Jason Barrett

Voted for Senate Bill 718, which would have required West Virginia hospitals to publish their prices service by service, their facility fees, and their discount contracts with insurers. Hospitals would also have reported large payments and who owns more than five percent of the hospital. A hospital still out of compliance 10 days after being notified would have owed $1,000 a day. The Senate passed it 22-12, but the House never voted on it, so it did not become law.

March 31, 2025Supports Healthcare Affordability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 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 Senate agreed to the House version 25-8 and it became law.

March 13, 2026Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 420, which would have pushed West Virginia's regulated electric utilities to run their coal-fired plants at about two thirds of full output year round, with rate treatment tied to how well they met that mark. A utility could not have retired or shrunk a coal or gas plant without approval from two state agencies. Utilities also could not have charged customers for new wind or solar investment. The Senate passed it 22-11, but the House never voted on it, so it did not become law.

March 4, 2026Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 3444, which repeals West Virginia's laws on inflammation of the eyes of newborns. Those sections required that a newborn be given a preventive eye medication, required anyone assisting at a birth to report cases, gave duties to local health officers and the state board of health, and set penalties. The repeal removes those legal duties, and does not by itself change what doctors and hospitals choose to do. The Senate passed it 18-15 and it became law without the Governor's signature.

April 10, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 592, which would have removed several kinds of storage tanks from the safety law West Virginia passed after the 2014 Elk River chemical spill. Small tanks on coal mining permit sites and more oil and gas tanks would have left the program if they sat outside the protection zones around drinking water intakes. Those same kinds of tanks inside the zones would have stayed regulated, but the owner rather than an outside engineer would have inspected and certified them. The Senate passed it 25-7, but the House never voted on it, so it did not become law.

March 14, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 460, which would have let a parent opt a child out of West Virginia's school vaccine requirements by handing the school a written statement of a religious or philosophical objection. No approval would have been needed. A doctor, physician assistant or nurse practitioner could also have written a medical exemption directly to the school, replacing state review. The Senate passed it 20-12, but the House rejected its own amended version, so it did not become law.

February 21, 2025Opposes Environment and Public Health

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for 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 Senate passed it 24-9 and it became law.

March 13, 2026Opposes Labor Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026

Voted for House Bill 4005, the Workforce Development Act of 2026, which deletes West Virginia's own list of seventeen jobs closed to workers under 18 and instead follows what federal law allows. The deleted list covered mining, logging and sawmilling, explosives, demolition, excavation, roofing above ground level, meat packing and several power-driven machines. The act also lets workers aged 16 and over do hazardous farm work that federal law permits, and it removes the rule limiting student apprentices to using such machinery for no more than five percent of their training hours. The Senate passed it 27-7 and it became law.

March 9, 2026Opposes Labor Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted for House Bill 2013, which takes civil service and grievance rights away from new hires in five state agencies. They are the Bureau of Senior Services and the Departments of Administration, Environmental Protection, Revenue and Veterans' Assistance. From July 1, 2025, new hires there are at-will, with no civil service protection and no access to the state grievance process, unless an agency head keeps a job covered to meet federal law or funding rules. Current workers keep those rights only while they stay in their current job. The Senate passed it 24-10 and it became law.

April 8, 2025Opposes Labor Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 11, 2026

Voted for House Bill 3412 as rewritten by the Senate. The Senate struck the House text and instead narrowed the state's Freedom of Information Act for every public body. By the Senate's own summary the rewrite widened what records are exempt, removed the presumption that records are public, extended the response deadline from five business days to 14, and allowed search and retrieval fees. The Senate passed it 25-9, but the House never agreed to the rewrite, so it did not become law.

April 11, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 587, which changes how West Virginia governments buy construction work. It doubles the point at which a state agency, city, county or school board must seek competing bids, from $25,000 to $50,000. For projects of $20 million or more it creates a new track that picks a builder from a shortlist of at least three firms on an overall best-value score rather than the lowest bid. The Senate agreed to the House version 27-7 and it became law.

April 12, 2025Supports Government Efficiency

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 548, which would have required West Virginia's county public schools serving grades six through 12 to give students at least one hour, or one class period, of youth violence prevention training each year. Schools serving any grade from kindergarten through 12 would have given a further hour or class period on combating social isolation, using programs the state Department of Education approved. Charter schools and private schools could have taken part or not, as they chose. The Senate passed it 26-8, but the House never voted on it, so it did not become law.

March 18, 2025Supports Public Safety and Crime Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for House Bill 4005, the Workforce Development Act of 2026, which deletes West Virginia's own list of seventeen jobs closed to workers under 18 and instead follows what federal law allows. The deleted list covered mining, logging and sawmilling, explosives, demolition, excavation, roofing above ground level, meat packing and several power-driven machines. The act also lets workers aged 16 and over do hazardous farm work that federal law permits, and it removes the rule limiting student apprentices to using such machinery for no more than five percent of their training hours. The Senate passed it 27-7 and it became law.

March 9, 2026Opposes Social Programs and Welfare

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted for House Bill 2513, which raises the yearly training required of West Virginia county school board members from seven hours to twelve and adds fiscal management to the required topics. A member who misses the first orientation must complete a make-up session within 30 days, and failing to finish required training without good cause counts as neglect of duty. The act also sets board member pay at $260 for each meeting attended unless the board votes for less, and lets members claim mileage without producing receipts. The Senate passed it 27-7 and it became law.

April 3, 2025Supports Public Education Quality

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 963, which would have limited when a domestic violence protective order can take away a person's guns. Today that firearm ban is automatic in every protective order. The bill would have required notice, and then either that the person failed to appear, agreed to give up the guns, or lost at a hearing where a judge found abuse. The Senate passed it 22-11, but the House never voted on passage, so it did not become law.

March 4, 2026Opposes Gun Control

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 579, which would have barred West Virginia cities in the state's Home Rule program from protecting any group that state law does not already protect. It would also have voided the local anti-discrimination ordinances those cities had already passed. In practice that reaches city protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, which state law does not cover. The Senate passed it 25-8, but the House never voted on it, so it did not become law.

March 24, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 730, which would have required companies that arrange forest carbon offset deals to register each deal with the state Division of Forestry and record it at the county courthouse within 60 days. A carbon offset deal pays a landowner to keep carbon stored in the forest. Recording it would make the deal show up in a title search. The Senate rejected it 16-18, so it did not become law.

April 2, 2025Supports Corporate Accountability

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026

Voted against House Bill 3017, which would have required county commissions to inspect every ballot-counting machine before early voting and certify in a public report that no machine holds a modem or SIM card. The Secretary of State would have audited a random sample of counties. The Senate added a new complaint and investigation procedure for election law violations, then rejected the whole bill 16-18, so it did not become law.

April 9, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 8, 2026