SB 724 West Virginia Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Relating to home confinement officers’ participation in EMS retirement system

SB 724 removes the requirement that home confinement officers must be certified as law-enforcement officers to join West Virginia's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Retirement System. The bill also extends the deadline for eligible home confinement officers to elect participation in the retirement system. This change directly affects home confinement officers working in the state's justice system, allowing them to access retirement benefits without prior law-enforcement certification. The bill amends specific sections of the West Virginia Code (§16-5V-2 and §16-5V-6f) to update eligibility rules and election procedures.

Issues: ✓ Labor & Employment

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Mar 2026

House of Delegates Passage

Mar 2026

Signed into Law

Jun 2026

Introduced Feb 3, 2026 Signed Jun 25, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

sb724 h fin am _1 adopted.htm → sb724 h fin amt adopted.htm · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to change its title to reflect the addition of a new section and to correct a typo in the committee header. The substantive policy content regarding benefit calculations, transfer procedures, and deadlines for emergency medical services officers and home confinement officers remains unchanged from the previous version.

Scope change

The bill's scope is now explicitly defined by the addition of a new section (§16-5V-6g) governing the transfer of assets and participation for emergency medical services officers previously in the Public Employees Retirement System.

TECHNICAL

The committee header was corrected from 'H FIN AM' to 'H FIN AMT', and the committee's action was rephrased to formally state the intent to amend the title and add a new section.

A new title was added to the bill, clearly listing the amendments to existing sections and the addition of a new section regarding emergency medical services officer participation.

The detailed, line-by-line instructions for amending specific pages and sections were removed, as the new title now summarizes the legislative intent.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 19, 2026 · House of Delegates Mar 13, 2026

How they voted

32–0

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 33

Feb 19, 2026

D Democratic2

2 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican31

30 Yea 1

96% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 27, 2026

Signed into law

Approved by Governor 3/27/2026

upper

Mar 14, 2026

Signed into law

Approved by Governor 3/27/2026 - Senate Journal

upper

Mar 14, 2026

Signed into law

Approved by Governor 3/27/2026 - House Journal

lower

Mar 14, 2026

Upper · Passed

Senate concurred in House amendments and passed bill (Roll No. 672)

upper

Mar 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

Title amendment adopted (Voice vote)

lower

Mar 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed House (Roll No. 553)

lower

Mar 12, 2026

Lower · Passed

Committee amendment adopted (Voice vote)

lower

Mar 12, 2026

Introduced

Amendment reported by the Clerk

lower

Mar 11, 2026

Lower · Passed

With amendment, do pass

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Committee

To House Finance

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Committee

To Finance

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed Senate (Roll No. 150)

upper

Feb 16, 2026

Upper · Passed

Committee substitute reported

upper

Feb 10, 2026

Committee

To Finance

upper

Feb 10, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported do pass, but first to Finance

upper

Feb 3, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

1 primary · 3 co-sponsors