---
type: "Bill"
title: "Making it a felony for a “Person in a Position of Trust” to assault, batter, or verbally abuse a child, or neglect to report abuse they witness"
description: "Making it a felony for a “Person in a Position of Trust” to assault, batter, or verbally abuse a child, or neglect to report abuse they witness"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 4600"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4600 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crime"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Mazzocchi"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 41
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2022-02-09"
last_action: "2022-04-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/04ed235d-9e9a-4826-bbae-24de1ab8da88"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4600&year=2022&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "fb4977ce8d58d74a205f05a2f94e4f6f52855f7a608b3ad2c9f9c072f5e24f33"
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 4600 (2022) — Making it a felony for a “Person in a Position of Trust” to assault, batter, or verbally abuse a child, or neglect to report abuse they witness

## 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=HB4600%20SUB.htm&yr=2022&sesstype=RS&i=4600)
2. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4600%20SUB%20ENR.htm&yr=2022&sesstype=RS&i=4600)
3. **HB4600 S JUD AM _1 3-10 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/legisdocs/chamber/2022/RS/com_amends/HB4600 S JUD AM _1 3-10 adopted.htm)
4. **HB4600 SFAT TRUMP _1 3-12 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/legisdocs/chamber/2022/RS/floor_amends/HB4600 SFAT TRUMP _1 3-12 adopted.htm)
5. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4600%20INTR.htm&yr=2022&sesstype=RS&i=4600)

## Votes

- Passage — **33–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Mazzocchi — primary (person)
- Bridges — cosponsor (person)
- Capito — cosponsor (person)
- Ellington — cosponsor (person)
- Ferrell — cosponsor (person)
- Holstein — cosponsor (person)
- Kessinger — cosponsor (person)
- Kimble — cosponsor (person)
- Longanacre — cosponsor (person)
- Maynor — cosponsor (person)
- Toney — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-02-09** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2022-02-09** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-09** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2022-02-09** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-02-24** By substitute, do pass
- **2022-02-25** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2022-02-25** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2022-02-28** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2022-02-28** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2022-02-28** Amendment ruled not germane
- **2022-03-01** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2022-03-01** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-01** Passed House (Roll No. 299) `passage`
- **2022-03-01** Communicated to Senate
- **2022-03-02** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2022-03-02** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-02** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2022-03-10** Reported do pass, with amendment and title amendment `committee-passage`
- **2022-03-10** Immediate consideration
- **2022-03-10** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2022-03-11** On 2nd reading
- **2022-03-11** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2022-03-12** On 3rd reading with right to amend
- **2022-03-12** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2022-03-12** Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2022-03-12** Passed Senate (Roll No. 519) `passage`
- **2022-03-12** Committee title amendment withdrawn by unanimous consent
- **2022-03-12** Title amendment adopted
- **2022-03-12** Senate requests House to concur
- **2022-03-12** House received Senate message
- **2022-03-12** House concurred in Senate amendment and passed bill (Roll No. 692)
- **2022-03-12** Communicated to Senate
- **2022-03-12** Completed legislative action
- **2022-03-12** House Message received
- **2022-03-12** To Governor 3/18/2022 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2022-03-12** To Governor 3/18/22 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2022-03-18** To Governor 3/18/22 `executive-receipt`
- **2022-03-12** Approved by Governor 3/25/2022 - Senate Journal
- **2022-03-12** Approved by Governor 3/25/22 - House Journal
- **2022-03-25** Approved by Governor 3/25/22 `executive-signature`
- **2022-04-19** Chapter 82, 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/04ed235d-9e9a-4826-bbae-24de1ab8da88`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).