HB 5416 West Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

relating to authority and notice requirements for religious organizations

HB 5416 requires unincorporated religious organizations (like churches not formally registered as nonprofits) to provide public notice before selling property or taking loans secured by property. Specifically, it mandates either publishing a legal notice in a county newspaper or announcing the sale/loan twice during services at the church. This applies only to groups not incorporated under West Virginia law (excluding existing nonprofit religious corporations). The bill does not change rules for incorporated religious entities, which follow their own bylaws and state nonprofit corporation laws.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2026
Committee Review
Feb 2026
House of Delegates Passage
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 10, 2026 Last action Feb 26, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Committee Substitute Engrossed Committee Substitute · 1 edit · Feb 25, 2026
MINOR
The bill was updated to reflect its current status as the 'Engrossed Committee Substitute' rather than the original 'Committee Substitute'. The substantive text of the bill, which governs how religious organizations must notify the public before selling property or taking on debt, remains unchanged.
Scope change
The scope of the bill's applicability is unchanged; it continues to apply to unincorporated religious organizations while exempting incorporated ones.
TECHNICAL

Updated version labels and headers to indicate the bill has been processed by the committee and is now in its engrossed form.

Floor votes · House of Delegates Feb 25, 2026

How they voted

960
Passed · 4 other
Total votes 100
Feb 25, 2026
D Democratic9
8 Yea 1
88% Yea
R Republican91
88 Yea 3
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
20
Key actions
2
Committee
7
Feb 26, 2026
Committee
To Judiciary
upper
Feb 26, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
upper
Feb 25, 2026
Lower · Passed
Passed House (Roll No. 188)
lower
Feb 20, 2026
Lower · Passed
By substitute, do pass
lower
Feb 17, 2026
Committee
To House Judiciary
lower
Feb 16, 2026
Committee
To House Legal Services
lower
Feb 13, 2026
Committee
To House Legal Services
lower
Feb 10, 2026
Committee
To House Judiciary
lower
Feb 10, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in House
lower
Feb 10, 2026
Committee
To Judiciary
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of George Miller
George Miller
RRepublican
WV
90