HB 1205 Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

Motor vehicles insurance; hwy. use fee, tangible personal property tax relief for certain vehicles.

Summary
Motor vehicles; insurance; highway use fee; tangible personal property tax relief for certain vehicles. Removes the highway use fee for fuel-efficient vehicles, and maintains the same highway use fee for electric vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles. The bill removes the prohibition on motor vehicle insurers establishing a repair facility network. Under current law, insurers are prohibited from requiring an insured or claimant to utilize designated replacement or repair facilities or services as a prerequisite to settling or paying any claim arising under a policy or policies of insurance. The bill also directs each county, city, or town that receives annual reimbursements from the Commonwealth for providing tangible personal property tax relief on qualifying vehicles to, beginning in tax year 2027, ensure that after first reimbursing certain tax attributable to qualifying vehicles leased by active duty members of the United States military, as is currently required by law, (i) no qualifying vehicle owned by an individual with an annual household income in excess of $200,000 receives any reimbursement for such vehicle and (ii) the remainder of the reimbursement provided to such locality is distributed based on a sliding scale for household incomes of residents of such locality, adopted by an ordinance of the governing body of such locality, as described in the bill.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 14, 2026 Last action Feb 18, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Transportation Substitute · 4 edits
MODERATE
The bill was transformed from an original introduction into a Transportation Committee substitute, significantly narrowing its scope. The new version removes all references to highway use fees for electric and fuel-efficient vehicles and the tangible personal property tax relief program, focusing exclusively on updating insurance regulations regarding unfair settlement practices and repair facility networks.
Scope change
The bill's scope was drastically reduced; it no longer addresses highway fees or tax relief for alternative fuel vehicles, retaining only the insurance consumer protection provisions.
SCOPE

All text regarding the highway use fee for electric motor vehicles and fuel-efficient vehicles (previously § 46.2-770 through 46.2-772) was deleted.

All text regarding tangible personal property tax relief for qualifying vehicles (previously § 58.1-3524) was deleted.

The bill title and operative text were shortened to apply only to the amendment of § 38.2-517 concerning insurance unfair settlement practices.

TECHNICAL

The document format changed from an introduced bill to a formal 'Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute' with new page headers and line numbering.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
6
Key actions
3
Committee
5
Feb 18, 2026
Lower · Passed
Left in Committee Transportation
lower
Feb 3, 2026
Lower · Passed
Subcommittee recommends laying on the table (7-Y 3-N)
lower
Feb 3, 2026
Lower · Passed
House subcommittee offered
lower
Jan 29, 2026
Committee
Assigned HTRAN sub: Department of Motor Vehicles
lower
Jan 14, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee on Transportation
lower
1 primary · 27 co-sponsors

Sponsors