---
type: "Bill"
title: "Removing residency requirement for persons applying for reappointment to municipal police dept"
description: "Removing residency requirement for persons applying for reappointment to municipal police dept"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 281"
citation: "West Virginia SB 281 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Municipalities"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Woelfel"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 34
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-01-10"
last_action: "2020-04-14"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5ba3d24c-b74c-4251-8ee1-c7e7e7a81f52"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=281&year=2020&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "5410759b8323b337ac9640f85fec473e4990e873bc8bd55904c769012a345f73"
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 SB 281 (2020) — Removing residency requirement for persons applying for reappointment to municipal police dept

## 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=SB281%20ENR.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=281)
2. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB281%20INTR.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=281)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage — **32–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Woelfel — primary (person)
- Palumbo — cosponsor (person)
- Plymale — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-10** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2020-01-10** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-10** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2020-01-10** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-29** Reported do pass `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-30** On 1st reading
- **2020-01-30** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2020-01-31** On 2nd reading
- **2020-01-31** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-03** On 3rd reading
- **2020-02-03** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-03** Passed Senate (Roll No. 54) `passage`
- **2020-02-03** Ordered to House
- **2020-02-04** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2020-02-04** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-04** To House Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-25** Do pass
- **2020-02-26** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-02-26** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-27** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-02-27** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-28** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-02-28** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-28** Passed House (Roll No. 393) `passage`
- **2020-02-28** Communicated to Senate
- **2020-02-28** Completed legislative action
- **2020-02-29** House Message received
- **2020-03-10** To Governor 3/10/20 `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-07** To Governor 3/10/20 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-07** To Governor 3/10/20 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-07** Approved by Governor 3/24/20 - House Journal
- **2020-03-24** Approved by Governor 3/24/20 `executive-signature`
- **2020-03-07** Approved by Governor 3/24/20 - Senate Journal
- **2020-04-14** Chapter 67, 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/5ba3d24c-b74c-4251-8ee1-c7e7e7a81f52`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).