---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to including the United States Space Force in the definition armed forces"
description: "Relating to including the United States Space Force in the definition armed forces"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 2053"
citation: "West Virginia HB 2053 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Military and Veterans"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Smith, D."]
version_count: 4
action_count: 36
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-02-12"
last_action: "2025-07-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6d6fcae5-5869-4b5a-ac27-8417189f018b"
source_url: "https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=2053&year=2025&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "2754ec534b2f9918fa8449ea77bf2b48214c83212e61d9243e4db340cf252fef"
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 2053 (2025) — Relating to including the United States Space Force in the definition armed forces

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb2053%20sub.htm&yr=2025&sesstype=RS&i=2053)
2. **Engrossed Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb2053%20sub%20eng.htm&yr=2025&sesstype=RS&i=2053)
3. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb2053%20sub%20enr.htm&yr=2025&sesstype=RS&i=2053)
4. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb2053%20intr.htm&yr=2025&sesstype=RS&i=2053)

## Votes

- Passage — **33–1** (pass) · upper
- PASSAGE — **97–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Smith, D. — primary (person)
- Heckert — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-12** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2025-02-12** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-12** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2025-02-12** To House Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2025-02-14** Markup Discussion
- **2025-02-19** By substitute, do pass
- **2025-02-20** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2025-02-20** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2025-02-21** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2025-02-21** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2025-02-24** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2025-02-24** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2025-02-24** Passed House (Roll No. 8) `passage`
- **2025-02-24** Communicated to Senate
- **2025-02-26** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2025-02-26** To Military then Finance
- **2025-02-26** To Military
- **2025-03-10** Reported do pass, but first to Finance `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-10** 2nd reference dispensed
- **2025-03-11** On 1st reading
- **2025-03-11** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2025-03-12** On 2nd reading
- **2025-03-12** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2025-03-13** On 3rd reading
- **2025-03-13** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2025-03-13** Passed Senate (Roll No. 107) `passage`
- **2025-03-13** Communicated to House
- **2025-03-13** Completed legislative action
- **2025-03-14** House received Senate message
- **2025-03-17** To Governor 3/17/2025 `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-17** To Governor 3/18/2025 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-18** To Governor 3/17/2025 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2025-03-21** Approved by Governor 3/21/2025 - Senate Journal `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-21** Approved by Governor 3/21/2025 `executive-signature`
- **2025-03-21** Approved by Governor 3/21/2025 - House Journal `executive-signature`
- **2025-07-31** Chapter 177, Acts, Regular Session, 2025 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/6d6fcae5-5869-4b5a-ac27-8417189f018b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).