House 4841

WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2026 REGULAR SESSION

House Bill 4841

By Delegates Chiarelli, McCormick, Kyle, Mallow, Statler, Street, Pritt, Shamblin, and Hornby

[Introduced January 27, 2026; referred to the Committee on Finance]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §17-4-17f, relating to road repair; requiring Division of Highways county supervisors consult with county commissions to submit petitions requesting local road repair by the Division of Highways; establishing a petition procedure; and requiring reporting by Division of Highways.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 4. STATE ROAD SYSTEM.

§17-4-17f.  County commission requests for local road repair and maintenance.

(a) A county commission may formally petition the Division of Highways to make specific local road repairs or maintenance a priority. This petition is to be administered by the division in accordance with the provisions of this article.

(b) To accomplish the goals of this article, the county commission of each county, in consultation with the Division of Highways' county supervisor in each county, may submit to the division a petition for a road or group of road in need of repair in their county which shall include:

(1) The name and location of the road;

(2) The condition of the road;

(3) How much traffic the road receives;

(4) Any complaints received on the road conditions;

(5) An estimate of the scope the repair; and

(6) An estimate of the cost to repair.

(c) Upon receipt of the petition the division shall:

(1) Acknowledge receipt of the petition within 15 business days.

(2) Provide a written decision no later than 90 calendar days from receipt of the petition which shall approve, defer, or deny the petition.  A denial shall include an explanation why the petition was denied.

(3) For any petition where the estimate of repair is more than $100,000, the division shall hold at least one public hearing in the county or hybrid after providing legal advertisement  for two weeks pursuant to §59-3-1 of the code.

(d) The division shall present an annual report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance as to the status and progress of the petitions.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to enhance maintenance and repair of the state's local roads by authorizing the county commissions to petition the division for road repair for local roads.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.