---
type: "Bill"
title: "Authorize the Department of Environmental Protection to deposit funds granted pursuant to federal programs"
description: "Authorize the Department of Environmental Protection to deposit funds granted pursuant to federal programs"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 4696"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4696 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Environment"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Anderson"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 38
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2026-01-21"
last_action: "2026-06-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/354881bb-b1b5-4db5-9756-b1bebc9471fb"
source_url: "https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4696&year=2026&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "de0d449b42dd45fe1d8421637b7defe91c3cdf310788548f8c1c847cd0138840"
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 4696 (2026) — Authorize the Department of Environmental Protection to deposit funds granted pursuant to federal programs

## 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=hb4696%20eng.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=4696)
2. **Enrolled Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4696%20enr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=4696)
3. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4696%20intr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=4696)
4. **hb4696 hfat anderson 2-3 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2026/RS/floor_amends/hb4696%20hfat%20anderson%202-3%20adopted.htm)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **94–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage — **33–0** (pass) · upper
- EFFECT FROM PASSAGE — **95–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Anderson — primary (person)
- Chiarelli — cosponsor (person)
- Eldridge — cosponsor (person)
- Fehrenbacher — cosponsor (person)
- Holstein — cosponsor (person)
- Riley — cosponsor (person)
- Sheedy — cosponsor (person)
- Street — cosponsor (person)
- Zatezalo — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-21** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2026-01-21** To Energy and Public Works
- **2026-01-21** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2026-01-21** To House Energy and Public Works `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-27** Markup Discussion
- **2026-02-02** Do pass
- **2026-02-03** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-02-03** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-04** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-02-04** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-05** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-02-05** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-05** Passed House (Roll No. 51) `passage`
- **2026-02-05** Title amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2026-02-05** Communicated to Senate
- **2026-02-06** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2026-02-06** To Energy, Industry, and Mining
- **2026-02-06** To Energy, Industry, and Mining
- **2026-02-16** Reported do pass `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-17** On 1st reading
- **2026-02-17** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-18** On 2nd reading
- **2026-02-18** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-19** On 3rd reading
- **2026-02-19** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-19** Passed Senate (Roll No. 155) `passage`
- **2026-02-19** Effective from passage (Roll No. 156)
- **2026-02-19** Senate requests House to concur in changed effective date
- **2026-02-20** House received Senate message
- **2026-02-20** Effective from passage (Roll No. 136)
- **2026-02-20** Communicated to Senate
- **2026-02-19** Completed legislative action
- **2026-02-21** House Message received
- **2026-02-26** To Governor 2/23/2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-02-25** To Governor 2/23/2026 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2026-02-25** Approved by Governor 2/25/2026 `executive-signature`
- **2026-02-25** Approved by Governor 2/25/2026 - Senate Journal `executive-signature`
- **2026-06-29** Chapter 146, 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/354881bb-b1b5-4db5-9756-b1bebc9471fb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).