SB 149 West Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Exempting certain military veterans and their dependents from tuition

SB 149 exempts certain military veterans and their dependents from tuition and fees at West Virginia state colleges and universities. It specifically covers: (1) children/spouses of veterans killed in action or on active duty (including National Guard/reserve members); (2) veterans rated 90%+ service-connected disability (since 9/11); and (3) dependents of those veterans. To qualify, recipients must apply for admission, submit a FAFSA, exhaust other tuition-focused aid, and maintain academic progress. The exemption does not cover lab fees, parking, or other special charges required of all students.

Issues: ✓ Education ✓ Veterans

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 12, 2025 Last action Feb 24, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Committee Substitute · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill text was reformatted from an introduced version to a committee substitute version, with the primary substantive change being the addition of the word 'spouses' to the bill's title and purpose note. The actual eligibility criteria, waiver conditions, and effective dates remain substantively unchanged between the two versions, though the committee substitute version presents the text in a cleaner, more readable format without the navigation elements and page numbers found in the introduced version.

Scope change

The bill's scope was slightly clarified by explicitly including 'spouses' in the title and purpose statement, though the eligibility criteria already covered spouses in the detailed text of both versions.

TECHNICAL

The bill text was reformatted from an introduced version to a committee substitute version, removing navigation elements, page numbers, and formatting artifacts while improving readability.

The bill title and purpose note were updated to explicitly include 'spouses' alongside 'dependents' for clarity, though the eligibility criteria already covered spouses in the detailed text.

ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility criteria for tuition waivers remain the same, covering children and spouses of law enforcement, firefighters, National Guard, reserve personnel, active military, and disabled veterans killed in the line of duty or with service-connected disabilities.

REQUIREMENT

Waiver requirements remain unchanged, including admission, FAFSA submission, exhaustion of other financial aid, and academic progress standards.

TIMELINE

The effective date of July 1, 2025 remains the same in both versions.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 24, 2025

Committee

To Finance

upper

Feb 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee substitute reported, but first to Finance

upper

Feb 12, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors