The West Virginia Legislature started its 60-day regular session on February 12, 2025 with a new Governor, new Senate President, and radically new process for considering legislation in the House. In addition, with the exception of the Commissioner of Agriculture, the remaining constitutional officers, Treasurer, Attorney General, Auditor, and Secretary of State, are all newly elected and can be expected to pursue their own legislative agendas. 

For this legislative session, the Spilman Thomas & Battle Government Relations Practice Group will provide bi-weekly updates to its clients and other interested readers concerning the progress of significant legislation in certain areas such as environment, oil & gas, tax reform, healthcare, insurance, consumer finance, and civil justice reform. 

The West Virginia Legislature is comprised of a 100-member House of Delegates and a 34-member Senate. The Republicans have super-majorities in both chambers, with a 91-9 advantage in the House and a 32-2 split in the Senate. The Speaker of the House is Roger Hanshaw, an attorney specializing in public utilities law who also holds a Ph.D. in chemistry. Speaker Hanshaw was elected to the House in 2014 and as Speaker in December 2018; he’s been re-elected three times since. Senator Randy Smith was recently elected Senate President by the Republican caucus, and as President, he also holds the title of Lieutenant Governor, by law. President Smith is a retired coal miner and was first elected to the Senate in 2012, after having served in the House for six years. Upon his election, he brings a new leadership team to power, but the most profound change in that chamber may be that almost one-third of its members are newly elected and have little to no prior legislative experience. 

The House leadership team is generally stable, with some notable exceptions, but the biggest news there is that it is implementing a fundamental change in the way it considers legislation. First, it reduced the number of standing committees to six with each having three specialized standing subcommittees, except for Finance which will have four. Prior to this year, upon introduction, bills were referred to a committee and if the committee chair approved, they were placed on a committee meeting agenda. During that meeting, lawmakers heard a presentation on the bill by stakeholders or interested parties, were able to question counsel about legal issues and effects, propose and debate amendments, debate the merits of the bill, and then vote on it all at that meeting. Then if the bill passed the committee, it moved to a second committee of reference, if any, or to the full House floor for consideration. 

Starting with this session, however, after its introduction, a bill will be referred to a specialized subcommittee. If it is placed on the subcommittee agenda, on the first day of consideration, the bill would be presented and discussed, with testimony or prepared remarks by stakeholders or interested parties placed in the record. On the second day, amendments would be considered and voted on, and thereafter the merits of the bill would be debated before a final vote. Whereupon, the bill moves to the full committee where it undergoes the same two-day process before it is reported to the full House floor for consideration. In order to accommodate the demand for at least double the number of committee days, all of the six standing committees, or their subcommittees, will meet each day for two hours. By contrast, the Senate process will remain the same. 

Naturally, it is too soon to judge how this process will work in real life, but one can be certain that the House process will not only take longer, but also provide opponents of bills ample opportunity to delay or defeat them.

Significant Dates in the 2025 Legislative Calendar:

• February 12, 2025: Session commences
• March 18, 2025: Last day to introduce bills in the House; does not apply to bills originating in committee or appropriations bills. 
• March 24, 2025: Last day to introduce bills in the Senate; does not apply to bills originating in committee or appropriations bills.
• March 30, 2025: Bills are due out of committee in house of origin.
• April 2, 2025: Last day to consider bills on third reading in house of origin (Cross-Over Day).
• April 12, 2025 (midnight): Session ends.

THE GOVERNOR'S STATE OF THE STATE   

Governor Morrisey gave his first State of the State speech before the full Legislature, the constitutional officers, and the high court, on February 12, the opening day of the legislative session. In his speech, the Governor reminded listeners of his earliest statements as Governor that he inherited a budget hole of $400 million from the previous administration. In order to fill that gap and balance the budget, as required by the state constitution, the Governor proposed a 2 percent reduction in spending and using one-time funding sources. As for major policy proposals, Governor Morrisey called for the elimination of the Certificate of Need program, thus removing a significant regulatory barrier to the creation and/or expansion of healthcare facilities and services, a move that likely will be opposed by the West Virginia Hospital Association, and others who fear such a move may ultimately limit access to healthcare in rural communities. Governor Morrisey also signaled his intention to add religious and conscientious objections to medical necessity as exceptions to the state’s mandatory child immunization law. Finally, in order to make the state more competitive with its neighbors, Governor Morrisey emphasized the need to speed up the permitting process and establish a universal reciprocity for occupational and professional licensing.

LEGISLATION OF INTEREST

The following are bills of interest that have been introduced so far:

S.B. 453: This is one of Governor Morrisey’s bills and its purpose is to repeal the certificate of need program for all healthcare facilities as of January 1, 2026 and to terminate the West Virginia Health Care Authority. This bill is referred to the Health Committee and completes the years long migration from CON requirement state to a free market state.

S.B. 460: This bill is another one of Governor Morrisey’s bills and its purpose is to modify the requirements for compulsory childhood immunizations in order to recognize exemptions based on religious and philosophical objections. The bill advanced out of Health Committee and is expected to pass the Senate by midweek.

S.B. 439: The purpose of this bill is to clarify that wind power projects are not considered pollution control facilities so they no longer enjoy preferential tax treatment. Further, wind mill projects are to be taxed at the real property rates, and not much lower salvage value rate of 5 percent.

S.B. 461: This is also a Governor’s bill and is designed to improve the state’s competitiveness by creating the One-Stop-Shop Permit Program which would feature a Permitting Dashboard to operate as a "one-stop-shop" for obtaining and renewing qualifying permits. The bill would also create a refund requirement for late action by the regulatory agency in responding to permit requests.

S.B. 458: This is another Governor’s bill specifically focused on making the state more competitive by easing licensure qualifications for people who move to this state. Specifically, the bill establishes universal professional and occupational licensing reciprocity in West Virginia and standards used by boards of examination and registration for accepting the professional and occupational licenses issued by other states.

If you have any questions regarding these bills or other legislation, please contact our Government Relations Practice Group.