SB 428 West Virginia Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Creating three separate job titles for school bus operators

SB 428 creates three new job classifications for school bus operators in West Virginia: Bus Operator I, Bus Operator II, and Bus Operator III, replacing the single existing title. The bill establishes specific pay grades for each new classification and increases the pay grade for cafeteria managers. These changes directly affect school bus operators and cafeteria managers employed by county school boards. The bill amends existing state code sections governing service personnel pay scales and job classifications.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 15, 2026 Last action Jan 21, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Committee Substitute · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to clarify that it replaces the single 'Bus Operator' title with three distinct levels (I, II, and III) based on years of experience, specifically adding a new intermediate category for operators with 5 to 10 years of service. The text was also updated to reflect that the bill was reported by two senators rather than one and to correct minor grammatical errors throughout the definitions of various job titles.

Scope change

The bill's scope was clarified to explicitly replace the existing single job title for school bus operators with a tiered system of three separate titles based on years of service.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'Bus Operator' was split into three new categories: Bus Operator I (less than 5 years), Bus Operator II (5 to less than 10 years), and Bus Operator III (10 or more years).

The bill's description was updated to indicate it is now sponsored by Senators Morris and Deeds and was reported by the Committee on Education, rather than being introduced by Senator Morris alone.

TECHNICAL

Minor grammatical corrections were made throughout the text, including adding missing Oxford commas in lists and fixing repetitive phrasing in the 'Aide V' and 'Aide VI' definitions.

The title of the legislative article was updated to include an Oxford comma after 'WAGES'.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Jan 21, 2026

Committee

To Finance

upper

Jan 21, 2026

Committee

Committee substitute reported, but first to Finance

upper

Jan 15, 2026

Committee

To Education

upper

Jan 15, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

Jan 15, 2026

Committee

To Education then Finance

upper

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors