---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to crime of sexual abuse by parent, guardian, custodian, or person in position of trust to child"
description: "Relating to crime of sexual abuse by parent, guardian, custodian, or person in position of trust to child"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 197"
citation: "West Virginia SB 197 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crime"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Weld"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 48
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-01-14"
last_action: "2026-06-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6f5f2674-f103-4005-a291-7c938882caee"
source_url: "https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=197&year=2026&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "bd8d9bbc0d410679b19b62b5a975ec6f30775f8f1f8226f7df1cac6f60872e17"
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 197 (2026) — Relating to crime of sexual abuse by parent, guardian, custodian, or person in position of trust to child

## Version chain

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

1. **Enrolled Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=sb197%20enr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=197)
2. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=sb197%20intr.htm&yr=2026&sesstype=RS&i=197)
3. **sb197 h jud am _1 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2026/RS/com_amends/sb197%20h%20jud%20am%20_1%20adopted.htm)
4. **sb197 hfa akers 3-13 _1 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2026/RS/floor_amends/sb197%20hfa%20akers%203-13%20_1%20adopted.htm)
5. **sb197 hfat akers 3-13 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.wvlegislature.gov/legisdocs/chamber/2026/RS/floor_amends/sb197%20hfat%20akers%203-13%20adopted.htm)

## Votes

- Passage — **33–0** (pass) · upper
- PASSAGE — **97–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Weld — primary (person)
- Deeds — cosponsor (person)
- Tarr — cosponsor (person)
- Woelfel — cosponsor (person)
- Z. Maynard — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-14** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2026-01-14** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-14** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2026-01-14** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-24** Reported do pass `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-25** On 1st reading
- **2026-02-25** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-26** On 2nd reading
- **2026-02-26** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-27** On 3rd reading
- **2026-02-27** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-02-27** Passed Senate (Roll No. 254) `passage`
- **2026-02-27** Ordered to House
- **2026-03-02** House received Senate message
- **2026-03-02** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2026-03-02** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-02** To House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-10** Markup Discussion
- **2026-03-11** With amendment, do pass `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-11** Immediate consideration
- **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
- **2026-03-13** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-13** Amendment reported by the Clerk
- **2026-03-13** Amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2026-03-13** Amended on 3rd reading
- **2026-03-13** Passed House (Roll No. 518) `passage`
- **2026-03-13** Title amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2026-03-13** Communicated to Senate
- **2026-03-14** House Message received
- **2026-03-14** House amendment to Senate bill reported
- **2026-03-14** Amendment to House amendment reported
- **2026-03-14** Amendment to House amendment withdrawn by unanimous consent
- **2026-03-14** Motion to table bill adopted (voice vote)
- **2026-03-14** Unanimous consent to remove bill from table
- **2026-03-14** Senate concurred in House amendments and passed bill (Roll No. 679)
- **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 99, 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/6f5f2674-f103-4005-a291-7c938882caee`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).