HB 4537 West Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

Requiring municipalities take action when potential customers apply for water and sewer service.

HB 4537 requires West Virginia municipalities and public service districts to determine the cost of extending water or sewer service to new customers and apply for state infrastructure grants to cover these costs. If grants are approved, the municipality must extend service after customers pay required fees, and grant funds must reimburse customers for upfront costs like application fees and service extension contributions. This directly affects potential customers seeking new service connections and municipalities managing utility infrastructure. The bill streamlines access to state funding to reduce customer financial barriers for service extensions.

Issues: ✓ Housing

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

House of Delegates Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 19, 2026 Last action Feb 25, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

Engrossed Committee Substitute → hb4537 hfa funkhouser 2-23 _1 adopted.htm · 2 edits

MINOR

The bill text was replaced with a log of amendments made by Delegate Funkhouser, rather than the actual legislative text. The amendments add a new requirement that infrastructure must be necessary to provide services with positive net service revenue before municipalities or public service districts can extend service to potential customers. This change aims to ensure that new water and sewer projects are financially sustainable for the utility providers.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding service expansion eligibility was modified to include a financial viability test (positive net service revenue) for all municipalities and public service districts covered by the bill.

ELIGIBILITY

Added a requirement that infrastructure projects must demonstrate positive net service revenue before service can be extended to new customers.

REQUIREMENT

Inserted the financial viability requirement into multiple sections covering waterworks, combined systems, sewage works, and public service districts.

Floor votes · House of Delegates Feb 24, 2026

How they voted

92–0

Passed · 8 other

Total votes 100

Feb 24, 2026

D Democratic9

8 Yea 1

88% Yea

R Republican91

84 Yea 7

92% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Feb 25, 2026

Committee

To Government Organization

upper

Feb 25, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

Feb 24, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed House (Roll No. 168)

lower

Feb 23, 2026

Lower · Passed

Amendment adopted (Voice vote)

lower

Feb 23, 2026

Introduced

Amendment reported by the Clerk

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Lower · Passed

By substitute, do pass

lower

Feb 5, 2026

Committee

To House Energy and Public Works

lower

Jan 19, 2026

Committee

To House Environment, Infrastructure, and Technology

lower

Jan 19, 2026

Committee

To House Energy and Public Works

lower

Jan 19, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

1 primary · 4 co-sponsors