CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – In the morning floor session of Day 58, the House concurred with the Senate to complete action on four bills and concurred but amended four other bills. Fourteen bills were on third reading and five of them completed legislative action.
Two House Bills advancing to the Senate provide additional funding to the Hope Scholarship. House Bill 3356 appropriates $28,400,666 from the unappropriated balance of the General Revenue. House Bill 3357 appropriates $33,804,764 of the unappropriated surplus balance of the Lottery Net Profits.
Debate ensues on appropriating additional funds to the Hope Scholarship Program, which is already funded in the 2026 budget with $24,610,523 from general revenue and $9,197,431 from lottery revenue in the House version of the Budget.
Proponents of the bills stated that additional funding is required because the program is an obligation of the state. They noted the program is about educational choice and parental choice. Opponents said that there are other obligations of the state being underfunded due to the ever-growing program. Many compared it to the Promise Scholarship implementation, where after a couple of years parameters were set requiring specific testing scores. Individuals on both sides of the issue recognize that if the line item is to continue to grow, parameters will be needed.
House Bill 3356 advanced with 75 in favor and 21 against. House Bill 3357 advanced with 76 in favor and 21 against.
After completing the bills on third reading, the House recessed. There are 44 bills on second reading to be taken up and one bill on first reading.
