Relating to providing for condition-based emergency funding for a financially distressed county.
HB 4574 creates a "Temporary Shortfall Supplement Fund" to provide emergency loans (not grants) to West Virginia counties with reserve funds below 5% of available funding. It directly affects county school boards and their financial officers, allowing loans for personnel and essential operating expenses during fiscal shortfalls. Key provisions require counties to repay funds per a set timeline, implement strict financial reporting via WVEIS, adopt the State Auditor’s fiscal system within 45 days, and face penalties for "maladministration" (e.g., failing to maintain reserves or submitting inaccurate financial data), including potential job bans for responsible employees in public education finance roles for two years.
Bill status
passed
3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Jan 2026
House of Delegates Passage
Jan 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 19, 2026
Last action Jan 20, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison
What changed between versions
Introduced Version
→
Engrossed Version
·
2 edits
·
Jan 19, 2026
MINOR
The bill was reclassified from an 'Introduced' draft to an 'Engrossed' version, indicating it has passed committee review and is ready for final legislative action. The text of the bill itself contains minor formatting adjustments and a slight refinement to the definition of 'maladministration' by removing the word 'including' to improve grammatical flow. No substantive policy changes, funding amounts, or eligibility criteria were altered.
TECHNICAL
Minor formatting updates changing the bill status labels from 'Introduced Version' to 'Engrossed Version' and adjusting the committee origin description.
DEFINITION
A slight grammatical adjustment in the definition of 'maladministration' removed the word 'including' before the list of examples to improve sentence structure.
Floor votes · House of Delegates Jan 19, 2026
How they voted
94–0
Passed · 5 other
Total votes 99
Jan 19, 2026
D
Democratic9
88% Yea
R
Republican90
95% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
14
Key actions
1
Committee
2
Jan 20, 2026
Committee
To Education
upper
Jan 20, 2026
Committee
To Education then Finance
upper
Jan 20, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
upper
Jan 19, 2026
Lower · Passed
Passed House (Roll No. 5)
lower
Jan 19, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in House
lower
1 primary · 3 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Pat McGeehan
RRepublican
Co
Clay Riley
RRepublican
Co
Mark Dean
RRepublican
Co
Vernon Criss
RRepublican
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