UPDATED March 4, 2026 at 5 p.m. : On Wednesday, the 50th day of the Legislative session, Del. Adam Vance, R-Wyoming, successfully discharged his water bill out of committee to the floor of the House of Delegates. Called “crossover day,” the 50th day is the day a bill must be passed from its chamber of origin.
Delegates voted 52-41 to take the bill out of committee and to the floor. However, in order to meet the deadline, Vance needed four-fifths of the House to vote in favor of suspending the constitutional rule that bills be read on the floor three separate days before passage.
That vote failed 46-47, which means the bill is now officially dead.
At the beginning of the legislative session, state lawmakers said they would ask for $250 million for clean drinking water in the southern coalfields. Then they asked for only $20 million, and now they have decided the proposals need further study.
Southern West Virginians who have been waiting decades with dirty and undrinkable water, will be waiting longer to see relief. Meanwhile, lawmakers have focused on cutting the personal income tax, which would cost the state up to $250 million in revenue.
Caitlin Ware, a United Methodist pastor and a member of From Below, a group focused on drinking water issues in the coalfields, said contemplating tax cuts is the wrong move at this time.
“I find it fascinating that we are debating tax cuts when our water screams anything but tax cuts. I mean, black tap water does not exactly scream ‘cut my taxes,’ you know?” Ware said.
Two bills, each asking for $10 million, filed by Del. David Green, R-McDowell, and Del. Adam Vance, R-Wyoming, targeted water funding in the southern coalfields. Each has been killed in the House Energy Committee.
Vance presented his bill in House Energy the day after activists from the region $visited the Capitol to voice their frustration and show the dirty water that comes out of their faucets.
Lawmakers on the committee raised multiple concerns about Vance’s bill, observing the $10 million price tag wouldn’t come close to addressing the problem. At the time, the committee told him they would adjust the bill to make it more effective.
Now Vance said he’s been promised lawmakers will study the issue during the interim sessions — the period of time lawmakers study issues between regular sessions.
Vance said if the state can afford a tax cut, it can afford to fix the water.
“It’s always sad when you can’t get what you need. We don’t give up the fight today; tomorrow’s a new day. We’ll fight again tomorrow. If we don’t get it tomorrow, we’ll just keep fighting,” Vance said.
Green said portions of his bill, which asked for a task force to temporarily take over struggling public service districts, were cut out and placed in a bill to restructure water funding proposed by the governor’s office. But that bill doesn’t include additional money.
He also noted the House version of the budget includes $30 million in surplus money for water and sewer statewide. That could help, Green said, but it’s not nearly enough. The House version of the budget is still under negotiation and is not guaranteed.
“I would love to have seen more,” Green said.
The governor’s bill would encourage small public water and sewer utilities to pool resources and implement an intervention program for the struggling ones.
But some lawmakers — and Ware — are concerned it could open the door to privatization of these utilities. Lars Dalseide, a spokesman for Gov. Patrick Morrisey, said that was not the case.
“The goal is to keep systems viable and locally managed, not to facilitate forced takeovers,” Dalseide wrote in an email response.
Dalseide didn’t directly address why the governor isn’t using the $250 million set aside for tax cuts to pay for southern coalfield water issues.
“We need to fix the water problems facing our state and continue to grow economically. When a water or sewer utility has not secured available federal or state funding, that is often a sign of deeper structural issues. If the funding is already out there. and a utility has not received it, the question is why,” he wrote.
Ware condemned the lack of action, citing communities in Lincoln, Wyoming, McDowell and Mingo counties where she’s heard from residents that the water irritates their skin.
“I think it’s shameful that another legislative session has passed, and another year is going to happen where people’s skin has to burn (from) the water that they pay for,” Ware said.