Relating to cultural heritage institutions
HB 5059 allows West Virginia museums, libraries, archives, and historical societies to claim legal ownership of specific items they hold, following defined notice procedures. For property on long-term loan (including expired loans), institutions can claim title after notifying the lender and waiting 60 days if no response is received. For items without clear ownership records ("undocumented property"), institutions must hold the items for three years plus 60 days of notice before claiming title. Similarly, items found on institution property ("unsolicited donations") can be claimed after 60 days of notice to potential owners. The bill requires specific written notices detailing the property and claiming process.
Bill status
passed
3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2026
Committee Review
Mar 2026
House of Delegates Passage
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 3, 2026
Last action Mar 5, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons
What changed between versions
Committee Substitute
→
Engrossed Committee Substitute
·
2 edits
·
Mar 4, 2026
MINOR
The bill's title page was updated to reflect its new status as an 'Engrossed Committee Substitute' rather than a standard 'Committee Substitute,' indicating it has passed the initial committee review stage. A minor formatting correction was made to the committee report date, changing the capitalization of the word 'reported' to match standard sentence case conventions.
TECHNICAL
The version label for the bill was changed from 'Committee Substitute' to 'Engrossed Version' in the helpful links section to reflect its current legislative status.
The capitalization of the word 'reported' in the committee report date was corrected to lowercase.
Floor votes · House of Delegates Mar 4, 2026
How they voted
92–0
Passed · 7 other
Total votes 99
Mar 4, 2026
D
Democratic9
88% Yea
R
Republican90
93% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
16
Key actions
2
Committee
4
Mar 5, 2026
Committee
To Judiciary
upper
Mar 5, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
upper
Mar 4, 2026
Lower · Passed
Passed House (Roll No. 295)
lower
Mar 2, 2026
Lower · Passed
By substitute, do pass
lower
Feb 3, 2026
Committee
To House Judiciary
lower
Feb 3, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in House
lower
Feb 3, 2026
Committee
To Judiciary
lower
1 primary · 2 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
J.B. Akers
RRepublican
Co
Joe Funkhouser
RRepublican
Co
Scot Heckert
RRepublican
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