The Senate completed action on 42 bills on Saturday before adjourning the 2025 Regular Legislative Session Sine Die.
The day consisted of the Senate and House passing bills back and forth and concurring or rejecting the other body’s amendments.
Bills of note that completed action on the Senate side Saturday are described below:
The Senate concurred on two supplemental appropriations bills, House Bills 3356 and 3357, which combined, add more than $62 million to the Hope Scholarship Fund.
The Senate concurred in the House amendments and gave final approval to House Bill 2014, the Governor’s microgrid bill. The House only made technical amendments to the legislation. The bill creates a Certified Microgrid Program in the Division of Economic Development to attract high-impact data centers to the state and localized power generation for microgrids.
Senator Rupie Phillips (R-Logan) was the only consistent opposition to the bill in the Senate, contending it would do little to lower electricity costs for most West Virginia residents and may actually make power bills more expensive.
The body concurred in the House amendments to Senate Bill 196, Lauren’s Law, which will increase criminal penalties for drug trafficking offenses. The legislation is named after Lauren Cole, a 26-year-old Morgantown resident who died after ingesting drugs laced with fentanyl.
Lauren’s Law targets six drugs: fentanyl, methamphetamine, PCP, LSD, cocaine and heroin.
For the six targeted drugs, the penalty would be increased for the manufacture, delivery, possession with intent to deliver, transportation of drugs into West Virginia, and conspiracy to do any of the above. Other drug penalties are also increased, as well as limitations to probation authorization for certain offenders.
Anyone guilty of transporting one of the six listed substances into the state would also face stricter penalties if this law is enacted, up to 30 years for more than five grams of fentanyl.
The Senate also concurred in House the amendments to Senate Bill 280, which which will require public schools across the state to display the national motto, “In God We Trust,”. The display will be “poster-sized” and will be inside school buildings.
A bill that would restrict public schools from teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation also completed action in the Senate tonight. Senate Bill 154 requires teachers and other school employees to report to parents when a student requests for an accommodation that is intended to affirm a student’s gender identity.
The legislation passed the House of Delegates on Friday, and the Senate concurred Saturday with changes made. Some of those changes include protecting teachers from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity in specific, strictly-defined circumstances.
A list of all bills to complete legislative action in the 2025 Legislative Session can be found here.
The Senate is adjourned Sine Die
