SB 947 Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Issuing citations; certain traffic offenses and odor of marijuana, exclusion of evidence.

Summary
Issuing citations; certain traffic offenses and odor of marijuana; exclusion of evidence. Removes provisions prohibiting a law-enforcement officer from stopping a motor vehicle for operating (i) with an expired registration sticker prior to the first day of the fourth month after the original expiration date; (ii) with defective and unsafe equipment; (iii) without tail lights, brake lights, or a supplemental high mount stop light; (iv) without lighted headlights displayed when so required; (v) with certain tinting films, signs, posters, stickers, or decals; (vi) with objects or other equipment suspended so as to obstruct the driver's view; or (vii) with an expired inspection prior to the first day of the fourth month after the original expiration date, as well as the accompanying exclusionary provisions. The bill also authorizes a law-enforcement officer to lawfully stop, search, or seize a person, place, or thing or a search warrant to be issued based solely on the odor of marijuana if such odor creates a reasonable suspicion of a violation of the law prohibiting driving while intoxicated.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 6, 2025 Last action Jan 31, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Courts of Justice Substitute Offered · 3 edits
MINOR
This bill was amended from its original introduction to a substitute version offered by the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice. The substantive text of the bill remains largely unchanged, with the primary modifications being formatting adjustments, page numbering, and the addition of committee markup indicating it is now a substitute bill rather than the original introduction. No new policy provisions, funding, dates, or enforcement changes were added to the text itself.
Scope change
The bill's scope and applicability remain unchanged; only the document format and status changed from 'Introduced' to 'Courts of Justice Substitute Offered'.
TECHNICAL

Document header changed from 'Introduced' to 'Courts of Justice Substitute Offered' with updated date and committee attribution.

Added page numbers and draft markings throughout the document.

Minor formatting adjustments including spacing and line breaks throughout the text.

Floor votes

How they voted

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
6
Key actions
0
Committee
2
Jan 16, 2025
Committee
Rereferred from Transportation to Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N)
upper
Jan 6, 2025
Committee
Referred to Committee on Transportation
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Bill DeSteph
Bill DeSteph
RRepublican
VA
20