On Wednesday, Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed into law two bills passed this year by the West Virginia Legislature that pertain to public schools in West Virginia.
Two bills passed by the West Virginia Legislature earlier this year were signed into law Tuesday, as the governor continues traveling the Mountain State to highlight pieces of legislation taking effect.
Among those is House Bill 2003, which bans students from using smartphones in public school classrooms. Under the bill, county boards of education set specific terms for when and where smartphones can be used, plus penalties for students who violate these policies.
The bill creates some exemptions for phone use related to learning or student-specific needs, but broadly grants teachers the authority to confiscate devices and enforce penalties against students who use their phones during class time.
The bill was introduced to the West Virginia House of Delegates on behalf of Gov. Patrick Morrisey by House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay.
Morrisey traveled to Lincoln Middle School in the Harrison County city of Shinnston Tuesday morning to sign the bill into law.
“We know that the use of personal electronic devices in the classroom increases distractions, academic misconduct and bullying,” Morrisey said. “Overall, it creates a negative learning environment.”
Morrisey also signed into law Senate Bill 280, which requires public schools and state colleges to display the U.S. motto, “In God We Trust,” alongside the U.S. flag in a main building on campus, provided that these materials are funded by “private donations” and not “public funds.”
Lead sponsor Sen. Mike Azinger, R-Wood, has tried for multipleyears to get such a bill passed, but was unable during previous legislative sessions.
Azinger joined Morrisey at the middle school Tuesday and said passing the bill was an act of “perseverance.”
“I just want to give honor to God for this bill, because it tells Americans and our kids… what our U.S. motto is,” Azinger said.
This year, Azinger also sponsored a bill to allow for the display of the Ten Commandments — a series of Christian religious directives outlined in the Bible — in public school classrooms, but it was not taken up for a reading.
Morrisey said Senate Bill 280 will help students “learn that, here in West Virginia, we do value God, family and country.”
Dozens of bills passed by the state legislature this year still await review from the governor. Morrisey has until Wednesday, April 30 to veto bills or sign them into law. After that date, any remaining bills passed by the state legislature will automatically become law.
In a Wednesday morning meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, delegates took action on bills pertaining to classroom decor, election protocol, drug offenses and the oil and gas industry.
Just days remain in this year’s legislative session, and members of the West Virginia House of Delegates continue to review bills spanning a variety of topics.
In a Wednesday morning meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, delegates took action on bills pertaining to classroom decor, election protocol, drug offenses and the oil and gas industry.
Senate Bill 280: Displaying ‘In God We Trust’ At Schools
Senate Bill 280 would require public schools across the state to display the national motto, “In God We Trust,” somewhere on school grounds alongside the United States flag.
Lead sponsor Sen. Michael Azinger, R-Wood, testified on his bill’s behalf before the committee Tuesday. He affirmed that the motto has a religious underpinning, but described it as integral to U.S. history.
“What’s more benign or more wonderful than having the U.S. motto on the walls of our schools, where kids can see that we are a nation under God, and that God is our foundation?” Azinger asked.
It is not the first time lawmakers have pushed to display the phrase more prominently in schools. Similar bills were proposed in the West Virginia Senate in both 2023 and 2024, but neither was passed into law.
Some lawmakers have expressed concern that the explicit reference to the Christian-faith God would limit religious freedom for non-Christian students.
“Which God are we talking about?” Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, asked Azinger during the committee’s meeting Tuesday.
“Throughout the history of America, you know which God,” Azinger replied.
Despite questions from Democratic members the day prior, the House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to advance Senate Bill 280 to the House floor with the recommendation that it pass.
Sen. Michael Azinger, R-Wood, speaks on the Senate floor in January 2023.
Photo Credit: Will Price/WV Legislative Photography
Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, speaks at a Democratic Party press conference March 3.
Photo Credit: Ethan Rayment/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Senate Bill 196: Heightening Penalties For Drug Sales
The committee also advanced Senate Bill 196 to the House floor, otherwise known as “Lauren’s Law.” The bill would raise criminal penalties for drug trafficking offenses, and is named after a Morgantown resident who died after ingesting drugs laced with fentanyl.
The bill particularly focuses on the manufacturing, or delivery of six specific drugs: fentanyl, methamphetamine, PCP, LSD, cocaine and heroin.
It faced some pushback from committee members on both sides of the aisle earlier this week. Some lawmakers and residents providing testimony worried it was too sprawling, and questioned the efficacy of expanding criminal penalties to address the addiction crisis.
Meanwhile, proponents of the bill argued addressing the use of illicit substances begins with stiffer penalties for those who provide them.
Members of the committee voted to advance an amended version of the bill Wednesday, which adds clarifications around what constitutes drug delivery and aims to more explicitly target wide-scale drug traffickers. Committee members had expressed concern earlier in the week that the bill could be misconstrued to target individuals experiencing addiction who transfer small amounts of prohibited substances.
Lauren’s Law now heads to the House floor for further review, with the committee’s recommendation that it pass.
Senate Bill 488: Refining Electioneering Laws
Also under consideration was Senate Bill 488, which would modify laws around electioneering, or efforts to influence an election.
The bill provides more distinct language to describe what campaign paraphernalia can’t be brought to a polling location. That includes merchandise promoting a candidate or ballot measure; campaign literature; and signs, stickers and pins pertaining to the election, among other things.
The bill also modifies laws surrounding photography at voting locations, which is already restricted under state law. The bill would prohibit photography within 100 feet of a polling place entrance, but allow for phone calls and the use of electronic devices in these zones.
During Tuesday’s committee meeting, David Cook, general counsel for the secretary of state’s office, testified that the proposal follows complaints lodged by county clerks during the 2024 election cycle.
“During early voting and on Election Day, we got multiple complaints from various different clerks regarding people pulling out their cameras and taking photographs in the voting room,” Cook said.
Cook said incidents like these cause disruptions.
“This is not a situation where we’re trying to say, ‘Don’t take ballot selfies,’” he said. “This is to maintain order in voting places.”
The committee advanced the bill to the House floor Wednesday with the recommendation that it pass.
Senate Bill 124: Limiting Appeals On Oil, Gas Contracts
One bill under review did not find the committee’s approval.
Senate Bill 124 would have reduced the statute of limitations under which property owners can appeal contracts made with oil and gas companies on their land. Some lawmakers worried it would disempower residents given faulty deals.
That bill was voted down by a verbal majority of lawmakers Wednesday, halting it with just days left in this year’s legislative session. Thursday is the deadline for any piece of legislation proposed during this year’s legislative session to be taken up for a first reading on a chamber floor.
Currently there is a exemption for sexual abuse in marriage. Monday the Senate passed a bill that would change that.
Currently there is a exemption for sexual abuse in marriage. Monday the Senate passed a bill that would change that.
The bill requires that there was physical force that overcame earnest resistance.
Lead sponsor of the bill, Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, said he is following in the steps of his predecessor, the late Sen. Judith Herndon who removed the marital exception from the state’s sexual assault code. She was the only woman in the Senate at the time.
In West Virginia sexual assault is in most cases considered rape. Sexual abuse is unwanted groping or otherwise unwanted touching inappropriately.
“So this is carrying on what I believe to be an unfinished job that she wasn’t able to get done for she unfortunately passed away in 1980,” Weld said. “Sexual abuse currently in code has an exception, what is known as the marital exception. And so that if you are married to somebody, and you touch them in a private area as the result of forcible compulsion, you cannot be convicted of a crime.”
Sen. Michael Azinger, R-Wood, was one of nine no votes. He said he doesn’t have a problem with the entire bill, just parts of it.
“If you have just your general play between husband and wife,” Azinger said. “That goes on in every marriage in every house and something goes bad, then a divorce comes along with something like that. That could be used potentially against the husband in later times.”
Teachers may have the ability to remove troubled children from elementary school classrooms if Senate Bill 614 becomes law. The bill sparked a lot of debate on the chamber floor. It gives kindergarten through sixth grade teachers the ability to remove children from classes or from school if they are exhibiting certain behavior like threatening teachers or classmates or otherwise creating an unsafe learning environment.
Teachers may have the ability to remove troubled children from elementary school classrooms if Senate Bill 614 becomes law. The bill sparked a lot of debate on the chamber floor. It gives kindergarten through sixth grade teachers the ability to remove children from classes or from school if they are exhibiting certain behavior like threatening teachers or classmates or otherwise creating an unsafe learning environment.
Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, is the lead sponsor of this bill and a school teacher herself. She said the bill is to help address the teacher shortage in the state.
“One of the major issues that we are seeing is that teachers are leaving the profession in droves,” Grady said.
She said the number one reason they are leaving is teachers don’t feel they are given the authority in addressing disturbances in the classroom.
“We’re seeing violent and threatening behaviors in students as young as kindergarten that we’ve never seen before. How will this address it? This helps give the teacher a voice,” Grady said.
She said that often an administrator will remove the child from the class, and then put them right back.
“This gives teachers more of a voice to say, I feel unsafe, this child is being violent, my other students are unsafe, and they need to be removed from the classroom for today,” Grady said.
However, some opponents of the bill, like state school board members and the Kanawha County Schools General Counsel, say that this bill takes students out of the best environment for them – the learning environment – where they are surrounded by people trained to help children.
Others like Sen. Mike Woeflel, D-Cabell, questioned why this bill is not accompanied with funding or other initiatives to help children who are being disruptive in the classroom.
“If you have a child that’s misbehaving to this point,” Woeflel said. “He or she has other issues that are giving rise to this behavior and needs resources to address those issues. So it seems to me there would be funding here for counseling or intervention within the family or there’s no funding that goes to implement this bill.”
There is a shortage of school counselors in the state. Currently, there are 306 students for every one counselor in West Virginia public school systems.
Senate Bill 378
Another notable bill before the full Senate was Senate Bill 378, which would fine anyone smoking in the car in the presence of someone under the age of 16.
Lead sponsor of the bill, Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, and a pulmonologist, said he has received letters in support of the bill. He read excerpts from a letter on the Senate floor from a man in Mingo County whose parents smoked in the car with him.
“He too, grew up in a car full of that heavy smoke,” Takubo said. “It made him so short of breath, so constricted, that it made him cough to the point of vomiting, amongst other things. Then [he] went on to say his brother died of lung cancer. Another sister with brain cancer died of emphysema.”
The bill states the fine for smoking in the car with a minor would be $25.
He said the bill will double as a public service announcement to parents so they rethink smoking in the car with their children present.
However, Mike Azinger, R-Wood, said this is a violation of parental rights.
“Parents make this decision over their children, in their vehicle,” Azinger said. “This is where the state has no business going. So I would urge a no vote.”
The bill passed with 25 – 8. .
Senate Bill 590
Currently a city, county, or municipality could set a minimum wage higher than the state minimum wage of $8.75. A bill passed by the Senate Monday seeks to change that.
Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, voted for the bill. He said because there are currently no municipalities in the state that have their own minimum wage, this is a preventative measure. He said the bill protects both business and low income earners.
“If you have a state minimum wage, and some municipality says, ‘nope, the minimum wage here is twice that’,” Trump said. “It hurts the people in that municipality, because jobs go away. It eliminates jobs. And that’s what we want to prevent, make sure nothing like that ever happens.”
With little discussion, the Senate Education Committee moved forward with Senate Bill 251 to require publicly funded schools to display posters with the U.S. motto of “In God We Trust.”
With little discussion, the Senate Education Committee moved forward with Senate Bill 251 to require publicly funded schools to display posters with the United States motto of “In God We Trust.”
According to the bill, the posters will be paid for using privately donated funds and can only depict the phrase along with images of the West Virginia and U.S. flags.
Sen. Mike Azinger, R-Wood, is the primary sponsor on the bill. He said he thinks this will help unite people.
“‘In God We Trust’ is in the fourth stanza of our national anthem,” he said. “It was added as a national motto by Eisenhower, the same president who put ‘Under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance. So I just think it’d be a great thing for our state and for our kids.”
Senate Bill 251 moves on to the full Senate for consideration.
