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Bill

SB 192

Establishing offense of assault upon service animal

2026 Regular Session Introduced by Ryan Weld

Creates a standalone criminal offense for assaulting a service animal, establishing penalties and protections for handlers and users of service animals.

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WeVote Research Nonpartisan
Bill Summary · SB 192

Summary of SB 192 (Session 2026) – West Virginia

Title

Establishing offense of assault upon service animal

Purpose and intent

  • Create a specific offense for assaulting a service animal.
  • Aims to protect service animals that provide essential support to individuals with disabilities and/or safety needs.

Key provisions and changes

  • Introduction of a standalone criminal offense: assault upon a service animal.
  • The bill would define what constitutes assault on a service animal and establish appropriate penalties.
  • Likely alignment with existing protections for service animals under disability rights and criminal statutes, though the exact statutory language (definitions, degrees, and penalties) is not provided in the provided text.

Affected individuals and entities

  • Individuals who interact with service animals (e.g., handlers or owners of service animals) would gain enhanced legal protection against harm to their service animals.
  • Service animal users (persons with disabilities who rely on service animals) would benefit from clear criminal penalties for harming their service animals.
  • Law enforcement, prosecutors, and the judiciary would handle cases involving assault on a service animal under the new offense.
  • Service animal training and advocacy groups may be stakeholders in implementation and public education.

Procedural and timeline notes

  • Status: Filed for introduction and introduced in the Senate on 2026-01-14.
  • Referral: Referred to the Judiciary committee on the same date (2026-01-14).
  • Co-sponsor: Ryan Weld.
  • Action history indicates standard bill progression (introduction, committee referral, consideration), but no specific dates for votes or enactment are provided in the excerpt.
  • No fiscal impact or effective date details are included in the provided text.

Practical implications

  • Signals a legislative priority to deter and address harm to service animals by creating clear criminal consequences.
  • May affect scenarios involving abuse or harm to service animals in public or private settings.
  • Could influence training and reporting protocols for service animal handlers and law enforcement.

Notes

  • The available text is limited and appears to contain non-readable or corrupted file content (likely due to a formatting issue in the provided bill text). The essential elements above reflect the bill’s stated title and the typical framework for establishing a new offense. For complete accuracy, the full, clean bill language (definitions, penalties, exceptions, and procedural provisions) should be reviewed in the official bill manuscript or legislative docket.

If you’d like, I can provide a more detailed analysis once the official text is available or summarize amendments and fiscal impact once those are released.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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