West Virginia Senate elects Ralph Coleman as doorkeeper, adopts awareness resolution and passes bill on military-related records

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Senate on Feb. 27, 2025, elected Ralph Coleman as doorkeeper, adopted a resolution designating Feb. 27, 2025, as an awareness day for “****** violence,” and approved Engrossed Senate Bill 103 to exempt certain military-related records from public release.

The actions came during a regular floor session that included committee reports and the introduction of several bills. The Senate unanimously elected Ralph Coleman to replace longtime doorkeeper Jeffrey L. Branham, who submitted a resignation letter dated Feb. 27, 2025.

Senate business matters affect administrative operations on the Senate floor and state public-records policy. The doorkeeper election fills an internal, operational post for the chamber; the bill passed on third reading alters what records are subject to public disclosure and will be communicated to the House for consideration.

Jeffrey L. Branham submitted a letter to Senate President Randy E. Smith on Feb. 27, 2025, saying he was resigning from the office of doorkeeper and offering to help with the transition. The floor was opened for nominations. A senator nominated Ralph Coleman for the position, another senator seconded the nomination, and the Senate approved a motion to close nominations and authorize the president to cast the chamber’s unanimous vote. The clerk announced that Coleman received all votes cast and administered the oath of office.

Senate Resolution 15, designating Feb. 27, 2025, as “****** violence awareness day at the legislature,” was taken up by unanimous-consent motion and adopted. The junior senator from the seventh urged adoption and cited statewide service providers: the West Virginia Foundation for **** Information and Services and 12 crisis centers across the state. The senator said that of the thousands of cases those centers handle annually, "only 9 percent end an arrest," and called the level of violence "an epidemic." The resolution was adopted on voice vote.

On third reading, Engrossed Senate Bill 103 was presented and described by the senator from Brook as proposing to exempt from public disclosure certain records related to the U.S. military and the West Virginia National Guard. The senator said the exemptions would cover classified information, intelligence related to terrorist acts, deployment plans and other sensitive military information that "would threaten public safety, endanger military personnel, or provide a military advantage to an adversary." The Senate voted by machine: 31 yays, 0 nays, 3 absent not voting; the clerk announced the bill passed and that the action would be communicated to the House.

The Senate also received multiple committee reports recommending committee substitutes do pass on a range of bills, including judiciary and natural-resources measures, and introduced several bills by unanimous consent. No numeric vote tallies were recorded in the transcript for the doorkeeper election or for the resolution adoption beyond the clerk's statements that the election was unanimous and the voice vote produced "the ayes have it." The Senate adjourned to reconvene the following day at 10 a.m.

Notes: The transcript redacts the term “****** violence” and references a state organization shown in the record as the "West Virginia Foundation for **** Information and Services." The article uses those redactions exactly as they appear in the record.