---
type: "Bill"
title: "Authorizing public schools to distribute excess food to students"
description: "Authorizing public schools to distribute excess food to students"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 4478"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4478 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education (K12)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lovejoy"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 40
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2018-02-08"
last_action: "2018-04-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0de376ad-a8c6-462a-8922-f0d4f104900d"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4478&year=2018&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "f0e7498212c638d1907ff5eb0136184f6ee9869d588fc45380ebc4d13a4e2923"
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 4478 (2018) — Authorizing public schools to distribute excess food to students

## 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=HB4478%20SUB.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4478)
2. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4478%20SUB%20ENR.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4478)
3. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4478%20intr.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4478)

## Votes

- PASSAGE-SENATE AMENDED HB — **96–1** (pass) · legislature
- PASSAGE — **97–1** (pass) · legislature
- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Lovejoy — primary (person)
- Byrd — cosponsor (person)
- Canestraro — cosponsor (person)
- Hanshaw — cosponsor (person)
- Hornbuckle — cosponsor (person)
- Isner — cosponsor (person)
- Miller, R. — cosponsor (person)
- Robinson — cosponsor (person)
- Rohrbach — cosponsor (person)
- Rowe — cosponsor (person)
- Williams — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-08** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2018-02-08** To Education then Finance `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-08** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2018-02-08** To House Education `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-16** By substitute, do pass
- **2018-02-16** 2nd reference dispensed
- **2018-02-19** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-19** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-20** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-20** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-21** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2018-02-21** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-21** Passed House (Roll No. 183) `passage`
- **2018-02-21** Communicated to Senate
- **2018-02-22** House Message received
- **2018-02-22** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2018-02-22** To Education `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-22** To Education `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-02** Reported do pass, with amendment `committee-passage`
- **2018-03-03** On 1st reading
- **2018-03-03** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2018-03-05** On 2nd reading
- **2018-03-05** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2018-03-05** Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2018-03-06** On 3rd reading
- **2018-03-06** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2018-03-06** Passed Senate (Roll No. 366) `passage`
- **2018-03-06** 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. 360)
- **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 75, 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/0de376ad-a8c6-462a-8922-f0d4f104900d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).