---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to use of state funds for advertising to promote a public official or government office"
description: "Relating to use of state funds for advertising to promote a public official or government office"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 4473"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4473 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Ethics"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Sobonya"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 44
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2018-02-08"
last_action: "2018-04-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/248cbd6b-5964-4558-8a91-6e503f842c1b"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4473&year=2018&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "da326934736ebc12558974c13d2e06b13fef84c90b074ae9674d69bb8265450a"
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 4473 (2018) — Relating to use of state funds for advertising to promote a public official or government office

## 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=HB4473%20SUB.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4473)
2. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4473%20SUB%20ENR.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4473)
3. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4473%20intr.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4473)

## Votes

- PASSAGE-SENATE AMENDED HB — **96–1** (pass) · legislature
- PASSAGE — **96–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Sobonya — primary (person)
- Ambler — cosponsor (person)
- Butler — cosponsor (person)
- Householder — cosponsor (person)
- Miller, C. — cosponsor (person)
- Overington — cosponsor (person)
- Rohrbach — cosponsor (person)
- Romine, C. — cosponsor (person)
- Rowan — cosponsor (person)
- Ward — cosponsor (person)
- Westfall — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-08** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2018-02-08** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-08** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2018-02-08** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-13** By substitute, do pass
- **2018-02-14** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-14** Postponed on 1st reading, Special Calendar, until 2/15/18
- **2018-02-15** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-15** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-16** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-16** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-19** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-19** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-19** Passed House (Roll No. 156) `passage`
- **2018-02-19** Communicated to Senate
- **2018-02-20** House Message received
- **2018-02-20** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2018-02-20** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-20** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-28** Reported do pass, with amendment and title amendment `committee-passage`
- **2018-03-01** On 1st reading
- **2018-03-01** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2018-03-02** On 2nd reading
- **2018-03-02** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2018-03-02** Committee amendment withdrawn by unanimous consent
- **2018-03-02** Floor amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2018-03-03** On 3rd reading
- **2018-03-03** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2018-03-03** Passed Senate (Roll No. 323) `passage`
- **2018-03-03** Judiciary Title amendment withdrawn (Voice vote)
- **2018-03-03** Floor Title amendment adopted
- **2018-03-03** Senate requests House to concur
- **2018-03-07** House received Senate message
- **2018-03-07** House concurred in Senate amendment and passed bill (Roll No. 359)
- **2018-03-07** Communicated to Senate
- **2018-03-07** Completed legislative action
- **2018-03-08** House Message received
- **2018-03-10** To Governor 3/15/18 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2018-03-15** To Governor 3/15/18 `executive-receipt`
- **2018-03-10** To Governor 3/15/18 - House 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
- **2018-04-17** Chapter 89, 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/248cbd6b-5964-4558-8a91-6e503f842c1b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).