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

West Virginia has no statute giving nursing home residents or families a right to install a camera in a resident's room, and for assisted living residences a separate state rule restricts monitoring devices to common areas only. Lawmakers have tried twice to create a nursing home camera right, 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 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. The nursing home licensure rule, 64 CSR 13, is silent as well: neither its residents' rights section nor its quality of life section mentions cameras, surveillance, or monitoring devices.

What follows from that silence is narrower than it sounds. No statute compels a nursing home to permit a camera, so a facility is free to prohibit one through its own admission agreement. But silence in the nursing home rules is not permission from the rest of West Virginia law. Two provisions reach a camera in a resident's room regardless: the wiretap statute discussed below, and W. Va. Code § 61-8-28, the criminal invasion of privacy statute.

Section 61-8-28(b) makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly visually portray another person, without that other person's knowledge, while that person is fully or partially nude and is in a place where a reasonable person would have an expectation of privacy. The statute defines visually portray to include a video tape, a digital recording, and any other mechanical or electronic recording process or device, so a silent video camera is squarely covered. A first offense carries up to one year in jail or a fine of up to $5,000, or both, and a second or subsequent offense is a felony carrying one to five years or a fine of up to $10,000. The statute sets out no exception for security cameras, for family members, or for good motives.

A resident's room is exactly the setting where that statute bites, because residents are bathed, changed, and toileted there. A camera installed with the resident's own knowledge does not portray that resident without their knowledge, so it does not violate subsection (b) as to them. The exposure runs to everyone else in frame, most obviously a roommate in a shared room, and to a resident who does not know the camera is there, which is a live question when a family member installs a device for a resident with advanced dementia.

Assisted Living Residences Are Governed by a Different Rule

Everything above concerns nursing homes. West Virginia licenses assisted living residences under a separate legislative rule, 64 CSR 14, issued under W. Va. Code § 16-5D, and that rule does address monitoring devices. Section 5.2.11 provides that the use of visual and auditory devices to monitor areas of the assisted living residence is restricted to common areas only, and requires the licensee to give the resident or legal representative written notice of the use of such devices at admission and to post a notice about their use in a prominent place in the residence. The rule classifies the provision as a Class III violation.

Read on its face, that language confines monitoring devices in an assisted living residence to common areas, which excludes a resident's room. The notice duty in the second sentence falls on the licensee, and a licensing rule is enforced against the licensee, so the practical effect is that a West Virginia assisted living residence has a rule it can point to when it refuses a family camera in a room. Secondary reporting that describes West Virginia as a state that does not allow recording devices in facility rooms is therefore accurate for assisted living residences, even though it overstates the position for nursing homes proper, where no comparable provision exists. Before installing anything, check which license the facility actually holds.

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 that particular issue, since the wiretap statute, like the federal Wiretap Act, reaches communications and not silent video. It does not place the device beyond West Virginia law, however, because § 61-8-28 reaches silent video directly. A video-only camera can still be a crime under that section if it records a roommate, or a resident who does not know it is there, while they are undressed. 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 nursing home resident's right to a camera, the facility's admission agreement controls. Before installing any device:

• Confirm which license the facility holds. If it is an assisted living residence rather than a nursing home, W. Va. Code R. § 64-14-5.2.11 restricts monitoring devices to common areas, and the facility has a state rule behind any refusal.
• Ask the administrator directly and get any permission in writing. Some West Virginia nursing homes 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, but a roommate is the person most likely to be captured undressed, which is where § 61-8-28 exposure arises. A facility that permits cameras will typically set its own rule as well, 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. Video-only removes the wiretap problem, not the § 61-8-28 problem, so position the lens away from a roommate's side of the room and away from wherever personal care is given.
• An undisclosed camera carries real legal and practical risk. Under § 61-8-28 it is a misdemeanor to knowingly record a person, without their knowledge, while they are fully or partially nude in a place where a reasonable person would expect privacy, and a resident's room qualifies. A facility that discovers a hidden camera may also 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 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 2026-08-31, drawn from West Virginia Legislature HB 3283 (2025) and HB 5610 (2026) bill records, W. Va. Code § 62-1D-3, W. Va. Code § 61-8-28, and W. Va. Code R. § 64-14-5.2.11. 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: 2026-08-31.