By Steven Allen Adams, Parkersburg News and Sentinel
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After coming close to eliminating a $15 million fund for greyhound racing in 2017, Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, said it’s time for the Legislature to give it another try.
Speaking by phone Wednesday, Carmichael said he would bring another bill during the 2020 legislative session starting in January to eliminate the Greyhound Breeding Development Fund — a $15 million pot of money that some consider a subsidy that props up a slowly dying industry.
“When one talks about $15 million that could otherwise be used for vital water and sewer projects, road repairs, education initiatives, those type things, I think it from a priority perspective of budgeting, the subsidization of greyhound racing should be near last in terms of priorities,” Carmichael said. “It should be no priority.”
In anticipation of new legislation to end the Greyhound Breeding Development Fund, anti-greyhound racing advocacy group GREY2K unveiled a new website focused on West Virginia’s greyhound racing industry. Carmichael cited stats from GREY2K, taken from state reports, claiming that one greyhound dog dies every 10 days in the state’s racing industry. …
