SB 717 West Virginia Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Modifying disability and retirement benefits and procedures for municipal police and firefighters

SB 717 modifies retirement benefits for municipal police and firefighters in West Virginia. It allows those disabled "in the line of duty" to recalculate their retirement benefits as if they had reached retirement age (50) earlier. It also removes the requirement for those disabled "not in the line of duty" to submit annual tax returns to the pension fund after reaching Social Security's normal retirement age. These changes apply to municipal pension plans overseen by the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board.

Issues: ✓ Labor & Employment

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Feb 2026

House of Delegates Passage

Mar 2026

Signed into Law

Jun 2026

Introduced Feb 3, 2026 Signed Jun 25, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Enrolled Version · 3 edits · Apr 1, 2026

MINOR

This bill modifies disability and retirement benefits for municipal police officers and firefighters in West Virginia. The primary changes involve removing the requirement for disabled officers not injured in the line of duty to submit annual tax returns once they reach Social Security retirement age, and updating the mechanism for adjusting benefit limits to automatically track increases in the state minimum wage.

Scope change

The bill applies to municipal police and firefighters participating in plans overseen by the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board, specifically affecting those disabled not in the line of duty who have reached Social Security normal retirement age.

REQUIREMENT

Eliminates the mandate for disabled police and firefighters (not injured in the line of duty) to file annual tax returns with their pension fund once they reach Social Security normal retirement age.

TIMELINE

Updates the automatic adjustment of the $18,200 income limit in subsection (d) to trigger whenever the state minimum wage increases, replacing the previous fixed date of July 1, 2026.

TECHNICAL

Removes extraneous website navigation links and formatting artifacts from the final enrolled text, streamlining the official legislative record.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 19, 2026 · House of Delegates Mar 12, 2026

How they voted

32–0

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 33

Feb 19, 2026

D Democratic2

2 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican31

30 Yea 1

96% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 1, 2026

Signed into law

Approved by Governor 4/1/2026

upper

Mar 14, 2026

Signed into law

Approved by Governor 4/1/2026 - House Journal

lower

Mar 14, 2026

Signed into law

Approved by Governor 4/1/2026 - Senate Journal

upper

Mar 12, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed House (Roll No. 437)

lower

Mar 10, 2026

Lower · Passed

Do pass

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Committee

To House Finance

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Committee

To Finance

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Upper · Passed

Passed Senate (Roll No. 148)

upper

Feb 16, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported do pass

upper

Feb 10, 2026

Committee

To Finance

upper

Feb 10, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported do pass, but first to Finance

upper

Feb 3, 2026

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

1 primary · 4 co-sponsors