---
type: "Bill"
title: "Increasing criminal penalties and fines for disturbing religious worship"
description: "Increasing criminal penalties and fines for disturbing religious worship"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 1026"
citation: "West Virginia SB 1026 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crime"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Willis"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 41
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-02-20"
last_action: "2026-06-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5ac7350d-f1f1-450f-9228-7509d19f282a"
source_url: "https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=1026&year=2026&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "7be5fbb863de3b70553f414400178bbe9338b4610ae7236b328e09ad4f6b7502"
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 SB 1026 (2026) — Increasing criminal penalties and fines for disturbing religious worship

## 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=sb1026%20sub1.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=1026)
2. **Enrolled Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=sb1026%20sub1%20enr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=1026)
3. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=sb1026%20intr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=1026)
4. **sb1026 h jud am _1 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2026/RS/com_amends/sb1026%20h%20jud%20am%20_1%20adopted.htm)
5. **sb1026 hfat akers 3-13 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2026/RS/floor_amends/sb1026%20hfat%20akers%203-13%20adopted.htm)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Willis — primary (person)
- Bartlett — cosponsor (person)
- Deeds — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-20** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2026-02-20** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-20** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2026-02-20** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-27** Committee substitute reported
- **2026-02-27** Immediate consideration
- **2026-02-27** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-03-02** On 2nd reading
- **2026-03-02** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-03** On 3rd reading
- **2026-03-03** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-03** Passed Senate (Roll No. 303) `passage`
- **2026-03-03** Ordered to House
- **2026-03-05** House received Senate message
- **2026-03-05** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2026-03-05** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-05** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-06** Markup Discussion
- **2026-03-10** With amendment, do pass `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-11** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-03-11** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-03-12** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-03-12** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-03-12** Amendment reported by the Clerk
- **2026-03-12** Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2026-03-13** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-03-14** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2026-03-14** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-14** Passed House (Roll No. 620) `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Title amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2026-03-14** Communicated to Senate
- **2026-03-14** House Message received
- **2026-03-14** Senate concurred in House amendments and passed bill (Roll No. 661)
- **2026-03-14** Communicated to House
- **2026-03-14** Completed legislative action
- **2026-03-19** To Governor 3/19/2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-14** To Governor 3/19/2026 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-01** Approved by Governor 4/1/2026 `executive-signature`
- **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`
- **2026-06-25** Chapter 101, 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/5ac7350d-f1f1-450f-9228-7509d19f282a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).