WEST virginia legislature
2026 regular session
ENROLLED
Committee Substitute
for
House Bill 4999
By Delegates Browning, McCormick, Stephens, Campbell, Akers, Foggin, and D. Cannon
[Passed March 14, 2026; in effect 90 days from passage (June 12, 2026)]
AN ACT to amend and reenact §61-2-15a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to crimes against athletic officials; clarifying that victims include participants; establishing minimum fines; creating and clarifying definitions; authorizing a person convicted of the offenses to be banned from certain sports events; requiring written notice to the person banned; establishing that a violation of the ban is a form of trespass; creating certain exemptions for participating athletes; and creating criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
(a) If any person commits an assault as defined in §61-2-9(b) of this code to the person of an athletic official or participant during the time the official or person is acting as an athletic official or participant, the offender is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $250, nor more than $500 or confined in jail not more than six months, or both fined and confined.
(b) If any person commits a battery, as defined in §61-2-9(c) of this code against an athletic official or participant during the time the official or person is acting as an athletic official or participant, the offender is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $500, nor more than $1,000 or confined in jail not more than one year, or both fined and confined.
(c) For the purpose of this section, "athletic official or participant" means a player on a sports team, a person at a sports event who enforces the rules of that event, including, but not limited to, an umpire or referee, or a person who supervises the participants, including, but not limited to, a coach, school administrator, assistant coach, or any other official team members during the course of a game or related event.
(d) In addition to the criminal penalties set forth in this section, a county board of education or a governing board for a state institution of higher education may provide written notification to any person convicted of an offense under subsection (a) or subsection (b) of this section that he or she is banned from all state school sports events or school-sponsored sports events as a result of the conviction for a minimum of one year. Any person receiving the written notification set forth in this subsection who refuses to leave the premises of any state school sports event or school-sponsored sports event upon request is subject to prosecution pursuant to the provisions of §61-3B-1 and §61-3B-2 of this code.
(e) Participants who are players on a sports team in the game are exempt from prosecution under this section for acts, including, but not limited to, hard fouls, committed during the sporting event, provided the participant acts within the scope of the rules or nature of the sport.
The Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of the Senate hereby certify that the foregoing bill is correctly enrolled.
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Clerk of the House of Delegates
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Clerk of the Senate
Originated in the House of Delegates.
In effect 90 days from passage.
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Speaker of the House of Delegates
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President of the Senate
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The within is ................................................ this the...........................................
Day of ..........................................................................................................., 2026.
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Governor