---
type: "Bill"
title: "Clarifying the sheriff’s authority to hire within their office."
description: "Clarifying the sheriff’s authority to hire within their office."
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 4561"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4561 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["County Officials", "Professions and Occupations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brooks"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 34
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-01-20"
last_action: "2026-06-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8a2c08ca-eab2-494a-81b7-a05b924d3f7c"
source_url: "https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4561&year=2026&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "12e12ac41b7a45b0d32eeda1430e62357ec60bce39306c997a0d9f3a9070f35c"
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 4561 (2026) — Clarifying the sheriff’s authority to hire within their office.

## Version chain

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

1. **Engrossed Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4561%20eng.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=4561)
2. **Enrolled Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4561%20enr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=4561)
3. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4561%20intr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=4561)

## Votes

- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- PASSAGE — **88–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Brooks — primary (person)
- Green — cosponsor (person)
- Martin — cosponsor (person)
- Pritt — cosponsor (person)
- Roop — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-20** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2026-01-20** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-20** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2026-01-20** To House Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-05** Markup Discussion
- **2026-02-10** Do pass
- **2026-02-11** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-02-11** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-12** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-02-12** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-13** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-02-13** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-13** Passed House (Roll No. 87) `passage`
- **2026-02-13** Communicated to Senate
- **2026-02-16** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2026-02-16** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-16** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-05** Reported do pass `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-06** On 1st reading
- **2026-03-06** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-03-09** On 2nd reading
- **2026-03-09** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-10** On 3rd reading
- **2026-03-10** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-10** Passed Senate (Roll No. 401) `passage`
- **2026-03-10** Communicated to House
- **2026-03-10** Completed legislative action
- **2026-03-10** House received Senate message
- **2026-03-11** To Governor 3/11/2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-11** To Governor 3/11/2026 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-14** Approved by Governor 3/19/2026 - Senate Journal `executive-signature`
- **2026-03-19** Approved by Governor 3/19/2026 `executive-signature`
- **2026-03-14** Approved by Governor 3/19/2026 - House Journal `executive-signature`
- **2026-06-29** Chapter 210, Acts, Regular Session, 2026 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8a2c08ca-eab2-494a-81b7-a05b924d3f7c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).