HB 5059 West Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

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

920
Passed · 7 other
Total votes 99
Mar 4, 2026
D Democratic9
8 Yea 1
88% Yea
R Republican90
84 Yea 6
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