Guy Ward

Voted for Senate Bill 586, which bars West Virginia's health secretary from requiring a public water system to have a low-hazard backflow prevention assembly inspected more often than once every three years. A backflow assembly stops used water from being drawn back into drinking water pipes. The act defines a low-hazard assembly as one that could cause only aesthetic or secondary quality problems, and it keeps yearly inspection for high-hazard assemblies, which are those that could let disease organisms or harmful substances into the supply. The House passed it 68-27 and it became law.

March 12, 2026Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 641, which narrows which aboveground storage tanks West Virginia regulates under the law it wrote after the 2014 chemical spill that left 300,000 people without safe tap water. It carves out tanks of 10,000 gallons or less inside a permitted mining area that are certified under the state's groundwater protection law, sit outside a zone of critical concern, and hold none of the substances the act lists as harmful. Those tanks must still be registered, give notice and post signs, but the law's other rules no longer apply to them. The act also gives owners notice before a tank is reclassified when a new protection zone is drawn, and allows remote inspection instead of sending a person into a confined space. The House passed it 58-34 and it became law.

March 12, 2026Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted for House Bill 4198, which would have required every West Virginia employer to check each new hire through E-Verify, the federal online system that confirms a worker may legally work in the United States. An employer would have had to fire a worker whose check did not clear within 20 days. Repeat violations could cost an employer state contracts and, on a third offense, its business license. The House passed it 69-24 and the Senate passed a changed version, but the House never agreed to those changes, so it did not become law.

February 10, 2026Opposes Immigration

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 5319, which would have made it a crime to camp without permission on public property in West Virginia, including streets, parks and trails, or to store belongings there. Approved campgrounds, lawful camping under state park rules, and sleeping overnight in a legally parked, registered and insured vehicle would have stayed allowed. Penalties rose from a written warning to a $200 fine and then up to 30 days in jail, and having no shelter available was not a defense. The House passed it 62-32, but the Senate never voted on it, so it did not become law.

March 3, 2026Opposes Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 4025, which takes civil service and grievance rights away from new hires in West Virginia's three health departments. They are the Departments of Health Facilities, Human Services and Health. From July 1, 2026, new hires there have no civil service protection and no access to the state grievance process, unless a department secretary keeps them for jobs where federal rules require it. Current workers keep those rights only while they stay in their current job. The House agreed to the Senate version 62-34 and it became law.

March 14, 2026

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026