---
type: "Bill"
title: "Providing for legislative rulemaking relating to the disposition of unidentified and unclaimed remains in the possession of the Chief Medical Examiner"
description: "Providing for legislative rulemaking relating to the disposition of unidentified and unclaimed remains in the possession of the Chief Medical Examiner"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 4559"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4559 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public Safety"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hanshaw"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 37
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2022-02-07"
last_action: "2022-04-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4d8f6c40-3733-4fc1-8557-110684bd05bc"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4559&year=2022&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "cb705097e7c2e66d0f65847bd7bc35af9de4f1e32a1a87fd9c7d3c9952a3e5b8"
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 4559 (2022) — Providing for legislative rulemaking relating to the disposition of unidentified and unclaimed remains in the possession of the Chief Medical Examiner

## 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=HB4559%20SUB.htm&yr=2022&sesstype=RS&i=4559)
2. **Engrossed Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4559%20SUB%20ENG.htm&yr=2022&sesstype=RS&i=4559)
3. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4559%20SUB%20ENR.htm&yr=2022&sesstype=RS&i=4559)
4. **HB4559 HFA CAPITO 2-17 _1 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/legisdocs/chamber/2022/RS/floor_amends/HB4559 HFA CAPITO 2-17 _1 adopted.htm)
5. **HB4559 HFAT CAPITO 2-18 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/legisdocs/chamber/2022/RS/floor_amends/HB4559 HFAT CAPITO 2-18 adopted.htm)
6. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4559%20INTR.htm&yr=2022&sesstype=RS&i=4559)

## Votes

- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Hanshaw — primary (person)
- Lovejoy — cosponsor (person)
- Steele — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-07** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2022-02-07** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-07** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2022-02-07** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-16** By substitute, do pass
- **2022-02-17** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2022-02-17** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-18** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2022-02-17** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-18** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2022-02-18** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-18** Amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2022-02-21** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2022-02-21** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2022-02-21** Passed House (Roll No. 189) `passage`
- **2022-02-21** Title amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2022-02-21** Communicated to Senate
- **2022-02-22** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2022-02-22** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-22** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-08** Reported do pass `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-09** On 1st reading
- **2022-03-09** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2022-03-10** On 2nd reading
- **2022-03-10** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-11** On 3rd reading
- **2022-03-11** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-11** Passed Senate (Roll No. 457) `passage`
- **2022-03-11** Communicated to House
- **2022-03-11** Completed legislative action
- **2022-03-12** To Governor 3/24/2022 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2022-03-12** To Governor 3/24/22 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2022-03-24** To Governor 3/24/22 `executive-receipt`
- **2022-03-12** Approved by Governor 3/30/22 - House Journal
- **2022-03-30** Approved by Governor 3/30/22 `executive-signature`
- **2022-03-12** Approved by Governor 3/30/2022 - Senate Journal
- **2022-04-19** Chapter 146, Acts, Regular Session, 2022

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4d8f6c40-3733-4fc1-8557-110684bd05bc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).