West Virginia tanning laws for salon owners

What West Virginia requires at the front desk

West Virginia's tanning law is five short sections: W. Va. Code §§16-45-1 to 16-45-5, first passed in 2013 and tightened in 2017. There is no state rule under it, so almost every duty lands on the person at the counter.

1. Ask every client for a driver's license or other government-issued ID that shows their date of birth and photograph before they use a tanning bed or booth (§16-45-3(b)). The statute does not say whether one check covers a returning client, so ask your local health department how it reads the rule.
2. Turn away anyone under 18 for UV tanning, even with a parent standing beside them (§16-45-3(b)).
3. Before the first session, have the client sign and date a disclosure and consent form that carries the FDA warning exactly as §16-45-3(a) quotes it, from "Danger. Ultraviolet Radiation." to "unlikely to tan from use of this product."
4. Keep the signed, dated copy. It is valid for one year from the date it was signed, so ask for a new signature once a year has passed.
5. Let a local health department inspector in when they ask (§16-45-4).

The one exception to the age rule is medical: nothing in the article stops a health care provider licensed under chapter 30 from prescribing a photo therapy device to a patient of any age to treat a medical condition (§16-45-2). That covers prescribed treatment, not cosmetic tanning.

Who enforces it, and the penalties

No state agency licenses or registers tanning salons in West Virginia, and there is no state fee. The state health agency's own list of public health sanitation rules names W. Va. Code §§16-45-1 to 16-45-5 for tanning and no rule. Local health departments may enter and inspect a facility to check compliance (§16-45-4).

The penalties fall on the owner. A violation of the article is a misdemeanor with a $100 fine for a first offense, $250 to $500 for a second and $500 to $1,000 for a third or later offense (§16-45-5).

A county board of health or city can still add its own business license or conditions, so check with yours.

What changed, and when

Senate Bill 464 created Article 45 in 2013, in effect July 12, 2013. It banned tanning under 14 and let 14- to 17-year-olds tan with a parent's written consent and the parent's photo ID. House Bill 2520 (2017 Acts ch. 192) replaced that with a flat under-18 ban, in effect July 7, 2017, and cut the parental-consent wording from the penalty section.

Nothing has changed since. The West Virginia Code's own bill history for §16-45-3 and §16-45-5 lists only the 2013 and 2017 bills. The Legislature's code-affected lists for chapter 16 in the 2024, 2025 and 2026 regular sessions show no bill touching §16-45, and its full bill lists for those sessions show no bill title that mentions tanning. The same lists for 2017 find House Bill 2520, which shows the check works.

What West Virginia law does not cover

• Spray tans: the age rule covers equipment that emits radiation, so it sets no age for a spray booth.
• Time between sessions: there is no 24-hour or other gap. See the 24-hour tanning rule guide.
• Operator training, injury reports, eyewear supply, replacement lamps and timer checks: none is set by Article 45. Federal equipment rules still apply; see FDA tanning bed regulations.
• Visit logs and record retention: only the signed consent form must be kept.

How TanVision helps in West Virginia

TanVision's consent forms let clients sign on their own phone or a tablet, and each signed record keeps the exact wording they agreed to and the date and time they signed. You can edit the wording at Settings > Waiver wording, so the form can carry the FDA warning exactly as §16-45-3(a) quotes it; have your attorney check the text. A session cannot start without a signed statement and a date of birth on file.

The minimum age is 18 by default, which matches West Virginia. If a client under 18 signs the consent form with a parent, TanVision records guardian consent. West Virginia allows no exception, so set Minors and UV rooms to No at Settings > Tanning rules: check-in then refuses UV rooms to anyone under 18, even with guardian consent on file, while the consent still opens spray rooms. At Yes, the default, consent lets them start any room, UV included, with only a warning.

Two more limits matter here. Scan ID reads the date of birth from the barcode on a driver's license or ID card with a USB 2D scanner and records the day the ID was checked, but it does not compare the photo with the person, so staff still look at the ID; check-in checks age only against the date of birth on file. TanVision also has no waiver expiry: the client record shows Waiver signed however old the form is, so nothing flags a form past its one-year validity. The Waivers page lists the forms signed through TanVision, newest first, with the date and time each was signed, and the client signs again through the same link. A waiver staff record by hand on the client's details turns that badge on but adds nothing to the Waivers page, so keep that paper copy yourself. The client record shows recent visits newest first. Compare nearby states on tanning laws by state, such as Virginia and Ohio.