SB 529 West Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Relating generally to liability insurance coverage for Board of Education

This bill increases the required liability insurance coverage for community groups using school property from previous amounts to $1 million per occurrence with $5 million in excess coverage. It directly affects county boards of education and community organizations (like nonprofits or volunteer groups) using school facilities for events, requiring them to maintain this insurance. The insurance must be obtained from a company licensed to operate in West Virginia, and the State Board of Risk and Insurance Management may provide this coverage at the group's cost. The bill does not change liability for unorganized recreation or gross negligence cases.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Mar 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
House of Delegates Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 19, 2025 Last action Mar 27, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version Committee Substitute · 4 edits
MODERATE
The bill was amended from an Introduced Version to a Committee Substitute version, primarily involving formatting cleanup and minor text standardization. The substantive legal content regarding insurance requirements for county boards of education remains unchanged, with the same $1 million/$5 million liability coverage limits and the same authority for the State Board of Risk and Insurance Management. The main differences are the removal of navigation elements and website interface text that were accidentally included in the original version, along with minor punctuation and capitalization standardization.
TECHNICAL

Removed website navigation elements, menu items, and footer content that were accidentally included in the original text

Standardized punctuation and capitalization throughout the document for consistency

Changed the bill summary description from 'setting a minimum amount of insurance' to 'changing the minimum amount of insurance' to better reflect the amendment nature

Updated the committee reference from 'referred to the Committee on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance' to 'Reported March 25, 2025, from the Committee on Education'

Floor votes · Senate Mar 27, 2025

How they voted

320
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 33
Mar 27, 2025
D Democratic2
2 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican31
30 Yea 1
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
18
Key actions
2
Committee
5
Mar 27, 2025
Committee
To House Finance
lower
Mar 27, 2025
Committee
To Finance
lower
Mar 27, 2025
Introduced
Introduced in House
lower
Mar 27, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed Senate (Roll No. 193)
upper
Mar 25, 2025
Upper · Passed
Committee substitute reported, but first to Finance
upper
Feb 19, 2025
Committee
To Education
upper
Feb 19, 2025
Introduced
Introduced in Senate
upper
Feb 19, 2025
Committee
To Education then Finance
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Ryan Weld
Ryan Weld
RRepublican
WV
1