The Senate Transportation Committee will hear SB 16 (Favola), SB 74 (Wexton) and SB 120 (Carrico) on Wednesday, January 20. The three bills are nearly identical and provide that a locality that has authorized the installation and operation of a video-monitoring system on school buses for recording violations of unlawful passing of a stopped school bus, may execute a summons for such violation by mailing a copy of the summons to the owner of a vehicle that unlawfully passed a stopped school bus.
The intent of the legislation is to clarify existing Virginia law to expressly permit the mailing of violations for illegally passing stopped school buses, as recorded by County- or City-approved school bus camera video-monitoring systems. Further, the legislative changes proposed in each bill parallels current authority in the Virginia Code (§15.2-968.1) that permits mailing summonses for similar traffic violations, such as the running of a red light and parking violations, etc.
VACo supports the bills since they all provide for local option. We will continue to provide updates on the status of the bills.
VACo Contact: Beau Blevins