SB 663 West Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Creating Fair Access to Financial Services Act

SB 663, the Fair Access to Financial Services Act, prohibits large financial institutions (with $100 billion+ in assets or transaction volume) from denying or limiting services based on specific discriminatory factors, including refusal to provide abortion-related services, gender transition care, greenhouse gas disclosures, or diversity audits. It requires institutions to provide written explanations of service denials within 30 days, citing objective, risk-based reasons. Individuals harmed by violations can sue for $10,000 per violation or actual damages, and the Attorney General can enforce the law. The bill directly affects major banks, payment processors, and their customers in West Virginia.

Issues: ✓ Environment ✓ Healthcare

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House of Delegates Passage

Governor

Introduced Mar 4, 2025 Last action Apr 1, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Committee Substitute → Committee Substitute for the Committee Substitute · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill revision updates the Fair Access to Financial Services Act by changing the reporting committee from Banking and Insurance to the Judiciary, adjusting the date the bill was reported, and making technical edits to definitions and enforcement language. The changes remove the '$100 billion dollars' phrasing to simplify to '$100 billion', update the fraud exception language, and modify attorney fee provisions to use 'is entitled to' instead of 'shall be entitled to'.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains the same, but the committee handling the bill changed from Banking and Insurance to the Judiciary, which may affect the bill's review process and timing.

TIMELINE

The bill's reported date changed from March 13, 2025 to March 27, 2025, and the reviewing committee changed from Banking and Insurance to the Judiciary.

DEFINITION

Removed redundant 'dollars' from the $100 billion threshold in the financial institution definition.

REQUIREMENT

Added 'rule' to the list of authorities that can prohibit financial institutions from disclosing information.

Changed 'stopping to provide financial services' to 'stopping financial services' for clarity.

ENFORCEMENT

Changed attorney fee language from 'shall be entitled to' to 'is entitled to' for consistency.

Introduced Version → Committee Substitute · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended from the Introduced Version to the Committee Substitute version, changing the title from 'Transparency and Accountability in Financial Services Act' to 'Fair Access to Financial Services Act' and significantly expanding the scope of prohibited discrimination. The original version narrowly defined discrimination based on social credit scores and religious/speech objections, while the substitute version explicitly prohibits discrimination based on a wide range of factors including abortion access, gender transition services, and greenhouse gas emission disclosures. The substitute also broadened the definition of 'financial institution' to include any institution meeting the $100 billion threshold rather than just those with specific asset types.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from narrowly targeting social credit score discrimination to broadly prohibiting discrimination based on multiple protected factors including reproductive rights, gender identity, and environmental policy positions. The definition of 'financial institution' was modified to apply to any institution meeting the asset threshold regardless of specific business type.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'financial institution' was changed from requiring specific asset types to simply meeting the $100 billion threshold, making the law applicable to a broader range of large financial entities.

The original definition of 'social credit score' as the primary basis for discrimination was removed and replaced with a broader 'discriminatory factor' definition.

REQUIREMENT

New requirements were added prohibiting discrimination based on abortion access, gender transition services, greenhouse gas emission disclosures, and diversity audit participation.

ENFORCEMENT

Enforcement provisions were modified to include specific remedies for violations including actual damages or $10,000 per violation, whichever is greater.

TIMELINE

A 30-day response timeline was added for financial institutions to provide written explanations when denying financial services.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 31, 2025

How they voted

24–9

Passed

Total votes 33

Mar 31, 2025

D Democratic2

2 Nay

100% Nay

R Republican31

24 Yea 7 Nay

77% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 1, 2025

Committee

To House Judiciary

lower

Apr 1, 2025

Committee

To Judiciary then Finance

lower

Apr 1, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

Mar 31, 2025

Upper · Passed

Passed Senate (Roll No. 248)

upper

Mar 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee substitute for committee substitute reported

upper

Mar 13, 2025

Committee

To Judiciary

upper

Mar 13, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee substitute reported, but first to Judiciary

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Committee

To Banking and Insurance

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Committee

To Banking and Insurance then Judiciary

upper

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor