---
type: "Bill"
title: "Removing the terms “hearing impaired,” “hearing impairment,” and “deaf mute” from the West Virginia Code and substituting terms"
description: "Removing the terms “hearing impaired,” “hearing impairment,” and “deaf mute” from the West Virginia Code and substituting terms"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2816"
citation: "West Virginia HB 2816 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Human Rights"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Campbell"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 35
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-02-01"
last_action: "2019-04-11"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/feb0961b-c07d-4489-a107-f8d884189191"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=2816&year=2019&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "7f68961f9df6d27ad7285d977c4902338fa5c5196bc98fd760a59ddab11b4061"
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 2816 (2019) — Removing the terms “hearing impaired,” “hearing impairment,” and “deaf mute” from the West Virginia Code and substituting terms

## Version chain

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

1. **Enrolled Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb2816%20ENR.htm&yr=2019&sesstype=RS&i=2816)
2. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb2816%20intr.htm&yr=2019&sesstype=RS&i=2816)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage — **33–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Campbell — primary (person)
- Atkinson — cosponsor (person)
- Canestraro — cosponsor (person)
- Caputo — cosponsor (person)
- Dean — cosponsor (person)
- Higginbotham — cosponsor (person)
- Hornbuckle — cosponsor (person)
- Lavender-Bowe — cosponsor (person)
- Pack — cosponsor (person)
- Thompson, R. — cosponsor (person)
- Williams — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-01** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2019-02-01** To Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-01** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2019-02-01** To House Government Organization `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-20** Do pass
- **2019-02-21** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2019-02-21** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2019-02-22** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2019-02-22** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-02-25** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2019-02-25** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-25** Passed House (Roll No. 288) `passage`
- **2019-02-25** Communicated to Senate
- **2019-02-26** House Message received
- **2019-02-26** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2019-02-26** To Health and Human Resources `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-26** To Health and Human Resources `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-05** Reported do pass `committee-passage`
- **2019-03-06** On 1st reading
- **2019-03-06** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2019-03-07** On 2nd reading
- **2019-03-07** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2019-03-08** On 3rd reading
- **2019-03-08** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2019-03-08** Passed Senate (Roll No. 445) `passage`
- **2019-03-08** Communicated to House
- **2019-03-08** Completed legislative action
- **2019-03-08** House received Senate message
- **2019-03-09** To Governor 3/25/19 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2019-03-25** To Governor 3/25/19 `executive-receipt`
- **2019-03-09** To Governor 3/25/19 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2019-03-26** Approved by Governor 3/26/19 `executive-signature`
- **2019-03-09** Approved by Governor 3/26/19 - House Journal
- **2019-03-09** Approved by Governor 3/26/19 - Senate Journal
- **2019-04-11** Chapter 126, Acts, Regular Session, 2019

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/feb0961b-c07d-4489-a107-f8d884189191`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).