Department of Housing and Community Development; loans for the construction of mixed income housing; report. Directs the Department of Housing and Community Development, in collaboration with the Virginia Housing Development Authority, to create a two-year pilot program that would provide loan origination and servicing activities for mixed income housing and submit a report on its findings to the General Assembly by November 1 of each year of the pilot program. The bill provides that any funding for the pilot program, subject to the appropriation act, shall be utilized from up to 15 percent of the annual deposit made to the Virginia Housing Trust Fund. This bill is identical to HB 820 and SB 490.
Live streaming while driving; prohibited; penalty. Prohibits any person, while driving a moving motor vehicle on the highways in the Commonwealth, from (i) initiating, participating in, or interacting with any live stream, as that term is defined in the bill, and (ii) manipulating any electronic device to enable or maintain the functions of a live stream on or with such electronic device. The bill establishes penalties for violations, in addition to any other penalties available under current law, including periods of license suspension and a fine of not more than $500 if a person who commits such a violation is involved in an accident at the time of such violation.
Transportation network companies; requirements; civil penalties. Adds various additional requirements for (i) transportation network companies, including ensuring options for audio and video recording of rides for TNC partners and riders and requiring a TNC partner to verify his identity through the digital platform prior to the activation of a TNC partner's account and periodically thereafter, and (ii) TNC partners, including changes to requirements for background checks and circumstances that disqualify them from acting as TNC partners, verification of identity, and prohibitions on sharing digital platform accounts or credentials. The bill imposes civil penalties for transportation network companies or TNC partners who violate certain requirements to which they are subject and provides that the funds for such civil penalties be paid to the Department of Motor Vehicles for the administration of certain requirements of the bill. The provisions of the bill do not become effective unless reenacted by the 2027 Session of the General Assembly.
Pedestrians; walking on roadways that are part of divided highways. Permits pedestrians, when walking on a roadway that is part of a highway divided by a physical barrier or barriers or an unpaved area, and when there are no shoulders of the highway present, to keep to the extreme right side or edge of the roadway, regardless of the direction of traffic they face. Under current law, pedestrians, when permitted to walk on a roadway, are required to keep to the extreme left side or edge thereof. The bill also clarifies current law, which requires pedestrians walking on a roadway to face oncoming traffic.
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.
Regulation of traffic; bicycles and certain other devices; bicycle signals. Requires a person operating a bicycle or other device lawfully permitted in a bicycle lane or on a shared-use path in or approaching an intersection with a bicycle signal to obey such bicycle signal. The bill also sets requirements for signals that are displayed by bicycle signals and requirements for situations in which traffic lights, including bicycle signals, are out of service. The bill provides that a violation constitutes a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of no more than $350.
Helmets; local authority. Permits localities to adopt ordinances requiring children 14 years of age or younger to wear protective helmets whenever riding or being carried on a motorized skateboard or scooter or a nonmotorized scooter. Current law authorizes localities to adopt such ordinances for riders of bicycles, electric personal assistive mobility devices, toy vehicles, and electric power-assisted bicycles.
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.
Study; joint subcommittee; public transit in Hampton Roads; report. Creates a 13-member joint subcommittee for a two-year study on options for providing long-term, sustainable, and dedicated operations and capital funding with cost-containment controls to ensure that the public transit systems that serve Hampton Roads, including all modes of Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) service, local and express bus, light rail, passenger ferry, paratransit, on-demand microtransit, and seasonal trolley and shuttle services, other ridesharing and commuter programs, and any future modes of public transportation or mobility services that may be developed to serve the Hampton Roads region, meet the growing public transit needs of the region.
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.
