West Virginia American Civil Liberties Union (WV-ACLU) legal director, Aubrey Sparks, said an international student, one month from graduation had his visa was unlawfully revoked. The organization is helping the student sue the federal government for relief.
Sparks says the federal government’s action was taken because her client, a Marshall University graduate student, identified as S.V., showed up in a criminal records check.
The lawsuit notes that in 2020, S.V., who is originally from India, was charged with a misdemeanor traffic violation of operating under the influence in Indiana for which he was sentenced to probation. His probation was terminated early as the result of his good behavior and compliance, based on the recommendation of his probation officer.
He then left the United States and returned in 2023 to study at Marshall on a new student visa. He disclosed the previous charge when re-applying, satisfied all requirements, and was permitted to re-enter the country under the new visa. He was in the process of applying for post-graduate work in the United States when he received the email ending his status. Sparks said S.V.’s charge does not meet grounds for visa termination.
“When he wanted to come to Marshall University, he applied for legal status to be here,” Sparks said. “He applied for his student visa, and he disclosed that earlier misdemeanor. And so the government reviewed it. The government subjected him to questioning about it, a medical exam to make sure that he could be here and should be granted entry, and he passed all of those things, and he was awarded his student status and awarded his visa. And then nothing has happened since. He has had no interaction with the criminal justice system. And so this idea that this is something new that came up just doesn’t have a basis in fact.”
Sparks said her client was one month away from graduation when the action was taken, throwing his life into turmoil.
“There was no prior warning, there was no chance that anything was wrong” Sparks said. “Just out of the blue, he gets an email that suddenly throws in the higher educational world into uncertainty, and so at a time where he should be focusing on the very tail end of his last graduate school classes and planning how he’s going to celebrate his graduation with friends and family, that’s all been taken away from him, because now instead, he’s trying to figure out whether he is in the United States legally, and what he needs to do to make sure that he is able to secure his degree. This is someone who is in a STEM field who has performed incredibly well in school, both at the undergraduate and the graduate level, and now he’s trying to work in the United States.”
In a WV-ACLU press release, S.V. said the experience has caused chaos for his education and career plans.
“I desperately want to complete my graduate degree and pursue work in the United States,” he said. “It is clear this wasn’t a decision based on my circumstance or experience – this was a predetermined outcome and they just said whatever needed to be said to justify it, even when it didn’t apply to me.”
In the press release, ACLU-WV Executive Director Eli Baumwell said that “International students and scholars are a vital part of our nation’s universities, our economy, and our communities. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly clear that the Trump administration is simply taking the law into its own hands in its crusade against noncitizens. Never before has a president taken such sweeping actions to revoke student visas, and that’s why we need the courts to step in and protect their rights to due process under the Constitution.”
Sparks said these types of international student lawsuits are happening around the country, and need to be challenged.
“I think that if we don’t take the steps to allow him to stay here, West Virginia as a whole, and Marshall, is going to be much worse off,” Sparks said. “Because he’s just been an asset to these places that he’s made his community.”
The lawsuit asks that there be a declaration from the court that S.V. still has his legal status, or alternatively, that he is not able to be detained or deported.
The governor signed off a bill setting the state’s budget for fiscal year 2026, but cut some funding allocations that lawmakers had approved earlier this month.
After extensive review during this year’s legislative session, the state budget for fiscal year 2026 — beginning July 1 — received the governor’s stamp of approval Thursday.
But the version Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed into law strikes several funding allocations that lawmakers agreed upon when passing House Bill 2026. The governor gets a final review on bills before they become law, during which he can sign them into effect, veto them or let them pass into law by default.
Shortly after taking office in January, Morrisey’s office projected the state would experience a roughly $400 million budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year, a figure they said could rise in future years.
Morrisey has attributed this to his predecessor, former Gov. Jim Justice, using one-time funding sources for ongoing expenses like Medicaid instead of finding long-term funding sources. Justice has denied the existence of a budget shortfall.
In a letter to Secretary of State Kris Warner outlining his objections to the legislature-passed budget, Morrisey repeatedly cited a need for “conservative budget planning” and “fiscal responsibility” in his reasoning for cutting certain areas of funding.
“It is imperative that we take steps to limit new spending,” Morrisey wrote.
In his final version of the state budget for fiscal year 2026, Morrisey changed budget amounts approved by the West Virginia Legislature as follows:
Economic Development Project Fund: eliminated new funding entirely, which would have totaled $75 million.
Road maintenance through the State Road Fund: reduced by $25 million to a final figure of $675.2 million new funds.
Division of Highways surplus fund: reduced by $25 million to a final figure of $100 million new funds.
Water Development Authority: eliminated new funding entirely, which would have totaled $10 million.
West Virginia Department of Health, current expenses: cut by $3 million, more than half its funding provisions.
Ronald McDonald House of Morgantown: cut by $3 million.
A new computer science education program: cut by $1.4 million, removing most of the $2 million allocated to it by lawmakers.
Court-appointed special advocates for youth experiencing alleged abuse or neglect: reduced by $800,000, leaving just $300,000 allocated from the bill next fiscal year.
Public transit federal funds/grant match: reduced by $500,000.
Ongoing library expense funds: reduced by $500,000, or roughly one-third of their allocated dollar amount.
Martinsburg Berkeley Public Library: reduced by $500,000, or one-third of their allocated dollar amount.
Military College Advisory Council Fund, which aimed to take steps toward establishing a military college in West Virginia: eliminated all $293,500 in funding. Morrisey said this should fall under capital projects overseen by the Higher Education Policy Commission.
Safe Schools program: reduced by $200,000, with an additional $200,000 cut for “school mapping services.”
Mountain State Digital Literacy Program: reduced by $300,000.
Tourism industry development: reduced by $300,000.
Green Acres Regional Center in Cabell County: had $300,000 in funding eliminated entirely, as Morrisey said no supporting documentation was included to justify this expense in the legislature’s bill.
Mountwood Park in Wood County: had $300,000 in funding eliminated entirely, as Morrisey said no supporting documentation was included to justify this expense in the legislature’s bill.
Lily’s Place, a residential treatment center for substance use disorder in Cabell County: $250,000 to be provided through the Cabell County Commission eliminated entirely.
West Virginia University College of Law: new funding of $250,000 eliminated entirely.
LPN to BSN nursing program at West Virginia State University: new funding of $250,000 eliminated entirely.
Tuition contract program from the Higher Education Policy Commission: reduced by $208,000.
Nursing homes for veterans under the Department of Veterans’ Assistance: reduced by $187,650.
Trooper classes for West Virginia State Police: reduced by $161,172 after “consultation” with the agency.
In-home family education services funding for the West Virginia Division of Human Services: reduced by $100,000.
Local economic development assistance: reduced by $100,000. Morrisey said this funding source had money left over from previous years, and that executive-branch funding resources should share the weight of budget constraints for the coming fiscal year.
Willow Bend Agricultural Innovation Center in Monroe County: stripped of the entire $100,000 set aside by lawmakers because Morrisey argued this funding was needed by Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt. Morrisey instructed Leonhardt to help the center identify other funding resources, he said.
Math Counts educational program: had its entire $50,000 allocation eliminated.
These dollar amounts refer to the difference in budget allotments lawmakers had set aside for each program and the final figures Morrisey approved Thursday. They may not indicate an actual loss in money for each program, but rather a reduction in how much new funding each program will receive.
“I am hesitant to add funding to programs when the future challenges of West Virginia’s budget make it imperative that a cautious and prudent approach be taken,” Morrisey wrote in his letter to Warner.
Morrisey also struck language that would have prohibited the West Virginia Department of Human Services from transferring general revenue dollars between certain funding pools within the department.
The governor wrote that he was advised this would be “overly burdensome and restrictive” for the department, and that striking the language would help it more “efficiently allocate resources.”
A collection of note-worthy musicians were inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame Saturday night – in a musical gala held despite a massive, eleventh hour setback.
The sudden chaos was caused by the loss of promised federal funds expected to affect cultural events across the state. Saturday night’s star-studded ceremony recognized four new inductees into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
Daniel Johnston, Cameron LaVelle Mullins, Jeff Stevens and The Valentinos join a list of honorees that dates back to 2005 when the nonprofit was founded. And since that time, it has received significant grant funding from the West Virginia Humanities Council, said founder and director Michael Lipton.
“We do a lot of fundraising ourselves, and we sell tickets, so we’re not solely dependent on them,” Lipton said. “But when you put together a budget, you know, that was definitely part of it and figured into it.”
This year the Humanities grant totaled roughly $13,000 – about one-third of the total cost of putting on the ceremony. But most of those grant funds are paid after the ceremony, when receipts are available.
Lipton received notice just a few days ahead of time that the remaining funds won’t be coming – for the hall of fame or any other grantees funded through the council.
“We got the email saying that, you know, I guess it was to all the grantees, that, ‘Do you have any outstanding grants? They are basically zeroed out.’”
Plane tickets had already been purchased, hotels reserved. contracts signed, performers scheduled. The eleventh-hour options are limited, Lipton said, when we spoke to him before the ceremony.
“One of the options is to not do your project and return any money that you have been given, or scale down your project. We’re in a little bit of a more prickly situation, since we’re days away from the ceremony and we can’t not do it,” he said.
Eric Waggoner is the executive director of the West Virginia Humanities Council, which gets its funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, or NEH.
“There is an organization like ours in all 50 states and a half dozen territories worldwide. And through our partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities, we receive congressionally appropriated funding that we put towards grants and programs in all 55 counties,” he said.
Even though the funds have already been appropriated, the money is not coming. Waggoner was notified just a few days before the Hall of Fame event.
“I received my email at about 1:30 in the morning. It was on letterhead for the National Endowment for the Humanities, but it was a result of the Department Of Government Efficiency’s recommended cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities,” he said.
“The email said, and I received this email, and so did all the rest of the state humanities councils in every state, saying that our grant from the NEH was terminated effective immediately. So, no more funding that had been congressionally appropriated for us as part of the regular congressional budgeting cycle would be forthcoming.”
Waggoner says stormy weather woke him up in the middle of the night.
“SoI decided to check my email, and that’s what I found. I also found that my email inbox had blown up with all of the other Humanities Council directors in every other state saying, ‘I got my termination notice.’ ‘Yeah, we got cut off.’ ‘We got cut off.’”
The notice, said Waggoner, was hard to receive.
“It’s very distressing. Ordinarily, the federal government, Congress, makes its official appropriations as part of the budgeting process, and then that money is available to us for the current fiscal year,” Waggoner said.
“So that predictability is what really has allowed us to serve West Virginia for the last 50 years in a way that’s stable and allows for accountability in work that is very exciting,” he added. “This is unprecedented.”
Waggoner said that as a result of the continuing resolution agreement reached by Congress earlier this year, he and other council officials thought the funding boat had been appropriated was secure, that there would be time to deal with any potential disruptions that might come down the road.
The council, he said, has other funding sources – donors, other grants and corporate sponsors. But most of those sources rely on dollar-for-dollar matches met by the NEH grant.
“So we do have other sources of income, but this cut impacts immediately our operations and our grant making. In particular, we use the federal funds to make to give grants to organizations all around the state. And unfortunately, you know, as as predicted, the impact of these cuts will start immediately. We had to announce yesterday to all of our grantees that no more grant money will be forthcoming,” Waggoner said.
The NEH grant in West Virginia is $965,000, with few options for recouping those funds.
“There’s absolutely no way that the private sector or the donor base can make up for the loss of nearly a million dollars, not in West Virginia,” Waggoner said.
From its inception the council mission has been to support programs that celebrate the culture, history and traditions of West Virginia – local and regional museums, schools, libraries, festivals, theatrical productions, art exhibits and individual programs that impact communities in all 55 counties of the state.
The council has provided grant funding to the West Virginia Mine War Museum in Matewan, the Oil and Gas Museum in Parkersburg, the Arthurdale Heritage Center, the West Virginia Encyclopedia, and the History Alive program which brings historical presentations to senior centers and K-12 classrooms statewide.
Michael Lipton, with the Hall of Fame, is scrambling to find the funds that were cancelled, and cringing at the idea of asking for more money from already-generous donors. It’s hard, he said, to put a dollar figure on the value of the program.
“You know what the Rolling Stones say, that it’s only rock and roll, and if it all went away tomorrow, everybody still carries on,” Lipton said.
“But I think that when you have people, especially in nonprofits, working for a cause and a goal that they really believe in and put their heart into, you can’t hire those kinds of people. You couldn’t afford it. I mean, people put their whole being into it and the result is something pretty special,” he said.
The real value of funding the arts, Lipton said, is that they add to the quality of life, both as a means of celebration in the good times, and a source of comfort and strength during times of struggle.
Both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature voted to pass a bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. But a technical error sent the state Senate into chaos Saturday night.
With minutes left in this year’s legislative session, the West Virginia Senate fell into chaos over a late-night technical error.
Senate Bill 474 — ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives statewide — has been one of the most hotly contested pieces of legislation set forth this year, shepherded by Gov. Patrick Morrisey. But procedural confusion threw the state’s upper legislative chamber into a scramble Saturday night, casting doubt over the bill’s fate.
The Senate ultimately passed the bill, but ranking members say they are unsure whether the steps taken to do so were entirely legal. Some even say the debate over Senate Bill 474 could spill into the courtroom.
A procedural back-and-forth
After receiving approval from its chamber of origin last month, Senate Bill 474 passed the West Virginia House of Delegates Saturday night 87 to 12, following hours of debate and numerous amendments from the body’s Democrats.
“We’re handcuffing our educators so they’re not wanting to teach these sorts of things. That’s what we’re doing,” said Del. Hollis Lewis, D-Kanawha. “But when we start attacking education, that’s where we’re failing.”
Once the bill returned to the Senate for final approval, things got messy.
Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, motioned for a vote in the bill’s favor, but withdrew it shortly thereafter. Senators said the House needed to iron out technical issues before giving it an okay.
Later, Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, called to suspend Joint Rule 3, which pertains to disagreements over amendments between the two chambers. He urged senators to concur with the House amendments that were sent back to the House “due to technical flaws.”
“I request unanimous consent to suspend Joint Rule 3 and concur and pass on Senate Bill 474,” Tarr said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, had proposed 15 amendments on the bill that were yet to be reviewed. Tarr said calling a suspension of Joint Rule 3 meant the Senate did not need to take up those amendments.
“It makes it so that, if it is amended, we don’t have to consider any of those amendments,” Tarr told West Virginia Public Broadcasting after the floor discussion. He said he had planned on debating the amendments, but thought summoning Joint Rule 3 would more effectively avoid a lengthy amendment review.
“If we hadn’t went ahead and done that all in one motion, we would have had to consider all the amendments,” Tarr said.
Efforts to intervene fall short
Bills that do not pass both chambers by midnight on the final day of session are considered dead. Tarr said cutting off debate over the bill was an important next step toward ensuring the bill’s passage.
The Senate currently includes just two Democrats: Garcia and Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell. During the process, both stood up to speak, but their microphones appeared to be disabled.
“They did not allow any debate,” Garcia told WVPB. “They didn’t even allow us to take the amendments that we had filed in the system and have a hearing on each of them — which I believe, under the rules, is something that had to happen.”
“I think there is, technically, a legal deficiency with how that bill was passed,” he continued. “The rules were not followed.”
Both Democrats repeatedly requested points of order from Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston. That process seeks to ensure legislative procedure is being followed correctly. But Smith shot down some of their appeals, and did not recognize the rest.
The Senate then voted to suspend its rules and passed the bill 32 to 2. After a protracted legislative battle, it now heads to the governor’s desk, where it can be signed into law.
Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, attends a Senate Education Committee meeting March 18.
Photo Credit: Will Price/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, speaks on the Senate floor March 10.
Photo Credit: Will Price/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
‘What lies ahead’: Lawmakers react
Woelfel said an “agenda by certain senators” overpowered legislative procedure.
“I’m disappointed that the rules of the Senate were just roughshod run over tonight. I’m disappointed,” Woelfel said. “It wasn’t about any particular bill. But if we don’t go by the rules that are set, we’re letting people down.”
Smith said the passage of Senate Bill 474 was agreed upon by most lawmakers, regardless of technicalities.
“We’ll find out if it was legal or not if someone challenges it,” Smith said. “But, as far as I’m concerned, … everything was in order.”
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, declined to comment after the legislature’s lower chamber gaveled out at midnight. “We’ll talk about all that next week,” he told WVPB.
Both Garcia and Smith said their party used procedural rules to advance their policy priorities.
“You’re damn right,” Garcia told reporters after the chamber gaveled out. “I’m gonna do every single thing I can to try to stop bad policies from happening.”
“It’s just part of the process. They tried to kill it that way, and we tried to save it this way,” Smith said. “It’s all part of the system.”
Garcia argued the state legislature’s Republican supermajority allows some lawmakers to circumvent the rules. The state’s Senate has the highest concentration of one party in a single legislative chamber in the United States.
“They have the ability to do a lot of these different things,” Garcia said. “It just goes to show we have a lack of balance.”
Smith said he was personally unsure about the procedure that occurred, and felt Tarr or a lawyer “above my pay grade” was better equipped to speak to the legality of the bill’s passage.
“Every bill can be challenged in court,” he said. “This one might be.”
In his first term as Senate president and thirteenth year as a state lawmaker, Smith described Saturday night as a first.
“Who knows what lies ahead?” he said.
Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, urges members of the West Virginia House of Delegates to reject Senate Bill 474 on the chamber’s floor Saturday.
Photo Credit: Perry Bennett/WV Legislative Photography
Extensive debate
Just before the Senate frenzy, members of the House spent hours debating Senate Bill 474.
Like the Senate, the House took steps to limit discussion. The chamber cut off comments after particularly impassioned opposition to the bill from each of the state legislature’s only Black members: Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell and Del. Hollis Lewis, D-Kanawha.
The three lawmakers urged their colleagues to reject the bill outright.
“We keep passing legislation that more than likely will affect people who look like me,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got to do something different, guys.”
“You’re gonna tell me, ‘I had to do it, man. I don’t believe in it, but I had to do it. I had to do it,’” Hornbuckle said to his fellow delegates. “You didn’t have to do nothing.”
The West Virginia House of Delegates reviewed Senate Bill 474 Saturday. The bill would eliminate DEI initiatives across the state government — plus entities it funds, like public universities.
The West Virginia House of Delegates is now reviewing Senate Bill 474, which would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the state government — plus entities it funds, like public universities.
Abolishing DEI is a central administrative priority for Gov. Patrick Morrisey, and an objective he shares with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party at large. But the bill has been a wide source of contention among Democratic lawmakers, and has even garnered pushback from the governor’s own party.
That debate manifested on the House floor Saturday, where delegates set forth a total of 24 amendments to the controversial bill from members of both parties.
Updated on Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 10:35 p.m.
When the House began discussing Senate Bill 474, it set a one-hour cap on floor discussions over amendments to the bill. Lawmakers passed that threshold, which meant only those who sponsored each amendment were eligible to speak in the last stages of discussion.
The House rejected a handful of final tweaks to the bill.
That included amendments from Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, that would have added political ideology to the identity groups unable to be considered in the hiring, admissions and promotion processes; shielded private and parochial schools from certain restrictions in the bill; and added language protecting “free, robust and uninhibited debate” at institutions of higher education.
Another rejected amendment came from House Minority Leader Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, which aimed to ensure that employees and contractors at colleges and universities have free speech protections and means to appeal “imposed discipline” over alleged violations of the state’s DEI repeal.
The House has moved to debating the full text of Senate Bill 474.
Updated on Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 10:13 p.m.
While some early revisions to the anti-DEI bill found consensus from the House, a whole lot more have been rejected.
As the debate over DEI stretches into the final hours of this year’s legislative session, the House has already rejected 13 of the 24 amendments originally proposed for Senate Bill 474.
Several of the rejected proposals came from House Minority Leader Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell.
Among them: an amendment giving colleges an extra year to report back on how they are complying with new DEI restrictions; an amendment to let colleges highlight how they support “underserved” identity groups in grant applications; and an amendment adding explicit language that colleges will not be prevented from providing financial aid to specific identity groups.
Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, introduced numerous amendments to Senate Bill 474, a proposed ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the state. He is pictured here in January 2025.
Photo Credit: Perry Bennett/WV Legislative Photography
Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, introduced a total of 12 amendments to the full House chamber, the majority of which were also rejected.
These amendments included an assurance that “preferences granted to veterans” in state law are not affected by DEI cuts, protections for the content in university libraries and purported clarifications on access to college scholarships and visa eligibility for international students.
Throughout floor discussion, Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, routinely characterized Democrats’ amendments as efforts to circumvent restrictions on DEI at large and find ways to weaken its core intent.
Another unsuccessful amendment from Young would have ensured the bill would not impact “department, division, agency, or board of this state” in their ability to access “community programs” or partake in “private sector” partnerships.
“It’s not a back door. It’s an open front door,” Steele said of the amendment. “We might have put a fence outside, but it’s an open front door.”
Young also proposed an amendment to remove references to “color blind” processes from the bill, arguing it was an outdated term. Ultimately, it was rejected.
Meanwhile, Democrats argued that their amendments provided crucial modifications to a bill that could have unintended consequences.
Discussion on the bill was still active as of 10:13 p.m.
Original Story: House Votes Down First Spate Of DEI Amendments; Some Pass
Published Saturday, April 12, 2025 at 8:54 p.m.
Del. Bill Flanigan, R-Ohio — who has vocally opposed the bill — sponsored an amendment that would have clarified restrictions on DEI in public schools “shall not be based on isolated comments, classroom discussion or misunderstandings.” His amendment was shot down by a verbal majority vote.
Two amendments from Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, were rejected by the chamber. One would have made all provisions of the bill consistent among identity groups; currently, some parts of the bill apply to race, ethnicity and national origin as categories, but not gender.
Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, argued that amendment could have made it hard to protect “female sports.” Hamilton disagreed, but ultimately did not secure support from a majority of the House.
Another amendment from Hamilton would have included language to protect residents from discrimination on the basis of hair type.
Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia, introduced amendments to Senate Bill 474 to make its text consistent across identity groups and add protections from discrimination on the basis of hair type.
Photo Credit: Perry Bennett/WV Legislative Photography
Steele likened the amendment to the CROWN Act, a bill passed by several states nationwide to protect against hair type discrimination, but which he said the House floor had not considered in full. He also argued forms of hair type discrimination would already fall under non-discrimination protections based around “national, origin or religion.”
“We do need to have a conversation,” Hamilton said. “There are specific barriers in place that are preventing certain classes of people, specifically African Americans, from being hired because of their hairstyle and their hair texture.”
That amendment was also voted down by the House.
Successful amendments
The House did adopt an amendment from House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, that explicitly states nothing in the bill’s text can be used to curtail West Virginia Human Rights Act, which extends residents “equal opportunity” to employment and public resources.
The House also passed an amendment from Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, which would affirm that the bill could not restrict universities in ways which would prevent them from meeting “accreditation standards.”
Check back to our live blog for the latest updates from the West Virginia Legislature throughout the day and night on April 12. And follow along with our live TV coverage from 8 p.m. to midnight on our WVPB live stream.
Watch our live TV broadcast from 8 p.m.-midnight April 12.
Scroll further down this page to see our live updates.
Another regular session of the West Virginia Legislature ends on April 12 at midnight. All evening, the West Virginia Public Broadcasting newsroom will follow along as the House of Delegates and the Senate work to even out differing approaches to legislation and the state budget for the 2026 fiscal year.
This year, legislators introduced 2,460 bills, a fairly typical number for a legislative session. But only about 10 to 12% of those bills become laws. The final number for this session remains unknown until the final call, but both chambers approached this session intending to move forward with greater deliberation.
The House of Delegates, under House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, implemented another step this year in the committee process to attempt to increase discussion and public comment on pending legislation. The Senate didn’t make structural changes, but under new Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston, senators seemed to take more time to work on bills, rather than rushing them through to the finish line.
Vaccine Exemptions, DEI And The Budget
Major bills up for discussion included creating exemptions for childhood vaccine schedules for children entering schools in the state. That bill died in the House of Delegates but senators tried to bring it back by amending it into other legislation. Finally, the amendment was pulled from the unrelated legislation and the effort to change vaccine requirements for school aged children died for the 2025 session.
Another major bill was the effort to remove Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs from state government. Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed an executive order on his first full day in office to remove those programs. The legislation reinforced his moves. Over protest from minority groups, including women, the bill has continued to move forward.
Most importantly is the budget bill. As soon as Morrisey took office, he said the state was facing a $400 million budget shortfall. Finance leadership quickly disputed that claim. After the governor introduced his budget, both chambers set to break it apart and make changes to it.
The budget is the only piece of legislation lawmakers are constitutionally required to do. They don’t have to finalize it during the regular session, but can come back into a special session later if necessary.
The House introduced its version of the budget first. The Senate then took the House’s version and overwrote it with a budget of its own — called a strike and insert amendment. The budget bill completed the legislative process Friday night and now goes to the governor’s desk for his signature.
Live Updates
Check back to this live blog for the latest updates from the West Virginia Legislature throughout the day and night on April 12.
And follow along with our live TV coverage from 8 p.m. to midnight on our WVPB live stream.
In Eleventh Hour, Senate Republicans Suspend Rules To Pass DEI Ban
With minutes left in this year’s legislative session, the West Virginia Senate fell into chaos over a late-night technical error.
Senate Bill 474 — ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives statewide — has been one of the most hotly contested pieces of legislation set forth this year, shepherded by Gov. Patrick Morrisey. But procedural confusion threw the state’s upper legislative chamber into a scramble Saturday night, casting doubt over the bill’s fate.
The Senate ultimately passed the bill, but ranking members say they are unsure whether the steps taken were entirely legal. Some even say the debate over Senate Bill 474 could spill into the courtroom.
A bill that would restrict public schools from teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation passed the Senate. It would also obligate teachers to “out” transgender students to their parents or guardians.
The bill 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.
For example, if a male student asks to be called a name that is generally considered to be a female name, then teachers would be required to inform the student’s parents. If a teacher fails to do so, they could be written up and suspended without pay or fired.
The bill was passed the house 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 circumstances.
Del. Elias Coop-Gonzalez, R-Randolph, said these protections would be for instances of instruction or to address specific interpersonal situations.
“This prohibition cannot be construed to prohibit a teacher responded to student questions during class regarding sexual orientation and gender identity as it relates to any topic of instruction referring to sexual orientation or gender identity of any historical person, group or public figure, when the information provides a necessary context in relation to any topic of instruction and referring to sexual orientation and gender identity if necessary to address a disciplinary matter, such as an incidence of bullying,” Coop-Gonzalez said.
House Reviewing Numerous Amendments To Proposed DEI Ban
The West Virginia House of Delegates is now reviewing Senate Bill 474, which would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the state government — plus entities it funds, like public universities.
Abolishing DEI is a central administrative priority for Gov. Patrick Morrisey, and an objective he shares with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party at large. But the bill has been a wide source of contention among Democratic lawmakers, and has even garnered pushback from the governor’s own party.
That debate manifested on the House floor Saturday, where delegates set forth a total of 24 amendments to the controversial bill from members of both parties.
One of Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s signature pieces of legislation was completed with four hours remaining in the regular legislative session.
House Bill 2014 would expand the number of microgrids in the state to support data centers and artificial intelligence.
On Saturday evening, the Senate gave final approval to the bill by the same total as it voted on Friday. On Friday evening, the state Senate passed House Bill 2014 by a vote of 32 to 1.
Sen. Rupie Phillips, R-Logan, was the only no vote on both days. Phillips has been a critic of the bill throughout the session, saying it would do little to lower electricity costs for most West Virginia residents.
A microgrid is a self-contained facility that generates its own power and doesn’t receive any from the electricity grid that powers homes, schools and businesses around it.
The data centers within them take up a lot of land and consume vast amounts of water and electricity. House Bill 2014 largely exempts such facilities from local zoning ordinances.
On Saturday, the House of Delegates approved the amended Senate version by a vote of 82 to 16. All nine Democrats joined several Republicans in opposition.
Morrisey told WVPB at the Capitol Friday that he was pleased lawmakers in both chambers got the bill closer to the finish line.
“Look, I think this is an incredible opportunity for West Virginia,” he said. “I’m very hopeful that this could lead to very good things for West Virginia.”
Earlier in the week, multiple county officials testified to the Senate Economic Development Committee that the bill diverted nearly all the local property tax revenue from the facilities.
They said that structure could squeeze county budgets and services and discourage local communities from seeking microgrid projects.
The committee agreed to carve out 30% of the revenues for the counties with the microgrids.
The bulk of the property tax revenue – 55% – would go to the state for the purpose of further reducing its personal income tax.
Legislation To Allow Pharmacists More Prescribing Power Passes With Slim Authorizations
A bill that originally aimed at widely broadening pharmacists prescribing authority in West Virginia was approved by both chambers after being amended about five times since its introduction on Feb. 19.
Senate Bill 526’s lead sponsor, Sen. Laura Chapman, R-Ohio, said she is disappointed with the final version of the bill and said the House of Delegates “gutted the bill” during its Friday floor session.
“This Act would give access to our citizens for testable, minor illnesses like strep throat,” Chapman said on the Senate floor on Saturday, April 12. “The house has essentially made it so that our citizens are only able to obtain medication for the common flu. Pharmacists have doctoral degrees. They are probably the most versed medical professionals in pharmaceutical drugs and their interactions.”
The bill was amended on the floors of each chamber and in committees to curtail the pharmacists authorization to treat patients, a measure included in the bill proponents of the legislation argued would have eased access to health care throughout West Virginia’s rural terrain.
“How many times do we hear that our citizens cannot get an appointment with their doctor in a timely manner,” Chapman said. “How many stories do we hear of our constituents who have no local access to medical care? This common sense bill was destroyed yesterday because of protectionism at the expense of patients. It is a bad day for our citizens and their health care and mark my words, we will be back on this issue.”
The introduced version would have authorized pharmacists to prescribe low-risk medications within their scope of practice, specifically addressing conditions like minor injuries, pain, or patient emergencies.
Legislators Pass Bill To Fully Ban Gender-Affirming Care, Scrapping Exemption For Suicidal Teens
In 2023, the West Virginia Legislature banned gender-affirming care for minors with narrow exceptions for specific hormone therapies and puberty blockers.
If Gov. Patrick Morrisey signs Senate Bill 299, which the legislature passed today, then that gap will be closed, and gender-affirming care for all minors will be outlawed.
Currently, if a minor is diagnosed with severe gender dysphoria and it is the opinion of two doctors that gender affirming care is medically necessary, then a minor could be a candidate to receive such care. The minors parents would also have to consent to the treatment.
In the state, currently, the only form of gender-affirming care available to minors is hormone therapy and puberty blocking medications.
Senate Bill 299 would close those exemptions. Health care providers who provide hormone blockers or hormone therapy for the purpose of gender transitioning could be disciplined by their governing medical board, and have their license to practice suspended or revoked.
House Bill 2755 passed the West Virginia Legislature Saturday. The bill allows the legislature oversight on rules created by the West Virginia Board of Education. When the board creates rules, they will now have to first go before the Legislative Oversight Committee on Education (LOCEA) and then be voted on by the full legislature.
When the state board of education was created in 1958, it was given the power to control it’s own rules. Voters didn’t want the legislature involved in education. In 1988, the state Supreme Court of Appeals supported this position, saying the board of education enjoys “a special standing” in the state constitution.
Senate Bill 280: Displaying ‘In God We Trust’ At Schools
Senate Bill 280, which would require public schools across the state to display the national motto, “In God We Trust,” has completed legislation. The display will be “poster-sized” and will be inside school buildings.
Hope Scholarship Supplemental Appropriations
The Senate concurred on two Supplemental Appropriations bills, House bills 3356 and 3357, which add more than $62 million to the Hope Scholarship Fund. Earlier this year, budget reports indicated the scholarship would cost more than $100 million in the next fiscal year and more after that.
Changes To Higher Ed Boards Of Governors
House Bill 3279, relating to requirements for West Virginia University (WVU) and West Virginia State University (WVSU) board of governors, changes the makeup of the board of governors for all public institutions in the state. It removes voting membership of the board from the student government and the faculty senate. The House of Delegates concurred with Senate amendments 59-38 making it completed legislation.
Law To Increase Criminal Penalties For Drug Offenses In W.Va. Passes Both Chambers
In a unanimous vote on the final day of the regular legislative session, the Senate concurred with changes made to Lauren’s Law by the House of Delegates.
The bill increases penalties for drug offenses in West Virginia and now awaits Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s signature.
Senate Bill 196 would raise criminal penalties for drug trafficking offenses, and is named after Lauren Cole, a 26-year-old Morgantown resident who died after ingesting drugs laced with fentanyl.
The bill was amended earlier this week in the House’s Judiciary Committee to add clarifications around what constitutes drug delivery and to more explicitly target wide-scale drug traffickers.
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.
New ‘Western’ Civics Center At WVU Passes Legislature
State lawmakers have paved the way for a new center at West Virginia University for civics education, which would focus on “classical western history and culture.”
On Saturday, members of the West Virginia House of Delegates convened for the final day of this year’s legislative session. They voted to approve changes set forth by the West Virginia Senate to House Bill 3297, which would require the state’s flagship university to open the Washington Center for Civics, Culture and Statesmanship.
