Transportation

Department of Transportation; criteria and recommendations for the potential designation of vulnerable road user safety zones; report. Requires the Department of Transportation to develop criteria and recommendations for the potential designation of vulnerable road user safety zones in the Commonwealth in areas that have experienced elevated rates of crashes, injuries, or fatalities involving pedestrians or cyclists. The bill requires the Department to submit a report with its criteria and any recommendations to the Chairs of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Transportation and the House Committees on Appropriations and Transportation no later than November 1, 2026.

Parking, stopping, and standing enforcement; bus obstruction monitoring systems. Allows localities to authorize the use of bus obstruction monitoring systems by a public transit agency operating within the locality for the purpose of enforcing local ordinances related to parking, stopping, or standing in bus stop zones or in lanes reserved for transit buses during posted times. This bill is identical to HB 564.

Photo speed monitoring devices; photo-monitoring systems for traffic signals; school bus video-monitoring systems; proof of violation; certain persons swearing to or affirming certificates; training. Authorizes retired sworn law-enforcement officers, registered special conservators of the peace, and technicians employed by a locality to swear to or to affirm certificates for the purposes of enforcement of violations recorded by traffic light signal violation monitoring systems, traffic control device violation monitoring systems, photo speed monitoring devices, or school bus video-monitoring systems upon completion of a training course developed and approved by the Department of Criminal Justice Services. The bill also requires law-enforcement officers swearing to or affirming such certificates to complete such training course. These provisions of the bill have an effective date of July 1, 2027. The bill also requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to develop, approve, and make available such training course no later than January 1, 2027. This bill incorporates SB 81 and is identical to HB 684.

Railroad safety; minimum train crew; movement of freight. Requires a crew of at least two qualified individuals on all trains, locomotives, or light engines used in connection with moving freight except in use for hostler or utility service. The bill requires the State Corporation Commission to include in an existing report the number of probable violations of federal regulations related to railroad safety investigated by the Commission's Division of Utility and Railroad Safety and reported to the Federal Railroad Administration for enforcement. This bill is identical to SB 191.

Photo speed monitoring devices, pedestrian crossing violation monitoring systems, and stop sign violation monitoring systems; placement and operation; violation enforcement; civil penalties. Authorizes state and local law-enforcement agencies to place and operate pedestrian crossing violation and stop sign violation monitoring systems in school crossing zones, highway work zones, and high-risk speed corridors for purposes of recording pedestrian crossing and stop sign violations, as those terms are defined in the bill. The bill requires local law-enforcement agencies implementing or expanding the use of pedestrian crossing violation and stop sign violation monitoring systems, prior to the implementation or expansion of such systems, to conduct a public awareness program for such implementation or expansion.The bill directs the Supreme Court of Virginia to develop a summons for vehicle speed violations captured by photo speed monitoring devices and violations captured by the other devices authorized by this bill and requires summonses issued for such violations captured by such devices to be such summons. The bill makes various changes to the requirements for the use of these devices, including the use of funds from collected civil penalties, signage, data retention and storage, photo speed monitoring device calibration, making certain information available to the public, requirements for private vendors, and reporting. The bill establishes civil penalties for violations of requirements and provides that, for any summons issued, failure to comply with the requirements for the operation of such devices renders such summons invalid and requires courts to dismiss such summons.The bill also limits the use of such devices in highway work zones to when workers are present, as defined in the bill, and provides that a certificate sworn to or affirmed by a law-enforcement officer or a retired sworn law-enforcement officer is not prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein for a device placed in a highway work zone unless the operator of the photo speed monitoring device, pedestrian crossing violation monitoring system, or stop sign violation monitoring system, respectively, provides a sworn certification verifying that workers were present at the time of the violation.

Minimum off-street parking requirements in certain areas. Provides that a locality shall not require, as a condition of zoning approval, minimum off-street parking for residential, multifamily, or mixed-use development located within a designated area, as defined in the bill, in amounts exceeding (i) 0.5 parking spaces per dwelling unit for multifamily or mixed-use residential development and (ii) one parking space per dwelling unit for one-family and two-family dwellings and townhouses. The bill also provides that no locality shall adopt or enforce any provision of a zoning ordinance that imposes minimum off-street parking requirements for residential, multifamily, or mixed-use development located within a designated area in excess of such limitations. The bill further provides that any locality with a population greater than 20,000 shall, by ordinance, provide for an administrative reduction of minimum off-street parking requirements of not less than 20 percent for residential, multifamily, or mixed-use development proposed on parcels not located within a designated area. This bill incorporates HB 262.

Abandonment of highway; section of the secondary state highway system; local authority. Removes the requirement that a section of the secondary state highway system be in a residence district for a county to find that such section is no longer necessary for the purpose of abandoning such section of highway as a public highway.

School crossing zones; active times. Authorizes a local governing body, by ordinance, to increase from 30 minutes to up to 60 minutes the period of time before and after regular school hours during which school crossing zones are active if it determines that children will be going to or from school during that period of time.

Transportation electrification; integrated resource planning; fast-charging stations; cost recovery by electric utilities. Permits Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Company to file a proposed tariff with the State Corporation Commission (the Commission) to provide utility owned and operated electrical distribution infrastructure to support electric vehicle charging stations. The bill requires Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Company to file transportation electrification plans with the Commission by February 1, 2028, and every three years thereafter, and includes requirements for information to include in such plans. Under the bill, Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Company are required to seek recovery of necessary and appropriate expenditures for transportation electrification only through their rates for generation and distribution services.The bill prohibits Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power Company from petitioning for approval of expenditures to own and operate electric vehicle fast-charging stations unless such stations are located at or beyond a radial distance as determined by the Commission relative to the location of any privately owned fast charging station. The bill also directs the Commission to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to determine the appropriate radial distance for such utility-owned fast-charging stations from privately-owned fast charging stations, to enter its final rule in such proceeding no later than December 31, 2027, and to review such final rule by December 31, 2029. Provisions of the bill restricting the radial distance of utility owned and operated fast-charging stations expire on July 1, 2031. This bill is identical to HB 1225.

Motor vehicles; use of safety belt systems; certain emergency medical services personnel. Exempts from the requirements for the use of safety belt systems emergency medical services personnel while in the patient compartment of an emergency medical services vehicle providing necessary care, as defined in the bill, to a patient. The bill also provides that, for seats that are subject to such requirements for the use of safety belt systems, such personnel shall use safety belt systems while the vehicle is in motion and such personnel is not providing necessary care to a patient.