---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to judicial branch members' salaries and pensions"
description: "Relating to judicial branch members' salaries and pensions"
jurisdiction: "us/states/wv"
legislature: "West Virginia Legislature"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 597"
citation: "West Virginia SB 597 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts", "Retirement", "Salaries"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Trump"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 43
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2020-01-22"
last_action: "2020-04-14"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/34aa53d8-1f83-4261-84af-61871bdab10d"
source_url: "http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=597&year=2020&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill"
source_hash: "866e8d1a9bc8d4c04fca3bc457f6ac38ab939962d33532b052afdf291251e817"
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 597 (2020) — Relating to judicial branch members' salaries and pensions

## Version chain

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

1. **Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB597%20SUB1.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=597)
2. **Committee Substitute for the Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB597%20SUB2.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=597)
3. **Enrolled Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB597%20SUB2%20ENR.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=597)
4. **Introduced Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB597%20INTR.htm&yr=2020&sesstype=RS&i=597)
5. **SB597 HFIN AM _1 adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/legisdocs/chamber/2020/RS/com_amends/SB597 HFIN AM _1 adopted.htm)
6. **SB597 HFIN AMT adopted.htm** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.state.wv.us/legisdocs/chamber/2020/RS/com_amends/SB597 HFIN AMT adopted.htm)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **91–9** (pass) · lower
- Passage — **29–3** (pass) · upper
- EFFECT JULY 1, 2020 — **93–7** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Trump — primary (person)
- Lindsay — cosponsor (person)
- Palumbo — cosponsor (person)
- Plymale — cosponsor (person)
- Romano — cosponsor (person)
- Unger — cosponsor (person)
- Woelfel — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-22** Filed for introduction `filing`
- **2020-01-22** To Judiciary then Finance `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-22** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2020-01-22** To Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-28** Committee substitute reported, but first to Finance
- **2020-01-28** To Finance `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-12** Committee substitute for committee substitute reported
- **2020-02-13** On 1st reading
- **2020-02-13** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-14** On 2nd reading
- **2020-02-14** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-17** On 3rd reading
- **2020-02-17** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Passed Senate (Roll No. 156) `passage`
- **2020-02-17** Effective July 1, 2020 (Roll No. 156)
- **2020-02-17** Ordered to House
- **2020-02-18** Introduced in House `introduction`
- **2020-02-18** To Finance `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** To House Finance `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-03** With amendment, do pass `committee-passage`
- **2020-03-04** On 1st reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-03-04** Read 1st time `reading-1`
- **2020-03-05** On 2nd reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-03-05** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2020-03-05** Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2020-03-06** On 3rd reading, Special Calendar
- **2020-03-06** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2020-03-06** Passed House (Roll No. 653) `passage`
- **2020-03-06** Title amendment adopted (Voice vote)
- **2020-03-06** Effective July 1, 2020 (Roll No. 654)
- **2020-03-06** Communicated to Senate
- **2020-03-07** House Message received
- **2020-03-07** Senate concurred in House amendments and passed bill (Roll No. 612)
- **2020-03-07** Effective July 1, 2020 (Roll No. 612)
- **2020-03-07** Communicated to House
- **2020-03-07** Completed legislative action
- **2020-03-19** To Governor 3/19/20 `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-07** To Governor 3/19/20 - Senate Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-07** To Governor 3/19/20 - House Journal `executive-receipt`
- **2020-03-25** Approved by Governor 3/25/20 `executive-signature`
- **2020-03-07** Approved by Governor 3/25/20 - Senate Journal
- **2020-03-07** Approved by Governor 3/25/20 - House Journal
- **2020-04-14** Chapter 79, Acts, Regular Session, 2020

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/34aa53d8-1f83-4261-84af-61871bdab10d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official West Virginia legislature records).