that nursing, biology, exercise science, business, and criminal justice are Wesleyan’s top five undergraduate majors.

Wesleyan offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The school is beginning a licensed practical nurse to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in the Fall of 2025. More insurance providers want four-year nurses working with patients. The program is a hybrid course with online studies, hands-on labs at the previous Alderson-Broaddus Campus, now Battler’s Knob, and clinicals at area hospitals. Thirty LPNs have contacted the program before applications have opened. The announcement will come tomorrow. The LPN to BSN program is meant to help meet the increasing need for nurses in the state.

The school is partnering with Bethany College in 2026 to provide a BSN program through a virtual live stream. In 2025, the school will begin its school nurse certification program to allow registered nurses to get a certification to practice in public schools. Wesleyan offers a Master of Science in Nursing, which is a BSN to MSN program, and a Master of Science in Nursing for Family Nurse Practitioners. Additionally, the school offers a Doctorate in Nurse Practice.

Wesleyan was awarded the WVHEPC Nursing Workforce Expansion Grant. In year one, $1 million was awarded to update equipment, hire administration, retain staff, and help students with funding. In year two, $1.3 million was awarded and used to develop the LPN to BSN program. In year three, $1.5 million was awarded to implement the LPN to BSN program, which included new simulation equipment at Battler’s Knob, faculty training, and online support for pre-nursing students.

The Physician’s Assistant Program works to deliver healthcare to rural communities, as these areas may be isolated, have an aging population, have transportation difficulties, finance issues, and a shortage of physicians. Wesleyan wants to meet the state’s physician’s assistant needs. There are five physician’s assistant programs in the state; however, there are currently none between Morgantown and Charleston. Nationally, 21,000 P.A. applications are not accepted due to capacity limits.

West Virginia is ranked as one of the highest states with chronic diseases and spends more per capita than the national average. P.A.s can make quality healthcare more accessible and affordable.

The Master of Arts in Counseling provides five eight-week sessions per year. The program has full and part-time options with small cohorts. The specializations offered for the M.A. in Counseling are Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Addiction Counseling. It’s a hybrid model with online courses and on-campus weekend-long residency experiences in August. Wesleyan is working to start an Addiction Counseling Certificate, which will help train more individuals to battle addiction in the state. Currently, the state does not have a license for Addiction Counseling. The recommended ratio for counseling providers to substance use patients is 100 providers to 1,000 patients or a 1:10 ratio. Currently, West Virginia’s ratio is 1:796. No one program can do this alone, so the hope is other schools will begin to offer similar programs. The City of Buckhannon is voting in a couple of weeks to decide if some opioid abatement funds will be used for scholarships for students in the M.A. in Addiction Counseling.

The school offers two pathways to earning a Master of Arts in Athletic Training. The first is a five-year dual program with a B.S. in Exercise Science and an M.A. in Athletic Training. The second is the two-year Master’s Program in Athletic Training. The program offers hands-on training labs and requires 1,000 clinical hours. Athletic trainers are in demand in high schools and colleges.

Another Wesleyan program is the Executive Master of the Art for Business Administration, which began in 2024 and is tailored to working professionals. It is an online program with limited residences. The program offers four concentrations: healthcare administration, leadership, non-profit management, and HR management.

The meeting concluded with a driving tour of Wesleyan and a tour of the labs at Battler’s Knob.

2025 Completed Legislation: Part 13

House Bill 3347 creates a new appropriation of $15 million within the Division of General Services for Capital Expenditures, Repairs, and Equipment Surplus.

House Bill 3349 appropriates $45,022,906 from the state excess lottery revenue fund to the Department of Human Service.

House Bill 3350 reduces appropriation to the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Correction Units to $5,483,314 for Special Services and $5,885,255 for Direct Transfer. The bill also appropriates $1,769,890 to the Bureau of Juvenile Services.

House Bill 3352 appropriates $39,376,837 of general revenue funds to the Department of Human Services, Medical Services- Surplus.

House Bill 3356 appropriates $28,400,666 from the unappropriated balance of the General Revenue to the Hope Scholarship.

House Bill 3357 appropriates $33,804,764 of the unappropriated surplus balance of the Lottery Net Profits to the Hope Scholarship.

House Bill 3358 increases federal block grant spending authority to the Department of Human Services by $21,000,000 for TANF.

House Bill 3359 decreases funds from the Economic Development Authority Service by $9,506,440 and increases appropriations for the Department of Human Services and Medicaid Services by the same amount.

House Bill 3360 expires $28,693,181.72 from the West Virginia Development Authority, Economic Development Project Bridge Loan Fund, to the unappropriated surplus balance.

House Bill 3361 appropriates $6,589,343 from the unappropriated balance of General Revenue for fiscal year 2025 to the West Virginia Birth to Three.

House Bill 3363 increases the appropriation to Public Defender Corporations by $2,600,00 and Appointed Counsel Fees (R) by $20,000,000 from general revenue.

House Bill 3365 increases spending authority for the Birth-to-Three Fund by $5,888,483.

House Bill 3366 increases the federal spending authority of the Department of Health, Office of the Inspector General, by $979,697 for personal services, repairs, equipment, and other expenses.

House Bill 3367 changes spending authority for the Department of Commerce, Division of Natural Resources-License Fund-Wildlife Resources by decreasing Capital Improvements and Land Purchases by $2,317,193. The bill also increases Wildlife Resources by $605,639 and Law Enforcement by $1,304,898 for a total increase of $2,317,193.

House Bill 3368 appropriates $581,900 from General Revenue to the Department of Administration.

House Bill 3369 increases appropriations for the Department of Education by $596,981.

House Bill 3370 increases federal spending authority to the Department of Human Services by $32,132,229.

House Bill 3371 decreases funds for Welch Community Hospital by $58,632 and increases appropriations to the Office of the Inspector General in the same amount. This transfers an FTE.

House Bill 3372 increases federal spending authority for the Department of Veterans Assistance by $60,700 for Personal Services and Employee Benefits.

House Bill 3373 extends the Division of Economic Development to January 1, 2030.

House Bill 3389 excludes the Department of Tourism as a “governmental agency” to exempt the Department from the requirement to offer the division of vocational rehabilitation the opportunity to operate the Department’s food service facilities.

House Bill 3411 repeals code relating to expired legislative commissions, including the Legislative Building Commission, the WV Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission and Fund, The Council of Finance and Administration, the Steering Committee for the WV Enterprise Resource Planning Board, the WV Sentencing Commission, the Toll Road Study Commission, the Select Committee on Outcomes-based Funding Models in Higher Education, Equal Pay Commission, Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources, Commission on Interstate Cooperation, and the Legislative Oversight Committee on WV Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority. Additionally, the bill removes legislative membership from the Employee Suggestion Award Board, the WV Forest Management Review Commission, the WV Economic Development Strategy, the WV Fusion Center, and the State Board of Risk and Insurance Management. Finally, the bill moves the duties of the Joint Commission of Government Operations duties to the Joint Committee on Government Organizations.

House Bill 3424 removes language relating to short-term loans being provided to released inmates for the cost of reentry.

House Bill 3429 allows the Department of Environmental Protection to evaluate letters of interest from engineering firms to generate “Prequalified Lists of Consultants.”

House Bill 3434 changes the Controlled Substance Act by updating schedules to match federal government schedules.

House Bill 3440 removes outdated code relating to the State Treasurer’s Office.

House Bill 3444 repeals the sections of code relating to newborn eye inflammation. With the repeal, the mandate to apply the antibiotic erythromycin is removed, the reporting requirements are removed, and penalties for not applying are removed.

House Bill 3456 transfers the Stevens Correctional Center from the McDowell County Commission to the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitations, which will be managed by the Commissioner. The employees will become employees of the WV DCR.

House Bill 3492 authorizes the City of Huntington to level a special district tax for the benefit of the City of Huntington.

House Bill 3503 states that no county, municipality, or political subdivision may prohibit, regulate, permit, or license commercial horticulture within the subject matter of the Water Pollution Control Act. The bill invalidates any within the subject matter of the Water Pollution Control Act and all such provisions in charters, laws, rules, regulations, ordinances, or zoning provisions, which already try to do this. The bill also prevents counties, municipalities, or political subdivisions from suiting a commercial horticulture operation for any activity within the subject matter of the Water Pollution Control Act if the commercial horticulture operation is in material compliance with the Water Pollution Control Act, its rules, and federal laws and regulations.

House Bill 3504 defines critical infrastructure as including licensed livestock stockyards, licensed livestock slaughter facilities, and licensed commercial poultry facilities.

House Bill 3513 removes the liability of licensees who sell or serve alcohol in a civil action for damages for injury, death, or damage caused by the intoxication of a person they served unless the licensee knowingly provides alcohol to a minor or knowingly provides alcohol to a person who is visibly intoxicated. The bill limits the liability for medical expenses to $1 million and punitive damages of up to two times the compensatory damages. The bill requires clear and convincing evidence of gross negligence for action to be brought against the owner.

House Bill 3515 allows the State Police superintendent to appoint 20 principal supervisors from the membership to receive compensation and hold the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel, major, or captain at the superintendent’s will and pleasure.

House Bill 3517 establishes a system to remedy fiscal emergencies in local governments. The State Auditor may review and determine if a local government’s records and accounts have not been maintained correctly. The State Auditor may set deadlines for completing an action plan.

House Bill 3522 is a supplemental appropriation providing $2 million to the Division of Culture and History for Cultural Facilities and Capitol Resources Matching Grant Program Fund.

2025 Completed Legislation: Part 12

House Bill 3166 requires each county board of education to establish standardized school safety mapping data before September 1, 2025. The bill also requires the data to be provided to the state board of education, the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and local first response agencies.

House Bill 3179 prohibits the Public Service Commission (PSC) from ordering a utility to acquire a distressed or failing utility if the aggregate cost of necessary capital improvements for the distressed or failing utility exceeds the aggregate required contribution under the commission’s extension of mains rules for new customers and grant funds available from the Water Development Authority Distressed Utilities Account.

House Bill 3181 allows chief executives, law enforcement officers, and law enforcement officials to purchase their service handgun upon honorable separation from employment.

House Bill 3187 adds the identification of economic opportunities to the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence agenda and extends the Task Force’s sunset to July 1, 2027.

House Bill 3192 repeals obsolete, conflicting, and duplicative higher education provisions of code.

House Bill 3209 requires that beginning August 1, 2025, every county employ two school counselors for every 1000 students. It further specifies that counties may follow one counselor for every 400-450 elementary and middle school students and one counselor for every 250-300 high school students.

House Bill 3263 provides that every utility should have an approved outage notification system in place to notify customers of service disruptions.

House Bill 3272 requires a hearing to be scheduled five to ten days after the property owner files a petition for eviction. The bill also allows tenants to file and serve a written defense within five days of the eviction notice.

House Bill 3274 authorizes circuit courts to appoint court reporters or use electronic means to report testimony before the grand jury, in preceding before the judge of such court on vacation, and to aid the judge in any official duties.

House Bill 3275 allows the Supreme Court of Appeals to set the time for filing a notice of appeal, perfecting an appeal, and filing related documents with the Intermediate Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Appeals.

House Bill 3277 defines the term “Secretary” in the West Virginia Hospital Finance Authority Act. The code missed this when splitting the Department of Health and Human Resources into three agencies.

House Bill 3279 makes changes to the WVU and WVSU Boards of Governors. It requires a representative from the agriculture or forestry professions, and the WVU board must include representatives from WVU Tech and WVU Potomac. These added members are voting members. The bill also removes faculty, staff, and students from being voting members to nonvoting advisory members.

House Bill 3297 would create the Washington Center for Civics, Culture, and Statesmanship at WVU. The Center would disseminate information about classical Western history and culture. The bill sets goals and policies for the Center, which would be an independent academic unit of the university. Up to five tenure-track positions can be housed at the Center. The Center is charged with offering courses and developing certificates, minors, majors, and graduate-level degrees.  The Center will be led by a director who reports to the president of the university, the provost, and the vice president for academic affairs.  The initial appointment of the Director is at the discretion of the Governor.  The qualifications for the Director are knowledge of Western tradition and the founding of America. The Director is given the power to administer the Center without the approval or agreement of the university’s president. An academic council for the center will be created with seven members. The Director of the West Virginia University Board of Governors and the Joint Committee on Government and Finance requires annual reporting.

House Bill 3313 allows a participating institution to partner with community and technical colleges outside of its designated consortia planning district region if the assigned facilitating community and technical college does not offer a program and does not develop that program within two years of a formal request by a participating institution. The bill adds Braxton County to the Southeastern region and makes Braxton County High School a participating institution.

House Bill 3336 eliminates the requirement for a four-and-a-half-inch casing for modern wells. The bill eliminates the removal of intermediate or surface casings for non-modern or older wells so long as other requirements are met.
 
House Bill 3338 allows a judge to consider remote testimony when a child witness is needed.

House Bill 3342 establishes the Firearms Industry Nondiscrimination Act to prohibit discrimination against a firearm entity or firearm trade association.

2025 Completed Legislation: Part 11

House Bill 2802 allows law enforcement officers to complete eight of the required in-service hours per year to be served on-site in a school safety program.

House Bill 2836 establishes a Wildlife Rehabilitation program within the Division of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Section. To obtain a permit for wildlife rehabilitation, one must be an 18-year-old West Virginia resident, take wildlife handling and care training and pass an examination, meet and maintain facility requirements, and provide written verification that a veterinarian has agreed to assist and consult with treatment and care.

House Bill 2866 requires the county and municipality to enter into an intergovernmental agreement before a municipality may impose a fire service fee outside of its boundaries in a county that already imposes a county fire service fee.

House Bill 2867 removes real estate from being processed as a small estate.

House Bill 2871 changes negligent homicide to vehicular homicide. Vehicular homicide remains a misdemeanor with a fine of $1,000 to $10,000 and/or up to a year in jail. The bill adds to this section of the code aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular homicide in a school zone or construction zone. Aggravated vehicular homicide is when one acts with deliberate disregard for the safety of others. The felony offense can be fined up to $20,000 and/or imprisoned for 1 to 5 years. For vehicular homicide in a school or construction zone, the individual would be guilty of a felony and may be fined $2,500 to $5,000 and/or imprisoned for 2 to 10 years. The bill includes embryo/fetus as a protected person in vehicular homicides.

House Bill 2880 creates new code requiring certain information be provided at centralized intake for child welfare. The bill provides for parent resource navigator to be a part of the multidisciplinary teams to help parents through the process. The bill requires the Bureau for Medical Services and the Bureau for Social Services to provide electronic access to various persons and for the child welfare dashboard to be updated.

House Bill 2889 authorizes the Commissioner of the State Auditor of West Virginia to conduct fairness hearings for transactions involving the exchange of a security for one or more outstanding securities, claims, or property interests or partly for cash to determine whether the terms and conditions of the exchange are fair to the security holders.

House Bill 2897 requires the Legislative Auditor to perform a performance for the WV Department of Education. It gives the Legislative Auditor the power and authority to conduct examinations and inspections and requires the legislative auditor to protect the confidentiality, privacy, and security of protected information.

House Bill 2942 extends the sunset date for the WV Department of Environmental Protection’s Design-Build Pilot Program to December 31, 2027.

House Bill 2943 extends the sunset date for the hazardous waste management fee to June 30, 2030

House Bill 2960 implements a two-year pilot program in which the Division of Highways will hire multiple vendors for snow removal on secondary roads in Monongalia and Preston Counties. If a vendor’s performance is unsatisfactory, the Secretary of the Division of Highways may terminate the contract with 30 days’ notice.

House Bill 2961 prohibits designated foreign parties from acquiring, holding, or transferring real estate and mineral rights in West Virginia. “Prohibited foreign party” includes a citizen or government of the People’s Republic of China or any of its political subdivisions or any foreign government, entity, or individual identified annually by the West Virginia Secretary of Homeland Security as hostile to the interest of the US or WV.

House Bill 2963 allows a bank chartered by this state to sell or transfer all, or substantially all, of its assets and liabilities by merger, reorganization, purchase, and assumption or any similar business combination to another entity, but only if that entity is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The bill also authorizes any interested person, including a bank or bank holding company, to enforce the provisions of this section by applying to a court for equitable relief.

House Bill 2964 requires airport authority members to be residents of either the municipality or contiguous county they represent. The criteria for feed adulteration are also amended.

House Bill 3000 changes the law on commercial feed by amending the definition of commercial feed to include commodities, compounds, or substances that are not intermixed.

House Bill 3012 modifies the allocation of lottery funding. The bill removes the requirement that the entire city be within the county for revenue sharing.

House Bill 3014 clarifies the circumstances in which a hospital is entitled to immunity arising from actions resulting from civil disobedience, riot, insurrection, rebellion, or failure or inadequacy of police protection. A hospital with a police department is immune from liability if a loss or claim results from civil disobedience, riot, insurrection, rebellion, or the failure to provide or the method of providing police protection. No hospital shall be liable to any person for failing to establish a police department or provide police protection.

House Bill 3016 requires each county board of education to create standardized school safety mapping data. Boards must consult with local authorities to ensure the data meets the requirements. The bill exempts the data from FOIA and adds an internal effective date of September 1, 2026.

House Bill 3024 allows for the creation of a comprehensive system for transferring credits between the state’s public higher education institutions.

House Bill 3030 removes the permit fee limit relating to the WV Water Pollution Control Act.

House Bill 3080 authorizes a hiring preference for certain military spouses in the state. It grants a preference in hiring to a military spouse, provided that the person granted the hiring preference otherwise meets the knowledge, skills, and eligibility requirements of the job to be filled.

House Bill 3089 mandates that all entities that record more than five liens per year use West Virginia’s electronic lien and title system.

House Bill 3111 provides pay increases to members of the judiciary, including the Supreme Court, circuit courts, family courts, and the Intermediate Court.

House Bill 3125 provides that teachers with a bachelor’s degree and 10 years of teaching experience, a valid teaching certificate, good standing, and no unsatisfactory evaluations will be able to apply for and receive a permanent teaching certificate without having to take any additional coursework.

House Bill 3133 permits counties and municipalities to enter into memoranda of understanding for demolition of dilapidated structures.

House Bill 3144 encourages the development of wireless infrastructure and sets policies to govern infrastructure deployment. It is based on the model legislation developed by the Wireless Infrastructure Association.

House Bill 3152 declares the claims against the state to be moral obligations of the state and authorizes the payment of the following amounts: $926,461.63 from General Revenue, $199,652.78 from Special Revenue Funds, and $620,932.59 from the State Road Fund. The total owed in claims is $1,747,047.00.

House Bill 3156 clarifies the Legislature is not subject to the cost assessment, accounting, and reporting services of the Department of Administration Shared Services Section.

House Bill 3157 modifies the shortened process for certain road condition claims to expedite it and requires the Division of Highways to establish a line item in its budget for the expedited payment of certain stipulated road condition claims.

House Bill 3162 adds violations of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act to the list of recognized causes of actions that can be brought after the death of a person entitled to recover or the death of the liable person. The bill also modifies the consumer definition to include administrators of estates obligated to pay any debt and administrators of estates of natural persons obligated under a deed or lien where a property is subject to foreclosure or forfeiture for lack of payment.

House Bill 3164 establishes a $125 annual fee for individuals required to register on the Central Abuse Registry. Payment is made to the circuit clerk and tracked by the State Police. The bill allows the State Police to enforce nonpayment through a civil lien process and directs the collected funds primarily toward mental health services for State Police personnel.