---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the prevention of sexual abuse of children"
description: "Relating to the prevention of sexual abuse of children"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 4402"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4402 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education (K12)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Espinosa"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 41
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2018-02-02"
last_action: "2018-04-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/53ba01e3-a309-4add-8d72-deb2a3eb2566"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4402&year=2018&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "e693f5a396c892d525830028ba1b3c6be82863ae817082e45ecef7f907c37527"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-wv"]
---

# West Virginia HB 4402 (2018) — Relating to the prevention of sexual abuse of children

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Enrolled Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4402%20ENR.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4402)
2. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4402%20intr.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4402)

## Votes

- PASSAGE-SENATE AMENDED HB — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · legislature
- PASSAGE — **96–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Espinosa — primary (person)
- Blair — cosponsor (person)
- Campbell — cosponsor (person)
- Dean — cosponsor (person)
- Higginbotham — cosponsor (person)
- Hornbuckle — cosponsor (person)
- Householder — cosponsor (person)
- Kelly — cosponsor (person)
- Moye — cosponsor (person)
- Rodighiero — cosponsor (person)
- Statler — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-02-02** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2018-02-02** To Education then Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-02** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2018-02-02** To House Education `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-08** Do pass, but first to Judiciary
- **2018-02-08** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-13** Do pass
- **2018-02-14** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-14** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-15** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-15** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-16** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-16** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-16** Passed House (Roll No. 143) `passage`
- **2018-02-16** Communicated to Senate
- **2018-02-19** House Message received
- **2018-02-19** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2018-02-19** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-19** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-28** Reported do pass, with amendment `committee-passage`
- **2018-03-01** On 1st reading
- **2018-03-01** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2018-03-02** On 2nd reading
- **2018-03-02** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2018-03-02** Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2018-03-03** On 3rd reading
- **2018-03-03** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2018-03-03** Passed Senate (Roll No. 317) `passage`
- **2018-03-03** Senate requests House to concur
- **2018-03-05** House received Senate message
- **2018-03-05** House concurred in Senate amendment and passed bill (Roll No. 303)
- **2018-03-05** Communicated to Senate
- **2018-03-05** Completed legislative action
- **2018-03-06** House Message received
- **2018-03-09** To Governor 3/9/18 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2018-03-10** To Governor 3/9/18 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2018-03-09** To Governor 3/9/18 `executive-receipt`
- **2018-03-10** Approved by Governor 3/27/18 - House Journal
- **2018-03-27** Approved by Governor 3/27/18 `executive-signature`
- **2018-03-10** Approved by Governor 3/27/18 - Senate Journal
- **2018-04-16** Chapter 74, Acts, Regular Session, 2018

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/53ba01e3-a309-4add-8d72-deb2a3eb2566`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).