The Senate Judiciary Committee met on Thursday afternoon and advanced two bills on the Strategic and Critical Resources Act and the appointment of chief deputies.

Senate Bill 648 would establish the Strategic and Critical Resources Act.

This bill would establish a statewide framework to encourage the development of critical resources such as minerals essential for energy, technology, and national security. Regulations would be put in place by the state and federal government, not local governments.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.

Senate Bill 185 would change state law to allow county sheriffs to appoint more than one chief deputy with the consent of the county commission.

This bill is intended to provide flexibility to have multiple top deputies to help manage larger departments or workloads.

“Some agencies require more supervision than others, and that’s where this bill will come into place,” Executive Director of the West Virginia Sheriffs’ Association, Rodney Miller, stated.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.

Senate Health and Human Resources met Thursday afternoon and advanced eight bills regarding the Food is Medicine Program, involuntary hospitalization, family caregivers and more.

House Bill 4982 would establish the Make West Virginia Healthy Act of 2026.

This bill would authorize the use of nutrition-based interventions, such as the Food is Medicine Program.

The Food is Medicine Program incorporates basic nutrition and culinary skills education, patient-provider relationships, health metric collection, and locally grown produce to improve patients’ overall well-being.

The Bureau for Medical Services would also design programs to improve health outcomes for Medicaid members with nutrition-related chronic diseases through nutrition supports and reduce the need for higher-cost medical care.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.

Senate Bill 742 would authorize physicians to determine the involuntary hospitalization of a patient or individual at a hospital emergency department in need of treatment.

This bill would strike language stating that a mental hygiene commissioner, magistrate, or circuit judge would have to determine if an involuntary hospitalization of a patient is necessary, and give full authority to the staff physicians present at the hospital.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage, first being sent to the committee on Judiciary.

Senate Bill 741 would expand the pilot program to implement the involuntary commitment process.

West Virginia’s pilot program for involuntary commitment is a trial project intended to make the process safer and more effective. Selected counties test new procedures such as trained alternative transport to hospitals, quick mental health evaluations, and audits to ensure commitments are justified.

This bill would expand the pilot program by adding the counties of Hampshire, Morgan, Ohio, and Wood to implement an involuntary commitment process.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage, first being sent to the committee on Finance.

Senate Bill 650 would establish a psychiatric hospital that treats exclusively civil and forensic patients committed from the state or from state hospitals.

The hospital would require an average annual inpatient census patient mix greater than 95 percent of court-ordered forensic and civil involuntary commitments from state custody.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage, first being sent to the committee on Finance.

Senate Bill 766 would establish the Creating Caregiver Tax Credit Act.

The West Virginia State Department of Revenue would publish that a tax credit shall be reduced on the first day of the effective year, and the total amount of credits used to offset the tax does not exceed $5 million annually per year.

This bill is intended to support family caregivers financially, such as helping finance durable medical equipment that is necessary to assist an eligible family member in carrying out one or more activities of daily living.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage, first being sent to the committee on Finance.

Senate Bill 114 would establish the Paid Parental Leave Pilot Program.

This bill would allow an employee to receive 12 weeks of paid leave during any 12-month period to care for and bond with his or her child during the first 12 months after the child’s birth.

This program is intended to promote working families’ physical and mental health, increase employee retention, and improve employee productivity and morale following the birth or adoption of a child.

Following a discussion, the bill was reported to a newly formed subcommittee where Senator Joey Gracia (D – Marion, 13) would be the chair, and the bill would be taken for further consideration.

Senate Bill 130 would establish a state-wide directory of e-cigarette products and e-cigarette liquids and strengthen regulations on their distribution and sale.

Manufacturers would be required to receive market authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before their products can be listed and sold.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage, first being sent to the committee on Finance.

Senate Bill 398 would remove the existing requirement that certain state public health officials be employed on a full-time basis.

This bill is intended to provide more flexibility in hiring and retaining qualified individuals in key public health leadership roles.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.

The Senate Education Committee met on Thursday and advanced five bills on student athlete safety, rural counties, remote schools, homebound services, and school preparation days.

Senate Bill 657 would establish the Cohen Craddock Student Athlete Safety Act.

This bill would require the West Virginia Board of Education to promulgate a legislative rule in conjunction with the West Virginia Board of Physical Therapy, which would govern concussion protocol, education on the prevention of concussions, and the development of the Concussion Education, Prevention, and Response Plan.

This bill is intended to address the various risks of injuries, including concussions, heat-related illnesses, and cardiac events that could take place with student athletes, and ensure the safety and well-being of students playing sports.

“I spent 41 years refereeing football in West Virginia, and I saw quarterbacks so concussed that they could hardly stand. At the time, there was nothing I could do, but now, I can,” Senator Charles H. Clements (R – Wetzel 02), stated.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage, first being sent to the committee on Finance.

Senate Bill 437 would establish the Fair State Aid Formula Act of 2026.

The bill provides funding for rural and isolated counties with higher educational costs.

This bill is intended to promote fairness, transparency, and adequacy in education funding.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage, first being sent to the committee on Finance.

Senate Bill 758 would provide extra state aid to school districts for students enrolled in “extremely remote schools”.

The bill defines “extremely remote schools” as a school that is located twenty miles or more from an existing public, charter, or private school, serves a minimum of twenty students, and has a roadway that is less than two travel lanes that are unimproved or unsuitable for a regular school bus.

No action was taken on the bill.

Senate Bill 778 would allow nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians eligibility for homebound services to ensure students receive timely educational support.

The Local Educational Agency would establish and maintain special educational programs and services outside of the school environment, such as nurse practitioners for students who are homebound due to injury or any other reason.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.

Senate Bill 802 would prohibit teachers from being required to use school preparation days for any purpose other than preparing for the opening or closing of school.

Teachers would be granted two “Leave Teachers Alone” days to determine which activities will improve their instruction, and the days would occur before the beginning of the instructional term.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.

The Senate Judiciary Committee met on Wednesday afternoon and advanced six bills.

Senate Bill 643 would discontinue the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Public Campaign Financing Program, which hasn’t been used since the year 2016.

This program was designed to provide public funds for judicial campaigns and would be fully repealed under the bill. There is currently $22,832.88 left in the funding of the program.

Senator Eric J. Tarr (R – Putnam, 04) proposed a conceptual amendment that the remaining funding in the program would be sent to the general revenue fund, and when at zero expire the funding for the program.

The amendment was adopted.

The bill, as amended, was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.

Senate Bill 538 would increase compensation for panel attorneys who represent indigent clients through West Virginia’s Public Defender Services.

Panel attorneys performing legal services, such as awaiting a hearing or trial before a judicial officer, and travel will be compensated at a rate of not less than $100 per hour.

The bill would also require annual reports on guardian ad litem services in child abuse and neglect cases, tracking workload, time spent with children, case length, and court involvement without disclosing privileged information.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.

Senate Bill 800 would update West Virginia’s jury selection by standardizing how juror lists are created, maintained, and reviewed across all counties.

The bill clarifies court and clerk responsibilities, revises how jury lists are compiled using voter, DMV, and tax records, and removes certain selection methods to standardize procedures statewide.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.

Senate Bill 793 would clarify courthouse closure on certain days, days considered a legal holiday, and how court deadlines and legal proceedings are handled when they fall on legal holidays, emergency closures, or designated days of local significance.

Days that the bill would consider legal holidays contain but aren’t limited to:

• January: 1 New Year’s Day
• The third Monday of January: Martin Luther King’s Birthday
• The third Monday of February: President’s Day
• The last Monday in May: Memorial Day
• June 20: West Virginia Day

The bill also defines “day of local significance” as a date on which a locally observed special occasion, such as a fair, festival, parade, or celebration, makes the general transaction of court business in that county impractical.

Senate Bill 792 would eliminate the requirement that the Supreme Court of Appeals supply magistrates with a hard copy of the West Virginia code.

Magistrates would still have access to digital versions of the code or would have to obtain their own hard copy. This would reduce state printing costs and create paperless access to court resources.

The bill would save $313,000 by reducing the costs from no longer having to print the WV code.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.

Senate Bill 796 would repeal a section of state law that requires the distribution of official West Virginia court reports. The West Virginia court reports would include written opinions and rulings, case summaries, legal citations, dockets, court orders, and annotations or headnotes.

The information provided in the WV court reports would remain accessible in online databases, public court websites, law libraries, and clerk offices.

The bill was reported to the full Senate with a recommendation of passage.