---
type: "Bill"
title: "Establishing criminal penalties for abuse or neglect of incapacitated adults"
description: "Establishing criminal penalties for abuse or neglect of incapacitated adults"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 54"
citation: "West Virginia SB 54 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crime"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Rucker"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 40
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-01-14"
last_action: "2026-06-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2ae03945-5b70-4e57-929a-c070016b595b"
source_url: "https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=54&year=2026&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "62a1493e94f70dae6f0f85c88654c2991655bbd39e09692279b5e6ea00b1720c"
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 54 (2026) — Establishing criminal penalties for abuse or neglect of incapacitated adults

## Version chain

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

1. **Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=sb54%20sub1.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=54)
2. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=sb54%20sub1%20enr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=54)
3. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=sb54%20intr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=54)
4. **sb54 h jud am _1 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2026/RS/com_amends/sb54%20h%20jud%20am%20_1%20adopted.htm)
5. **sb54 hfat akers 3-13 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2026/RS/floor_amends/sb54%20hfat%20akers%203-13%20adopted.htm)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **96–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Rucker — primary (person)
- Deeds — cosponsor (person)
- Tarr — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-14** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2026-01-14** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-14** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2026-01-14** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-20** Committee substitute reported
- **2026-02-21** On 1st reading
- **2026-02-21** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-23** On 2nd reading
- **2026-02-23** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-24** On 3rd reading
- **2026-02-24** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-24** Passed Senate (Roll No. 208) `passage`
- **2026-02-24** Ordered to House
- **2026-02-25** House received Senate message
- **2026-02-25** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2026-02-25** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-25** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-09** Markup Discussion
- **2026-03-10** With amendment, do pass `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-11** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-03-11** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-03-12** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-03-12** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-12** Amendment reported by the Clerk
- **2026-03-12** Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2026-03-13** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-03-13** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-13** Passed House (Roll No. 513) `passage`
- **2026-03-13** Title amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2026-03-13** Communicated to Senate
- **2026-03-14** House Message received
- **2026-03-14** Senate concurred in House amendments and passed bill (Roll No. 653)
- **2026-03-14** Communicated to House
- **2026-03-14** Completed legislative action
- **2026-03-19** To Governor 3/19/2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-14** To Governor 3/19/2026 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-14** Approved by Governor 3/27/2026 - House Journal `executive-signature`
- **2026-03-27** Approved by Governor 3/27/2026 `executive-signature`
- **2026-03-14** Approved by Governor 3/27/2026 - Senate Journal `executive-signature`
- **2026-06-25** Chapter 97, Acts, Regular Session, 2026 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2ae03945-5b70-4e57-929a-c070016b595b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).