West Virginia House Bill HB3304

West Virginia 2025 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/11/25
• Refer: 3/11/25
• Engrossed: 3/28/25
• Refer: 3/31/25

Caption

To create statues celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

Summary

HB3304 creates a state program to establish patriotic memorial statues in West Virginia to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, also referred to as the Semiquincentennial. The bill directs that statues be placed in the northern, southern, eastern, and western parts of the state and that they reflect both the nation’s birth and West Virginia’s heritage. It also sets a target for completion before the 2026 Semiquincentennial date. The bill establishes a commission beginning July 1, 2025, to oversee the project. The commission would be chaired by the Secretary of Tourism and include two West Virginia citizens appointed by the Governor. It would be responsible for soliciting bids, managing construction oversight, and ensuring compliance with state purchasing and payment-processing laws when paying vendors.

Impact

HB3304 would add a new section to West Virginia Code §10-3-3 governing monuments, tablets, and memorials. It creates a formal state mechanism for planning and constructing patriotic statues, including a commission structure, quorum and voting rules, notice requirements for meetings, and procurement obligations. The bill affects state agencies involved in tourism, procurement, and project oversight, as well as contractors or vendors that may bid on the monument construction.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have broad support in the House, passing 89-1, and also passed the effective-date vote 82-8, suggesting generally favorable sentiment toward commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary. The available record does not include committee debate, but the strong vote margins indicate the measure was viewed positively overall and not especially controversial among most members.

Contention

The main points of potential contention are likely to be the use of state resources for patriotic memorial construction, the location and design of the statues, and whether the project should be managed through a commission rather than existing state structures. The bill’s requirement that statues be placed in multiple regions of the state may also raise questions about site selection and equitable distribution. However, the recorded votes show only limited opposition, so any disagreement appears to have been relatively minor.