SJR 6 West Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Legislative Authority to Reduce or Eliminate Ad Valorem Taxes while Mandating Equal or Greater Revenue Replacement for Impacted Communities Amendment

SJR 6 is a proposed constitutional amendment (not a bill) that would eliminate West Virginia's tax on business inventory, including raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods held for sale or manufacturing. This change would directly affect businesses (reducing their tax burden) and local governments (counties, municipalities, school districts), which would lose revenue from this tax. The amendment requires the state legislature to provide alternative funding to replace lost revenue for impacted communities, ensuring no net fiscal harm to local governments. It must be ratified by voters in the 2026 general election to take effect.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 14, 2025 Last action Mar 12, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Committee Substitute (1) · 6 edits

MODERATE

The bill was revised from its introduced version to a committee substitute version, significantly changing its purpose and scope. The original version sought to permanently eliminate taxation on business inventory, while the new version grants the Legislature authority to reduce or eliminate ad valorem taxes on automobiles and personal property, but requires equal or greater revenue sharing with impacted counties and localities.

Scope change

The bill's scope changed from a permanent prohibition on business inventory taxation to a conditional authority allowing tax reductions on automobiles and personal property, with mandatory revenue replacement requirements for affected jurisdictions.

SCOPE

Changed from eliminating business inventory tax to allowing reduction/elimination of ad valorem taxes on automobiles and personal property

REQUIREMENT

Added mandatory requirement that Legislature must provide equal or greater revenue share to counties impacted by tax reductions

ELIGIBILITY

Changed from all tangible business inventory to specifically automobiles and other personal property

FISCAL

Changed from requiring alternative funding mechanisms to mandating equal or greater revenue share to impacted counties

DEFINITION

Changed from 'tangible business inventory' definition to focus on automobiles and personal property

TECHNICAL

Changed section designation from 1a to 1d and updated sponsor list and committee reporting information

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 12, 2025

Committee

To Finance

upper

Mar 12, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee substitute reported, but first to Finance

upper

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

To Judiciary

upper

Feb 14, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

To Judiciary then Finance

upper

1 primary · 9 co-sponsors