---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to reporting suspected governmental fraud"
description: "Relating to reporting suspected governmental fraud"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 4396"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4396 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Constitutional Officers", "Counties", "Municipalities"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barnhart"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 36
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-01-17"
last_action: "2020-04-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8022710e-7360-41c5-a40c-d159c79cb4ac"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4396&year=2020&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "083d2a8893687b0b10a836863f7652400a2f335d7706212a3bbd76dc82439bb1"
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 4396 (2020) — Relating to reporting suspected governmental fraud

## 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=HB4396%20ENR.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=4396)
2. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4396%20INTR.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=4396)

## Votes

- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- PASSAGE — **98–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Barnhart — primary (person)
- Anderson — cosponsor (person)
- Azinger — cosponsor (person)
- Bartlett — cosponsor (person)
- Campbell — cosponsor (person)
- Fast — cosponsor (person)
- Foster — cosponsor (person)
- Hartman — cosponsor (person)
- Howell — cosponsor (person)
- Jeffries, D. — cosponsor (person)
- Martin, C. — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-17** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2020-01-17** To Political Subdivisions then Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-17** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2020-01-17** To House Political Subdivisions `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Do pass, but first to Judiciary
- **2020-02-17** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-20** Do pass
- **2020-02-21** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-02-21** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-24** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-02-24** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-25** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-02-25** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-25** Passed House (Roll No. 312) `passage`
- **2020-02-25** Communicated to Senate
- **2020-02-26** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2020-02-26** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-26** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-02** Reported do pass `committee-passage`
- **2020-03-02** Immediate consideration
- **2020-03-02** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2020-03-03** On 2nd reading
- **2020-03-03** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-04** On 3rd reading
- **2020-03-04** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-04** Passed Senate (Roll No. 427) `passage`
- **2020-03-04** Communicated to House
- **2020-03-04** Completed legislative action
- **2020-03-05** House received Senate message
- **2020-03-07** To Governor 3/13/20 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-07** To Governor 3/13/20 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-13** To Governor 3/13/20 `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-07** Approved by Governor 3/25/20 - Senate Journal
- **2020-03-07** Approved by Governor 3/25/20 - House Journal
- **2020-03-25** Approved by Governor 3/25/20 `executive-signature`
- **2020-04-15** Chapter 73, Acts, Regular Session, 2020

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8022710e-7360-41c5-a40c-d159c79cb4ac`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).