By Matthew Young
For the Charleston Gazette-Mail
In a legislative session where Republican House leadership promised to champion a “jobs first, opportunity everywhere” agenda, access to pornography, legalized cannabis and Bibles in schools have dominated the first 10 days.
Here’s a roundup of some notable legislation that came up for debate since the start of the session.
HB 4412: Protecting minors from pornography
Similar to stalled bills introduced in both the House of Delegates and State Senate during last year’s legislative session — and collectively referred to as the “Protecting Kids From Porn Act” — the proposed HB 4412 by Delegate Gino Chiarelli, R-Monongalia, seeks to punish the publishers of pornographic websites who fail to make use of age-verification systems to prevent minors from accessing their content.
Unlike last year, however, and despite unspecified “Constitutional concerns” raised in committee by Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, Chiarelli’s current proposal is gaining momentum. HB 4412 has passed the House Judiciary Committee, as well as the House Subcommittee on Courts, and will now make its way to the full House of Delegates for further consideration.
HB 4371: Legalizing adult-use recreational cannabis
Similar to the failed HB 2887 of last year, and the failed attempts in each of the six years before that, Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, introduced HB 4371, which is now pending before the House Judiciary Committee. It calls for the legalization of adult-use recreational cannabis. Currently, West Virginia allows the use of medical cannabis under the supervision of a licensed doctor.
The legalization of adult-use recreational cannabis has been a longstanding Democratic priority.
However, the issue has experienced only sporadic bipartisan support.
As House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, told reporters on Jan. 9, “We’ve had members of the Republican party also introduce that bill.”
While Hanshaw noted that the apprehension of some Republican House members stems from “philosophical reasons,” he indicated this week that President Donald Trump’s Dec. 18 reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug may provide political cover to members whose opinions are untethered to such philosophy.
SB 100: Decriminalizing simple marijuana possession
In keeping with that marijuana reclassification reconsideration is SB 100. Introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, if enacted, the bill would achieve an outcome similar to that of HB 4371, by making slight yet impactful alterations to the language used within the text.
Under SB 100, simple possession of marijuana, meaning an amount below 15 grams, would be modified from a misdemeanor to a civil violation.
This modification would effectively decriminalize simple possession, making it something more akin to a parking meter infraction.
Sales and manufacture of marijuana or cannabis products would remain a criminal offense, as would the possession of 15 grams or more.
SB 100 was introduced into the Senate and referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources on Jan. 14. And while the bill has not been made part of any upcoming meeting agenda, first-year Committee Chair Brian Helton , R-Fayette, said, “I’ll certainly meet with Sen. Woelfel, and we’ll talk about his bill.”
“As I’m new to this committee, all bills, including [SB 100] are under review,” Helton added.
It remains unclear if SB 100 will be discussed in committee and opened for public comment.
SB 231: Reforming W.Va.’s drug rehab facilities
One bill that Helton said he is pleased to see moving swiftly through the legislative process is his own SB 231, which would require drug rehabilitation facilities to provide verification of satisfactory results as a condition of payment from the state. Having begun work on the proposal last year while serving as chair of the Senate’s Select Committee on Substance Use Disorder, Helton noted that the bill has thus far received universal, bipartisan support.
“It rewards providers that are able to demonstrate that they are able to get their patients sober, and it penalizes providers that repeatedly do not get sobriety,” Helton said. “It’s a great reform bill to get people the care they need and to stop this revolving door.”
According to Helton, there is “excitement” from stakeholders regarding the bill, and if enacted, successful rehabilitation facilities will be rewarded with the financial means to expand their services. SB 231 passed unanimously in the Health and Human Resources Committee on Jan. 16, and now awaits review by Senate Finance.
“Sen. Joey Garcia [D-Marion] was instrumental in helping that bill,” Helton said. “He loves it.”
Helton further explained his recent creation of a health subcommittee — comprised of Garcia, Sen. Scott Fuller, R-Wayne, and Sen. T. Kevan Bartlett, R-Kanawha — intended to focus on creating juvenile drug treatment and recovery centers.
“[These are] three senators that I think are guys [who] really focus on recovery in our state,” Helton said.
Garcia, for his part — and despite the potentially-conflicting outcomes — said he is in favor of not only Helton’s SB 231, but also Woelfel’s SB 100. In fact, although uncertain as to the level of support it will receive, Garcia said his intention is to introduce his own cannabis bill which will go beyond Woelfel’s proposal, and be closer to Hansen’s HB 4371.
“The tax revenue is a little bit different when it comes to recreational marijuana in [Garcia’s forthcoming proposal compared to HB 4371],” Garcia said. “I think it would give 50% to PEIA, 25% to a substance-use treatment fund, and then 25% to the family treatment courts.”
Garcia noted that his support for legalizing adult-use recreational cannabis stems from both statewide lost revenue and his belief that cannabis is “really not in the same category as a lot of the other drugs that we’re prohibiting.”
When asked how, in light of his work to strengthen the recovery field, he reconciles his support for the legalization of a product which many in that field cite as being a “gateway drug,” Garcia said,
“I don’t consider it a gateway, I don’t believe that.”
“Where other states have done this, [they’ve] reaped tons of tax revenue off of it,” Garcia added.
“We are already losing out on all of that because we’re late to the game. And again, I don’t agree with the assessment that some people have, and I don’t think it’s necessarily based in science.”
SB 388: Putting Bibles in schools
Despite her Jan. 9 comments to reporters that one of her priorities this session is reevaluating West Virginia’s high school graduation requirements, one of the first acts of the new session by Senate Education Chair Amy Grady’s, R-Mason, was to propose a bill designed to incorporate the Aitken Bible into public education.
SB 388, introduced to the Senate on Jan. 15 and passed by its Education Committee on Jan. 22, seeks to place copies of the Aitken Bible in every public and charter fourth-, eighth- and 10th-grade classroom throughout West Virginia.
According to the Library of Congress, the Aitken Bible, also known as the “Bible of the Revolution,” is an abbreviated Protestant Bible, translated into English in 1782 by printer Robert Aitken. Similar to 2025’s SB 280, which requires “In God We Trust” be displayed in the state’s classrooms, the funding for the Bibles must come from private sources.
“It would just be in the classroom,” Senate Education Committee Attorney Hank Hager explained, during the Jan. 22 meeting. “The bill doesn’t go into details about what is to be done with the Bible.”
SB 388 will be on first reading before the full Senate on Monday.
The 2026 legislative session is scheduled to conclude on March 14.
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