---
type: "Bill"
title: "Permitting county boards to offer elective courses of instruction on the Bible"
description: "Permitting county boards to offer elective courses of instruction on the Bible"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 4780"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4780 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education (K12)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bartlett"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 34
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2020-02-10"
last_action: "2020-04-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bc782d33-8871-42df-8b89-c793c94fd1af"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4780&year=2020&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "1af920c788aad5e0e16389f6c5806864944b53dcb1b94712bd54f263f833d6bc"
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 4780 (2020) — Permitting county boards to offer elective courses of instruction on the Bible

## 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=HB4780%20SUB.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=4780)
2. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4780%20SUB%20ENR.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=4780)
3. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4780%20INTR.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=4780)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **73–26** (pass) · lower
- Passage — **30–3** (pass) · upper
- HFA PUSHKIN & DOYLE 2-24 — **45–53** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bartlett — primary (person)
- Butler — cosponsor (person)
- Dean — cosponsor (person)
- Fast — cosponsor (person)
- Foster — cosponsor (person)
- Jeffries, D. — cosponsor (person)
- Martin, C. — cosponsor (person)
- Martin, P. — cosponsor (person)
- Porterfield — cosponsor (person)
- Rodighiero — cosponsor (person)
- Waxman — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-02-10** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2020-02-10** To Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-10** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2020-02-10** To House Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-20** By substitute, do pass
- **2020-02-21** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-02-21** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-24** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-02-24** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-24** Amendment rejected (Roll No. 304) `amendment-failure`
- **2020-02-25** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-02-25** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-25** Passed House (Roll No. 321) `passage`
- **2020-02-25** Communicated to Senate
- **2020-03-02** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2020-03-02** Immediate consideration
- **2020-03-02** Committee reference dispensed
- **2020-03-02** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2020-03-03** On 2nd reading
- **2020-03-03** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-03** Floor amendment rejected (Roll No. 414)
- **2020-03-04** On 3rd reading
- **2020-03-04** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-04** Passed Senate (Roll No. 443) `passage`
- **2020-03-04** Communicated to House
- **2020-03-04** Completed legislative action
- **2020-03-05** House received Senate message
- **2020-03-07** To Governor 3/19/20 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-07** To Governor 3/19/20 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-19** To Governor 3/19/20 `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-07** Approved by Governor 3/25/20 - House Journal
- **2020-03-25** Approved by Governor 3/25/20 `executive-signature`
- **2020-03-07** Approved by Governor 3/25/20 - Senate Journal
- **2020-04-15** Chapter 121, Acts, Regular Session, 2020

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/bc782d33-8871-42df-8b89-c793c94fd1af`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).