---
type: "Bill"
title: "Providing for a program allowing election official trainees to be appointed as election officials"
description: "Providing for a program allowing election official trainees to be appointed as election officials"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 4865"
citation: "West Virginia HB 4865 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Funkhouser"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 41
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2026-01-28"
last_action: "2026-06-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/be15a0df-d5de-481c-8196-820226a65865"
source_url: "https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4865&year=2026&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "b72da2a763e92117a8f6e452cfebe73363a388e9cc83dc30f2391b5205f79aed"
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 4865 (2026) — Providing for a program allowing election official trainees to be appointed as election officials

## 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=hb4865%20sub1.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=4865)
2. **Engrossed Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4865%20sub1%20eng.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=4865)
3. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4865%20sub1%20enr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=4865)
4. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4865%20intr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=4865)
5. **hb4865 s jud am _1 3-10 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2026/RS/com_amends/hb4865%20s%20jud%20am%20_1%203-10%20adopted.htm)
6. **hb4865 s jud amt _1 3-10 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2026/RS/com_amends/hb4865%20s%20jud%20amt%20_1%203-10%20adopted.htm)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **85–10** (pass) · lower
- PASSAGE-SENATE AMENDED HB — **82–14** (pass) · lower
- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Funkhouser — primary (person)
- Akers — cosponsor (person)
- Butler — cosponsor (person)
- Cannon, J. — cosponsor (person)
- Clark — cosponsor (person)
- Heckert — cosponsor (person)
- Hillenbrand — cosponsor (person)
- Hornby — cosponsor (person)
- Maynor — cosponsor (person)
- Ridenour — cosponsor (person)
- Rohrbach — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-28** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2026-01-28** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-28** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2026-01-28** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-05** To House Legal Services `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-05** Markup Discussion
- **2026-02-06** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-09** Markup Discussion
- **2026-02-11** By substitute, do pass
- **2026-02-12** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-02-12** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-13** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-02-13** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-16** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-02-16** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-16** Passed House (Roll No. 93) `passage`
- **2026-02-16** Communicated to Senate
- **2026-02-17** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2026-02-17** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-17** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-11** Reported do pass, with amendment and title amendment `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-11** Immediate consideration
- **2026-03-11** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-03-12** On 2nd reading
- **2026-03-12** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-12** Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2026-03-13** On 3rd reading
- **2026-03-13** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-13** Passed Senate with amended title (Roll No. 549) `passage`
- **2026-03-13** Senate requests House to concur
- **2026-03-14** House received Senate message
- **2026-03-14** House concurred in Senate amendment and passed bill (Roll No. 672)
- **2026-03-14** Communicated to Senate
- **2026-03-14** Completed legislative action
- **2026-03-14** House Message received
- **2026-03-31** To Governor 3/31/2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-14** To Governor 3/31/2026 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-14** Approved by Governor 4/1/2026 - Senate Journal `executive-signature`
- **2026-03-14** Approved by Governor 4/1/2026 - House Journal `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-01** Approved by Governor 4/1/2026 `executive-signature`
- **2026-06-29** Chapter 135, 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/be15a0df-d5de-481c-8196-820226a65865`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).