West Virginia Nursing Home Camera Laws: The GRAM'S Act

West Virginia has no statute or regulation giving nursing home residents or families a right to install a camera in a resident's room. Lawmakers have tried twice to create one, the GRAM'S Act, and both attempts died in committee without a vote. This page covers what West Virginia law says today, what the GRAM'S Act would have done, and practical guidance for West Virginia families.

This page is part of our Nursing Home Camera Laws hub, which compares all 50 states, and our national Nursing Home Camera Laws guide covering the states that do have an enacted statute.

West Virginia Has No Nursing Home Camera Statute Today

No West Virginia statute affirmatively grants or bars a resident or family's right to install an electronic monitoring device in a nursing home or assisted-living resident's room. The state's nursing home statutes, Chapter 16B, Article 4 (post-2023 recodification under the Office of Inspector General) and the older Chapter 16, Article 5C, were both reviewed section by section, and neither addresses cameras, video, or audio recording devices. Some secondary sources describe West Virginia as a state that "does not allow" family-installed cameras; the accurate reading is narrower. There is no West Virginia criminal statute that bans a family from installing a video-only camera. What is true is that no statute compels a facility to permit one either, so a facility is free to prohibit cameras through its own admission agreement, which is a policy gap, not a criminal law against filming.

The GRAM'S Act: Two Attempts, Two Committee Deaths

West Virginia lawmakers have twice introduced the Granting Relatives Access to Monitor Act, known as the GRAM'S Act, and both attempts died without a committee vote. House Bill 3283, introduced March 10, 2025, was referred to the House Health and Human Resources Committee and then the Judiciary Committee; its last recorded action was that initial referral, with no hearing or vote before the 2025 session ended. House Bill 5610, the 2026 reintroduction with an overlapping group of sponsors, was introduced February 16, 2026, and received the identical double committee referral the same day, with no further action recorded since, well past the close of the 2026 session. West Virginia's bill tracker still labels HB 5610 "Pending" because the system does not automatically relabel an un-acted bill as "Died," but in practical effect a bill untouched since a session that has already closed has died with that session.

As introduced, the GRAM'S Act would have created a new Chapter 16, Article 67, covering nursing homes, personal care homes, residential board and care homes, and hospital-affiliated extended care facilities. It would have required, in a shared room, that the facility make a reasonable attempt to accommodate a non-consenting roommate by offering a room change, and would have let a consenting roommate impose conditions, such as requiring the device be pointed away from them. The resident or their guardian or attorney-in-fact would have paid for the device and its installation, maintenance, and removal, except the cost of electricity. Notice would have been permissive rather than mandatory: a facility "may" post a sign at the resident's door. The bill would have barred a facility from denying admission to, discharging, or otherwise retaliating against a resident over the decision to authorize a device, backed by misdemeanor penalties of up to $1,000 for a first offense and up to $5,000 for each later one. Separate misdemeanor penalties, also up to $1,000 per offense, would have applied to tampering with a device or filing a false complaint against a facility. Access to recordings would have been restricted to the resident, their guardian or attorney-in-fact, and law enforcement, absent additional authorization.

Watch out: The GRAM'S Act is not law. It describes what has twice been proposed and twice died in committee, not what West Virginia actually permits or requires today. A facility is under no legal obligation to follow any of the procedures the bill would have created.

Audio vs. Video: West Virginia's General Recording Law Still Applies

Even without a nursing-home-specific statute, West Virginia's general wiretap law governs any camera or audio device placed in a resident's room. West Virginia is a one-party consent state under W. Va. Code § 62-1D-3: it is lawful to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication where the person recording is a party to it, or where at least one party has given prior consent, unless done for a criminal or tortious purpose.

That framework covers a resident, or someone recording with the resident's consent, capturing their own conversations. It is less clear where a camera with audio also picks up conversations the resident is not part of, such as staff talking among themselves or a roommate speaking with a visitor. Neither of those parties has consented, which can raise separate exposure under West Virginia's wiretap law. A video-only device avoids this issue, since the statute, like the federal Wiretap Act, reaches communications, not silent video. For the general mechanics of West Virginia's one-party consent rule, see our West Virginia recording law guide and its security camera page.

What This Means in Practice

Because West Virginia has no statute either granting or barring a resident's right to a camera, the facility's admission agreement controls. Before installing any device:

• Ask the administrator directly and get any permission in writing. Some West Virginia facilities allow family-installed cameras under their own policy; others prohibit them.
• Address a shared room separately. West Virginia has no statutory roommate-consent requirement outside the unenacted GRAM'S Act; a facility that permits cameras will typically set its own rule, which may mean seeking the roommate's agreement or requesting a private room.
• Consider a video-only device if consent from everyone who might be recorded, including staff and a roommate's visitors, cannot realistically be obtained.
• An undisclosed camera carries real practical risk. It is not itself a crime under West Virginia's video-recording law, but a facility that discovers it may treat it as a violation of the admission agreement, and any audio the device captures from a conversation no party consented to could expose the person who installed it to liability under § 62-1D-3.

If You Suspect Abuse or Neglect

Camera footage, whether from a facility system or a family device installed with permission, is sometimes the evidence that first reveals abuse or neglect. If footage or another source raises a genuine concern about how a resident is being treated, that concern may support a legal claim separate from whether the camera itself was properly authorized.

Reporting a Concern: The West Virginia Long-Term Care Ombudsman

West Virginia residents, families, and staff can raise complaints about facility policy, retaliation, or suspected abuse or neglect with the West Virginia Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, administered by the Bureau of Senior Services with day-to-day operation contracted to West Virginia Legal Aid, reachable through a statewide line. Under the federal Older Americans Act, the program covers assisted living residents as well as nursing home residents, regardless of whether West Virginia has a camera statute.

Information last verified on 2026-08-14, drawn from West Virginia Legislature HB 3283 (2025) and HB 5610 (2026) bill records, and W. Va. Code § 62-1D-3. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer and is not legal advice.

Related Resources

• Nursing Home Camera Laws by State
• Nursing Home Camera Laws: 50-State Comparison
• West Virginia Recording Laws
• Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect Claims
• West Virginia Power of Attorney Laws

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Last updated: 2026-08-14.