New Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced a day one blitz of executive orders, including directives to bolster religious exemptions to vaccination mandates and strip down diversity, equity and inclusion policies in government.
Another of Morrisey’s executive orders would kickstart reviews meant to establish what he has called a Backyard Brawl to compare West Virginia’s economic and regulatory policies to those of surrounding states.

Morrisey, a Republican who was sworn into office Monday, announced the flurry of executive orders today during a press conference at the state Capitol.
“I think there’s a need for decisive action throughout state government,” Morrisey said. “West Virginia is an amazing place. You know that I have a deeply held belief that we are and we’re going to be that shining state in the mountains. But there are a lot of challenges that we have.”
Morrisey continued by expressing the need to get a jump on priorities for economic and social issues.
“That’s why we have 10 different items across the spectrum on various issues — a lot of them on economic and regulatory matters that are deeply important for the future success of the state. But they’re also important issues relating to citizens’ freedoms that we have to be sure we’re articulating.”
Here are the 10 actions Morrisey announced:
‘Backyard Brawl’ kickoff
The new governor said this would direct his administration to examine every regulation, workforce rule and licensing rule in comparison to surrounding states.
“I’m a big believer that if we can have freer, more dynamic policies compared to our neighbors, we’re going to succeed,” he said.
‘School Choice’ as a top priority
Morrisey has described his advocacy for school choice initiatives, saying “West Virginia will always have the broadest school choice law in the country.” This puts it in writing.
“We anticipate legislation in this area,” he said.
‘Terminating any DEI’
The acronym stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. It’s a set of policies in business, government and academia aimed at creating a more inclusive and equitable environment.
Social conservatives have taken aim at the policies as a kind of reverse discrimination. That’s where Morrisey lands.
“We’re expressly sending a letter to all of our cabinet officials and agency heads and indicating there should be a review of any potential DEI that may exist within state government,” he said.
“We want to have a review of recruiting, of retention, of programs, of policies or any issue which might express an inappropriate preference for race, for sex, for national origin, some of these classes that have been used and manipulated in the past.”
Review of earlier spending decisions
Morrisey announced a review of major spending decisions occurring within the fiscal year — anything over $100,000 from July 1, 2024 to June 30 of this year.
That would cover the final six months of the outgoing Justice administration.
“People who know me well know that I believe in efficient, accountable government, and we’re going to go after waste as much as humanly possible,” he said.
He continued, “If we identify that there are opportunities to rescind programs and spend ing, we will do that.”
Belt-tightening directive
The governor is directing agencies and boards to plan more efficiently, beyond an immediate spending review.
“We want to question things. We want to make sure we’re prioritizing what matters to taxpayers,” Morrisey said.
“I think every part of state government needs to be looking closely to say ‘How can we gain more efficiencies than what currently exists?’ And I want to realize significant savings because that is going to have to get factored in to the budget that we’ll be submitting to the Legislature next month.”
Examine rules and regulations
Morrisey characterized this directive as an examination of all state government rules and regulations that currently exist.
“We’re looking at items that are outdated, that are complex or regulations that may impede the flow of commerce that actually don’t have tangible value for our citizenry. It’s important that we review things from time to time to be sure that we’re putting the citizens of West Virginia first.”
Religious exemptions for vaccines
Morrisey described this as implementing the “Equal Protection for Religion Act,” which went into law in 2023.
That bill stipulated the government would not be able to “substantially burden” someone’s constitutional right to freedom of religion unless doing so “is essential to further a compelling governmental interest.” Much of the public debate at the time focused on how the policy might affect LGBTQ+ rights.
In this case, Morrisey is saying the concept should apply to mandatory vaccinations.
“We believe that the ‘Equal Protection for Religion Act’ strongly argues in favor of religious and conscientious exemptions,” he said today.
“West Virginia right now is an outlier. There are only several states that don’t recognize religious exemptions. Today that changes.”
He later said his administration will be announcing a process for people to declare their religious objections to vaccines.
“We would envision something along the lines of, if someone submits an affidavit that they have that religious belief and regardless of the vaccine, that would meet the definition of the law that was passed a couple of years ago that I don’t believe was fully and properly enforced,” he said.
Reviewing all prior executive orders
“We’re not aware of the last time people have gone back to do a wholesome review, going back in time of what executive orders exist from 20 years ago, 30 years ago. We thought it’s prudent to go back and see what rules are we operating under. The public deserves to know that we’re being transparent and what the rules of the road are.”
He concluded by saying some could be eliminated or modified.
Defining gender
Morrisey emerged from a bruising Republican primary where one of the most prominent issues was society’s rules surrounding transgender people.
Today, Morrisey said his administration will pursue strict definitions of “man” and “woman.”
“Men are men and women are women, and we plan to work with the legislature to introduce legislation classifying that under law,” he said.
“I think that’s commonsense and long overdue.”
Fentanyl battle
Morrisey described a letter to be sent from his administration to federal officials to urge cooperation on fighting the deadly synthetic opioid, fentanyl.
“We’ve all been working very hard fighting the drug plague,” he said, “but I think we need additional help.”
His administration will be asking the state’s congressional delegation “to list fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.”
Overall, Morrisey described the first ten actions as swift and decisive.
“I don’t expect that we’re going to get everything done overnight,” he said, “but you should expect a lot of action over the course of the upcoming weeks.”