---
type: "Bill"
title: "Increasing penalties for unlawfully possessing or digging ginseng"
description: "Increasing penalties for unlawfully possessing or digging ginseng"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 4214"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4214 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Natural Resources"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Eldridge"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 41
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2018-01-19"
last_action: "2018-04-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e674ff61-a9b6-41be-93ce-56f457b3d229"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4214&year=2018&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "196c6c1fb646ac16a68d56cfde8091db3ddb59c9c7823fa242e4d5f09190a6db"
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 4214 (2018) — Increasing penalties for unlawfully possessing or digging ginseng

## 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=HB4214%20SUB.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4214)
2. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4214%20SUB%20ENR.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4214)
3. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4214%20intr.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4214)

## Votes

- PASSAGE-SENATE AMENDED HB — **90–6** (pass) · legislature
- Passage — **33–0** (pass) · legislature
- PASSAGE — **91–7** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Eldridge — primary (person)
- Ambler — cosponsor (person)
- Campbell — cosponsor (person)
- Cooper — cosponsor (person)
- Dean — cosponsor (person)
- Diserio — cosponsor (person)
- Marcum — cosponsor (person)
- Maynard — cosponsor (person)
- Miller, R. — cosponsor (person)
- Paynter — cosponsor (person)
- Phillips — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-19** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2018-01-19** To Agriculture and Natural Resources then Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-19** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2018-01-19** To House Agriculture and Natural Resources `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-07** With amendment, do pass, but first to Judiciary `committee-passage`
- **2018-02-07** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-21** By substitute, do pass
- **2018-02-22** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-22** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-23** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-23** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-26** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-26** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-26** Passed House (Roll No. 215) `passage`
- **2018-02-26** Communicated to Senate
- **2018-02-27** House Message received
- **2018-02-27** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2018-02-27** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-27** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-05** Reported do pass, with amendment and title amendment `committee-passage`
- **2018-03-06** On 1st reading
- **2018-03-06** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2018-03-07** On 2nd reading
- **2018-03-07** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2018-03-07** Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2018-03-08** On 3rd reading
- **2018-03-08** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2018-03-08** Passed Senate with amended title (Roll No. 403) `passage`
- **2018-03-08** Senate requests House to concur
- **2018-03-10** House received Senate message
- **2018-03-10** House concurred in Senate amendment and passed bill (Roll No. 538)
- **2018-03-10** Communicated to Senate
- **2018-03-10** Completed legislative action
- **2018-03-10** House Message received
- **2018-03-21** To Governor 3/21/18 `executive-receipt`
- **2018-03-10** To Governor 3/21/18 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2018-03-10** To Governor 3/21/18 - Senate Journal `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 11, 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/e674ff61-a9b6-41be-93ce-56f457b3d229`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).