Bill to remove marriage as a defense for sexual abuse heads to governor for signature

Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, presents a bill during the Senate floor session on Friday, March 8, 2024 in Charleston, W.Va. (Will Price | West Virginia Legislative Photography)

Nearly 50 years in the making, West Virginia lawmakers on Friday completed action on a bill to remove marriage as a defense for certain kinds of sexual abuse and contact.

Senate Bill 190 passed the House unanimously , with one member absent and not voting on Friday. The bill already passed the Senate 22-9 with three members absent on Feb. 26.

The proposed legislation, unless vetoed by the governor, would eliminate marriage as a defense for first- and third-degree sexual assault by striking out language in the state’s sexual offense statute that defines “marriage” and that allows exceptions for certain kinds of assault when people are married or “living together as husband and wife regardless of the legal status of their relationship.”

Under the affected code section, people who are charged with sexual assault could be convicted of a felony and imprisoned for 15 to 35 years for first degree and one to five years for third degree. Penalties are higher if victims are underage.

There was no discussion or debate on SB 190 in the House on Friday. Del. Adam Vance, R-Wyoming, attempted to amend the legislation to include language from House Bill 5235 that doubled penalties for people who sexually abuse minors, but House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, ruled that the amendment was not germane. HB 5235 previously passed the House unanimously but was never brought up for consideration by Senate Judiciary.

In the Senate last month , Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, who is the lead sponsor for the bill, said the point of the law is to ensure that everyone — no matter their marital status — has the same rights and protections afforded to them by the criminal justice system.

Weld said he wanted to introduce the bill to continue the work of one of his predecessors, former state lawmaker Judith Herndon , who represented Ohio County in the Senate. In 1976, Herndon — one of only eight Republicans in the body at the time and the only woman, Weld said — championed a law to end the marital exemption for the sexual assault portion of state code.

SB 190 takes that work further, ending the exception for all types of sexual abuse and assault.

“This is carrying on what I believe to be an unfinished job that she was not able to get done before she unfortunately died in 1980,” Weld previously said.

SB 190 now goes to the governor’s desk, where he can either sign the legislation, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.

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