Senate bill to allow motor-vehicle racing on public roads prompts liability, notification and fee questions; laid over

Senate Bill 67, a committee substitute considered by the Senate Transportation Infrastructure Committee, would add a new section to the highway code to allow the West Virginia Department of Transportation to issue permits to motor-sports sanctioning bodies to organize and hold motor-vehicle racing events on public roads that are part of the state road system.

Why it matters: The bill shifts permitting authority to the Department of Transportation for races on state-maintained roads, clarifies that events held on property not controlled by the DOT would require permission from the property owner (for example, airports, municipalities or county commissions), and sets a $250 permit fee. Committee members raised questions about public safety, insurance limits, notification and the adequacy of the fee to cover administrative and emergency-response costs.

What the bill would do: Counsel summarized the measure: "What the committee substitute does is it creates a new section that allows the…