West Virginia Senate receives committee reports on multiple education and health bills, refers many to finance and judiciary

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Senate met Feb. 18, 2025, and received committee reports on a slate of bills covering education, public health and criminal law, with many measures recommended to pass at the committee level and referred to the Senate Finance or Judiciary committees for further review.

The Senate’s Committee on Health and Human Resources, chaired by Senator Laura Wakeham Chapman, reported a committee substitute for Senate Bill 8 (providing additional sites and devices for newborn safe surrender) and recommended the substitute “do pass,” and under the chamber’s double-referral practice the bill was referred to the Committee on Finance. The committee also reported committee substitutes recommending passage for Senate Bill 173 (requiring human trafficking awareness training for employees of hotels and public lodging establishments) and Senate Bill 286 (granting parents access to the health records of a minor child); both were recommended to pass and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

The Committee on Education, chaired by Senator Amy N. Grady, reported that Senate Bill 122 (establishing minimum student enrollment for school aid formula) and a package of education bills — Senate Bill 275 (removing the requirement that school cooks or custodians have a high school diploma or equivalent), Senate Bill…