| West Virginia House of Delegates | |
| Coa Pic: | Seal of West Virginia.svg |
| Session Room: | WV-House-of-Delegate.jpg |
| House Type: | Lower house |
| Term Limits: | None |
| Legislature: | 86th West Virginia Legislature |
| Leader1 Type: | Speaker |
| Leader1: | Roger Hanshaw (R) |
| Term Length: | 2 years |
| Authority: | Article VI, West Virginia Constitution |
| Salary: | $20,000/year + per diem |
| Members: | 100 |
| Structure1: | West Virginia_House of Delegates April_2023.svg |
| Structure1 Res: | 250px |
| Structure1 Alt: | West Virginia_House of Delegates April_2023.svg |
| Last Election1: | November 8, 2022 (100 seats) |
| Next Election1: | November 5, 2024 (100 seats) |
| Redistricting: | Legislative Control |
| Political Groups1: | MajorityMinority |
| Meeting Place: | House of Delegates Chamber West Virginia State Capitol Charleston, West Virginia |
| Voting System1: | Plurality voting in single-member districts |
| Body: | West Virginia Legislature |
| New Session: | January 10, 2024 |
| Election1: | August 29, 2018 |
| Leader2: | Paul Espinosa (R) |
| Election2: | January 11, 2023 |
| Leader2 Type: | Speaker pro tempore |
| Leader3: | Eric Householder (R) |
| Leader3 Type: | Majority leader |
| Election3: | January 11, 2023 |
| Leader4: | Sean Hornbuckle (D) |
| Leader4 Type: | Minority leader |
| Election4: | August 8, 2023 |
The West Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the West Virginia Legislature. Only three states—Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia—refer to their lower house as the House of Delegates.
Regular sessions begin with an organizational day on the second Wednesday of January of each year.[1] The length of regular session is limited to 60 calendar days. The governor can call for special sessions.
Delegates are elected for terms of two years.
Delegates submit bill proposals to the Office of Legislative Services or legislative staff counsel, who draft the bill.[2] Once the bill draft is approved by the delegate, it is submitted for introduction. Bills then undergo committee review and three readings in the house of origin and then the other house of the state legislature.
An unusual feature of the West Virginia legislative process is that revenue bills can originate in either house. The state constitution also prohibits multiple subjects in a single bill.
If approved by both the West Virginia House of Delegates and the West Virginia Senate, bills are submitted to the governor, who may sign them into law or veto them. State legislators can override the governor's veto of bills with a simple majority vote of both houses, unless the bill is a revenue bill, in which case two-thirds of the members elected to each house are required to override the governor's veto or line-item veto.
See main article: Political party strength in West Virginia.
| Affiliation (Elected) | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Republican | Other | ||||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | 81st Legislature Begin | 54 | 46 | 100 | 0 | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | 81st Legislature End | 53 | 47 | 100 | 0 | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | 82nd Legislature Start | 36 | rowspan="2" | 64 | 100 | 0 |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | 82nd Legislature End | |||||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | 83rd Legislature Start | 36 | 63 | 100 | 1 (Independent) | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | 83rd Legislature End | 36 | 64 | 100 | 0 | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | 84th Legislature Start | 41 | 59 | 100 | 0 | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | 84th Legislature End | 41 | 58 | 100 | 1 (Independent) | |
| 85th Legislature Start | 24 | 76 | 100 | 0 | ||
| 85th Legislature End | 22 | 78 | 100 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | 86th Legislature Start | 12 | rowspan=2 | 88 | 100 | 0 |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | April 11, 2023 | 11 | 99 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | April 17, 2023 | 10 | rowspan=2 | 89 | 99 | 0 |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | April 27, 2023 | 11 | 100 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | May 19, 2023 | 88 | 99 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | June 5, 2023 | 89 | 100 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | August 30, 2023 | rowspan=2 | 88 | 99 | 0 | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | September 8, 2023 | 10 | 98 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | September 13, 2023 | rowspan=2 | 89 | 99 | 0 | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | September 19, 2023 | 11 | 100 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | October 6, 2023 | 88 | 99 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | October 12, 2023 | 87 | 98 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | October 26, 2023 | 88 | 99 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | October 31, 2023 | 89 | 100 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | December 22, 2023 | 88 | 99 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | January 2, 2024 | 87 | 98 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | January 7, 2024 | 86 | 97 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | January 9, 2024 | 87 | 98 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | January 12, 2024 | 88 | 99 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | January 29, 2024 | 89 | 100 | 0 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | May 21, 2024 | rowspan=2 | 88 | 99 | 0 | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | July 2, 2024 | 99 | 0 | |||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | July 16, 2024 | 89 | 100 | 0 | ||
| Latest voting share | ||||||
Prior to the 1970 Census, districts always respected county lines, with districts always consisting of either a single entire county, or several entire counties. Beginning with that year, the state began to use smaller geographic areas.
In response to the 2010 Census, the legislature was required to redistrict, with the Democratic Party in control. The Republican Party, and groups from the growing eastern panhandle and Putnam County were among those calling for 100 single member districts. Eventually redistricting was adopted, which divided the state into 67 districts, of which 47 were one-member districts, 11 two-member districts, 6 three-member districts, 2 four-member districts, and 1 five-member district. The five-member district, covering most of Monongalia County, remained among the ten largest multi-member lower house districts in the country.
In response to the 2020 Census, the legislature was again required to redistrict, this time with the Republican Party in control. The legislature abandoned the practice of multi-member districts and divided the state into 100 single member districts. Each district contains about 1/100th of the state's population, or about 17,500 persons. These changes took effect with the 2022 election.[3]
See also: List of speakers of the West Virginia House of Delegates. The Speaker of the House is selected by its members. In contrast to the tradition of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Speaker must vote unless excused. The House rules state that in some cases, the speaker is not required to vote unless the House is equally divided, or unless the speaker's vote, if given to the minority, will make the division equal. In the latter case, the question is lost.
| Position | Name | Party | District | County | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speaker of the House | Roger Hanshaw | Republican | 62nd | Clay | |
| Speaker pro tempore | Paul Espinosa | Republican | 98th | Jefferson | |
| Eric Householder | Republican | 96th | Berkeley | ||
| Sean Hornbuckle | Democratic | 25th | Cabell | ||
| Marty Gearheart | Republican | 37th | Mercer | ||
| Minority Whip | Shawn Fluharty | Democratic | 5th | Ohio | |
| Committee | Chair | Minority Chair | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture and Natural Resources | Agriculture | Ty Nestor | Ric Griffith | ||
| Natural Resources | Chuck Horst | Evan Hansen | |||
| Banking and Insurance | Banking | Trenton Barnhart | Larry Rowe | ||
| Insurance | Steve Westfall | ||||
| Economic Development and Tourism | Gary Howell | Vacant | |||
| Education | Joe Ellington | Vacant | |||
| Energy and Manufacturing | Bill Anderson | Evan Hansen | |||
| Finance | Vernon Criss | Larry Rowe | |||
| Fire Departments and EMS | Phil Mallow | Vacant | |||
| Government Organization | Chris Phillips | Kayla Young | |||
| Health and Human Services | Amy Summers | Mike Pushkin | |||
| Jails and Prisons | David Kelly | Joey Garcia | |||
| Judiciary | Tom Fast | Joey Garcia | |||
| Pensions and Retirement | Marty Gearheart | Vacant | |||
| Political Subdivisions | Carl Martin | John Williams | |||
| Prevention & Treatment of Substance Abuse | Matthew Rohrbach | Vacant | |||
| Rules | Roger Hanshaw | Sean Hornbuckle | |||
| Senior, Children, and Family Issues | Margitta Mazzocchi | Vacant | |||
| Technology and Infrastructure | Daniel Linville | John Williams | |||
| Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security | Veteran Affairs | Roy Cooper | Ric Griffith | ||
| Homeland Security | D. Rolland Jennings | Mike Pushkin | |||
| Workforce Development | Evan Worrell | Kayla Young | |||