SB 188 West Virginia Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Changing length of term of state political party chair

SB 188 would amend West Virginia law to allow state political party committees to determine the length of the term for their committee chair. Currently, the law may have required a fixed term, but this bill gives parties discretion to set the duration (e.g., one or two years) through their internal voting process. It directly affects the chairs of state-level committees for major political parties, such as the West Virginia Democratic and Republican parties. The bill does not specify a new term length but transfers this decision-making authority to the parties themselves.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Feb 2026
House of Delegates Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 14, 2026 Last action Feb 18, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version Committee Substitute · 1 edit
MINOR
The bill was amended to clarify the process for state political party committees to determine the term length for their chair. The change removes the discretionary power of the voting body to select the term length and instead mandates that the state executive committee and the newly elected chair must select the term length according to the committee's own rules.
Scope change
The scope of authority shifted from the general voting body to the specific state executive committee and the chair-elect regarding term selection.
REQUIREMENT

Changed the authority for selecting the committee chair's term length from the 'voting body' to the 'state executive committee' and the 'newly elected chair' acting pursuant to the committee's rules.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 16, 2026

How they voted

330
Passed
Total votes 33
Feb 16, 2026
D Democratic2
2 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican31
31 Yea
100% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
16
Key actions
2
Committee
4
Feb 17, 2026
Committee
To House Judiciary
lower
Feb 17, 2026
Committee
To Judiciary
lower
Feb 17, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in House
lower
Feb 16, 2026
Upper · Passed
Passed Senate (Roll No. 91)
upper
Feb 11, 2026
Upper · Passed
Committee substitute reported
upper
Jan 14, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
upper
Jan 14, 2026
Committee
To Government Organization
upper
1 primary · 1 co-sponsor

Sponsors