Tuesday, February 17, 2026, marked the 35th day of the 60-day regular session of the West Virginia Legislature. So far, the House of Delegates has introduced 1,680 bills and the Senate has introduced 992 bills, for a total of 2,672 bills, eclipsing the record set in 2024. February 17 was also the last day to introduce bills in the House, though that rule does not apply to bills originating in committee or appropriations bills.

Now that we have entered the second half of the legislative session, it may be useful to revisit the process after a bill has been reported out of committee and to the floor. Under the West Virginia Constitution, a bill must be read on three separate days. The First Reading generally involves a simple reading of the bill by number and title and nothing else. On Second Reading, a bill may be amended and the discussion is limited to the adoption of the proposed amendments. And, on Third Reading is when the bill is debated and voted on. Sometimes, for the sake of calendar management (avoiding long debates on two consecutive days), a bill is advanced to Third Reading with the right to amend. The requirement that a bill be read on three separate readings may be waived by a vote of 4/5 of the members present, but such an extraordinary step is rarely taken for routine bills. Once a bill has been presented to the Governor, he has five days (Sundays excluded) from presentment to act on the bill while the Legislature remains in session. After the Legislature has adjourned, the Governor has 15 days (Sundays excluded) from the date of adjournment to act on a bill, regardless of when it was presented. The Governor may approve the bill, veto it, or let it become law without his signature.

Significant Remaining Dates in the 2026 Legislative Calendar:

February 23: Last day to introduce bills in the Senate; does not apply to bills originating in committee or appropriations bills.
March 1:  Bills are due out of committee in house of origin.
March 4:  Last day to consider bills on third reading in house of origin (Cross-Over Day).
March 14 (midnight): Session ends.

LEGISLATION OF INTEREST

The following are bills of interest that have been introduced or have advanced:                                                                                                    

S.B. 1 (Smith) This bill is the first to complete the legislative process. S.B. 1 establishes the Small Business Growth Act. Concisely, the SB 1 would establish the West Virginia First Small Business Growth Program, under which specialized growth funds collect capital from investors to provide financing to eligible small businesses that maintain the majority of their operations and workforce within the state. The program authorizes $60 million in capital to be raised through insurance premium tax credits, which will be matched by $40 million by other private capital.

S.B. 173 (Rose) This bill was passed by the Senate with only a single dissenting vote. Concisely, it states that a person is guilty of performing or attempting to perform an abortion with an abortifacient if that person knowingly and willfully sends an abortifacient to a person in West Virginia; places an abortifacient into the stream of commerce when the person knows that the abortifacient is to be used in this state; prescribes an abortifacient to a person in this state, regardless of whether the prescriber was in this state; or, disseminates an abortifacient in this state without a lawfully valid prescription. Any person other than a licensed medical professional who knowingly and willfully violates this section is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment of not less than three nor more than 10 years. Licensed medical professionals who knowingly and willfully violate this section are subject to disciplinary action by their licensing board. The bill was amended several times in the process. First, the Senate HHR Committee replaced the requirement that all physicians complete two Continuing Medical Education hours biennially on abortifacients with the requirement that a prescribing physician attest that he or she understands West Virginia’s abortion laws, while the Judiciary Committee shielded common carriers, such as FedEx, from liability and included the Attorney General’s Office in the enforcement of its provisions. Lastly, the full Senate amended the bill to prohibit public entities from doing business with any manufacturer or wholesale drug distributor unless they certify that they do not engage in the manufacturing or wholesaling of abortifacients. The bill is now pending before the House Judiciary Committee.

S.B. 231 (Helton) This bill was advanced by the Senate to the House, and it amends the Public Health Code by adding a new article that reorganizes the state’s addiction care system into a value-based continuum of care and incentivizes coordination, integration, and accountability for recovery success. “Value-based payment" means a payment model that rewards providers for quality and cost-effective care and penalizes providers for failure to meet specified metrics, thus shifting from paying for volume (fee-for-service) to paying for patient health outcomes and experiences. Metrics include housing stability, sobriety, criminal justice and child welfare avoidance, and self-sufficiency. The Department of Human Services provided a fiscal note estimating an annual increase of $12,997,223 (state = $2,638,812/federal = $10,358,412), but noted that the estimate did not include any potential long-term cost savings as such savings were deemed purely hypothetical at this point. 

H.B. 4983 (Smith, D.) This bill codifies the Department of Commerce administrative rule governing the certified microgrid program and high impact data center certifications. This rule implements the Commerce administrative functions that are required pursuant to H.B. 2014 that was passed in 2025.  

H.B. 5096 (Worrell) The House passed this bill, providing for the exemption of personal care services and intellectual developmental disabilities services from the certificate of need process. As you may recall, in 2025, the Governor introduced H.B. 2007 wherein he attempted to abolish the CON program it is entirety, but was thwarted by the House HHR Committee. While there is still anti-CON sentiment in the Legislature, it remains to be seen whether the Senate, which will soon be receiving this bill, will be in the position to expand the scope of the bill to simply abolish the entire program.

H.B. 4009 (Kyle) This bill creates the Voluntary Portable Benefits Plan Act which recognizes certain “portable benefits,” such as health insurance, income replacement insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, and retirement benefits, chosen by the independent contractor and assigned to a beneficiary. The Act permits any person or entity, whether public or private, including an internet or application-based company, to voluntarily contribute funds to a portable benefit account for an independent contractor who resides in West Virginia or who performs actual work in West Virginia.  Contributions to such a plan for the independent contractor may not be used as a basis make that person an employee. This bill is expected to advance out of the House this week.

H.B. 4008 (Maynor) This bill amends the Certified Sites and Development Readiness Program administered by the Division of Economic Development by specifying that sites that are a minimum of five acres in size may receive an amount up to $100,000 through the micro grant program while sites that exceed 20 acres in size may receive an amount up to $250,000 through the micro grant program. The bill passed the House and is now pending before the Senate Economic Development Committee.

H.B. 4198 (Coop-Gonzalez) In the closest vote to date this session, and after a vigorous debate which pitted business associations against the proponents of this bill, the House of Delegates passed a bill imposing E-Verification requirements on employers. All employers will be required to register and create an E-Verify employer account. This is the electronic verification of the federal employment authorization program of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, as operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. After hiring an employee, an employer shall employ a new employee provisionally until the new employee’s work authorization has been verified using the E-Verify System. If a new employee’s work authorization is not verified by the federal work authorization program, a private employer may not employ, continue to employ, or reemploy the new employee. If the employee’s work authorization is not verified within this 20-calendar-day period, the employer shall terminate the employee. An employer may employ or reemploy the individual only upon verification of the individual’s work authorization pursuant to this section. All employers shall keep a record of the verification for the duration of the employee’s employment with the employer or for three years, whichever is longer. Any employer who knowingly and willfully fails to maintain records is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined $500 for each offense, and each day of noncompliance is deemed a separate offense. The bill is now pending before the Senate Judiciary.

While there are several bills pending regulating the vape cigarette industry, one has entered the first stage of the process in the House: H.B. 5437 (McCormick). This bill, known as the "Vape and Smoke Retailer Location and Operating Requirements Act,” would prohibit any person, firm, or corporation from operating a vape or smoke shop in or on any premises in the state without first obtaining a license issued by the Alcohol Beverage Commission. Further, those vape or smoke retailers may only sell authorized vapor products that are currently listed in the Vapor Product Directory and comply with all other federal, state, and local laws relating to the sales of tobacco, tobacco-derived products, and vapor products. A violation of the provisions of the law is deemed a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of no more than $10,000 and jail for not more than one year. Finally, the bill would require by July 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, every manufacturer of vapor products sold in the state to submit a certification that separately lists each vapor product that is sold in this state and that a marketing authorization for the vapor product has been received from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or that the product was marketed in the United States as of August 8, 2016. Other vape regulation bills include S.B. 130 (Rucker) creating the E-cigarette and E-cigarette Liquid Directory; S.B. 209 (Helton)creating Vape Regulation and Enforcement Act (a less detailed version of H.B. 5437); and, S.B. 235 (Taylor) Creating Vape and Smoke Shop Location and Operating Requirements Act (which, among other things, forbids vape shops within one mile of any school or church). There has been no movement yet on the Senate bills.

S.B. 424 (Hart) The bill establishes the Affordable Electricity and Economic Growth Act of 2026 to facilitate coke production and steelmaking in the state. Specifically, the Division of Economic Development shall use certain criteria in identifying economically viable sites for coke production projects, such as geographic locations near metallurgical coal deposits capable of supplying and sustaining one or more coke production facilities and the geographic locations near existing rail infrastructure capable of transporting the produced coke to steel-making facilities, among other reasons. The bill further requires the Division of Economic Development to submit a preliminary report to the Legislature by the end of this year outlining a minimum of four initial locations under consideration, each for coal electrical generation and coke production facility, respectively, with two of the four locations considered for coal electrical generation to be from a geographical area north of Interstate 64, and two of the four locations considered for electrical generation shall be from a geographical area south of Interstate 64; two of the four locations considered for coke production shall be from a geographical area north of Interstate 64, and two of the four locations considered for coke production shall be from a geographical area south of Interstate 64. The bill was advanced by the Senate Economic Development Committee and is now pending before the Finance Committee.

S.B. 20 (Rose) The purpose of this bill, known as the Stable Energy Rates Protection Act, is to prohibit the Public Service Commission from approving, considering, or incorporating into any new fee or any fee or rate increase any costs associated with construction, operation, maintenance, or decommissioning of an energy facility that produces power solely from an intermittent power source. An “intermittent power source” means an energy source whose electrical output is inherently variable and not continuously available due to its dependence on external natural conditions, and that cannot be fully controlled or dispatched on demand. The bill obviously targets renewable energy sources. The prohibition would not apply to costs associated with any contract executed prior to the effective date of the bill, except that a rate increase after the effective date may not be based on expansion of any such contract nor any new commitment to an energy project using an intermittent power source under any such contract. The Senate Energy Industry & Mining Committee advanced the bill to the Committee on Government Organization.

S.B. 27 (Barrett) This bill would reduce the statute of limitations on written contracts from 10 years to five years and on oral contracts from five years to two years. The bill is pending in the Senate Judiciary. A similar bill was introduced by Senator Oliverio, S.B 85, and is also pending in that Committee.