---
type: "Bill"
title: "Declaring certain claims to be moral obligations of the State"
description: "Declaring certain claims to be moral obligations of the State"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 2797"
citation: "West Virginia HB 2797 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Appropriations", "Legislature"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Householder"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 42
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-03-01"
last_action: "2021-05-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0652935f-3e44-43af-be23-a7e0c3aa88e9"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=2797&year=2021&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "3e0c70a728e47f988b44d079643f6f85016a1fc9f41174a9fa9dc99ca6741d67"
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 2797 (2021) — Declaring certain claims to be moral obligations of the State

## Version chain

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

1. **Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB2797%20SUB.htm&yr=2021&sesstype=RS&i=2797)
2. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB2797%20SUB%20ENR.htm&yr=2021&sesstype=RS&i=2797)
3. **HB2797 SFA _1 TARR 3-22 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/legisdocs/chamber/2021/RS/floor_amends/HB2797 SFA _1 TARR 3-22 adopted.htm)
4. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB2797%20INTR.htm&yr=2021&sesstype=RS&i=2797)

## Votes

- Passage — **0–0** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Householder — primary (person)
- Anderson — cosponsor (person)
- Barrett — cosponsor (person)
- Boggs — cosponsor (person)
- Criss — cosponsor (person)
- Ellington — cosponsor (person)
- Espinosa — cosponsor (person)
- Gearheart — cosponsor (person)
- Pethtel — cosponsor (person)
- Riley — cosponsor (person)
- Rowan — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-03-01** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2021-03-01** To Finance `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-01** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2021-03-01** To House Finance `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-10** By substitute, do pass
- **2021-03-11** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2021-03-11** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2021-03-12** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2021-03-12** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2021-03-15** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2021-03-15** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2021-03-15** Passed House (Roll No. 157) `passage`
- **2021-03-15** Taken up for further consideration
- **2021-03-15** Effective from passage (Roll No. 160)
- **2021-03-15** Communicated to Senate
- **2021-03-16** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2021-03-16** To Finance `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-16** To Finance `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-19** Reported do pass `committee-passage`
- **2021-03-22** On 1st reading
- **2021-03-22** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2021-03-23** On 2nd reading
- **2021-03-23** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2021-03-23** Floor amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2021-03-24** On 3rd reading
- **2021-03-24** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2021-03-24** Passed Senate (Roll No. 186) `passage`
- **2021-03-24** Effective from passage (Roll No. 186)
- **2021-03-24** Senate requests House to concur
- **2021-03-25** House received Senate message
- **2021-03-25** House concurred in Senate amendment and passed bill (Roll No. 271)
- **2021-03-25** Effective from passage (Roll No. 272)
- **2021-03-25** Communicated to Senate
- **2021-03-25** Completed legislative action
- **2021-03-26** House Message received
- **2021-03-31** To Governor 3/30/21 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2021-03-31** To Governor 3/30/21 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2021-03-30** To Governor 3/30/21 `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-05** Approved by Governor 4/5/21 - Senate Journal
- **2021-04-05** Approved by Governor 4/5/21 `executive-signature`
- **2021-04-06** Approved by Governor 4/5/21 - House Journal
- **2021-05-20** Chapter 56, Acts, Regular Session, 2021

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0652935f-3e44-43af-be23-a7e0c3aa88e9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).