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2005 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Transportation

Chairman: Martin E. Williams

Clerk: Bonnie W. Shelhorse
Staff: Alan Wambold, Stephanie Bishop
Date of Meeting: February 17, 2005
Time and Place: 1/2 hour after adjournment, Senate Room A

H.B. 1539 Disabled parking license plates and placards; issuance by podiatrists and chiropractors.

Patron: Cosgrove

Disabled parking license plates and placards.  Provides that "physicians' certificates" required as a precondition for issuance of disabled parking license plates and placards may be in certain instances issued by podiatrists and chiropractors as well.

H.B. 1602 Environmental impact reviews; completion within six months of project funding.

Patron: Fralin

Environmental impact reviews.  Requires any agency that issues an environmental permit under the conservation, tidal fisheries and habitat, game and wildlife, and water quality laws for a highway construction project to review a highway project's permit application for completeness within 15 days and take action on the permit application within six months.

H.B. 1605 Amber lights; use of by neighborhood watch patrol vehicles.

Patron: Baskerville

Amber warning lights.  Allows use of amber warning lights by neighborhood watch patrol vehicles.

H.B. 1609 Route 29 bypass; reimbursement of federal funds.

Patron: Cole

Charlottesville bypass.  Requires that, if the U.S. Route 29 bypass is not constructed and reimbursement of federal funds expended in connection with that project is required, the amount of such reimbursement shall be deducted from funds allocated or allocable to primary system projects in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, rather than from funds allocated or allocable to the Culpeper Highway Construction District.

H.B. 1656 Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Highway; designating a portion of Route 234 in Prince William County.

Patron: Lingamfelter

Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Highway.  Designates Virginia Route 234 in Prince William County between U.S. Route 1 and Interstate Route 66 the “Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Highway.”

H.B. 1660 License plates, special; issuance of those bearing legend: TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE.

Patron: Lingamfelter

Special license plates; supporters of traditional marriage.  Authorizes the issuance of special license plates to supporters of traditional marriage. The design of the plates is to include the legend: TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE and two interlocked golden wedding bands over a red heart.

H.B. 1705 Manville Veterans Memorial Bridge; designating as Route 665 bridge over Copper Creek in Scott Co.

Patron: Kilgore

Manville Veterans Memorial Bridge.  Designates the Virginia Route 665 bridge over Copper Creek in Scott County the "Manville Veterans Memorial Bridge."

H.B. 1708 Joe D. Meade Bridge; designating as new pedestrian bridge over Route 71 in Scott County.

Patron: Kilgore

Joe D. Meade Bridge.  Designates the new pedestrian bridge over Virginia Route 71 at Nickelsville in Scott County, connecting the Nickelsville Elementary School and Keith Memorial Park, the "Joe D. Meade Bridge."

H.B. 1883 Bicycles; use of lights.

Patron: Hargrove

Lights on bicycles.  Requires a taillight that emits a red light visible from a distance of at least 500 feet between sunrise and sunset on highways with speed limits of 35 mph or greater.

H.B. 1893 Deputy Cliff Dicker Memorial Hwy.; designating as portion of Route 100 in Wythe County.

Patron: Carrico

Deputy Cliff Dicker Memorial Highway.  Designates the Virginia Route 100 in Wythe County the “Deputy Cliff Dicker Memorial Highway.”

H.B. 1931 Recreational access funding; limitations.

Patron: Shannon

Recreational access funding limits.  Clarifies limitations on expenditures for recreation access projects.

H.B. 1968 Parking; allows Fairfax County and towns within its boundaries to regulate.

Patron: Amundson

Parking.  Grants counties with populations of more than 500,000 and the towns within those counties expanded powers to regulate parking of large, heavy vehicles within their boundaries.

H.B. 1972 Northern Virginia Transportation District Program; to include interchange in Loudoun County.

Patron: Black

Northern Virginia Transportation District Program.  Allocates funding to the Route 28/Sterling Boulevard interchange in Loudoun County.

H.B. 1983 Video display in motor vehicles; prohibits in view of driver.

Patron: Howell, A.T.

Video displays in motor vehicles.  Prohibits operators of motor vehicles to display or permit the display of any motion picture or video display forward of the driver's seat or at any other location where it is within view of the driver while operating the vehicle.

H.B. 2019 License plates, special; prohibits issuance unless certain requirements met.

Patron: Welch

Special license plates.  Provides that no special license plates are to be considered for authorization by the General Assembly unless and until the individual, group, organization, or other entity seeking the authorization of such special license plates has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the General Assembly that they meet specified issuance requirements. The bill also provides a mechanism whereby commemorative license plates for local government anniversaries can be issued without specific General Assembly authorization for each separate series of plates.

H.B. 2020 Highway repairs; use of steel plates.

Patron: Welch

Use of steel plates in highway repairs.  Requires that any person who uses steel plates in connection with highway repairs to follow VDOT standards as to warnings and markings.

H.B. 2022 Motor vehicle dealers; sale & distribution of fire-fighting equipmt., ambulances & funeral vehicles.

Patron: Welch

Motor vehicle dealers; sale and distribution of funeral vehicles; emergency.  Restores an exemption from full licensure as motor vehicle dealers persons dealing solely in the sale and distribution of funeral vehicles. This exemption was repealed by the 2004 Session.

EMERGENCY

H.B. 2067 Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission; provisions for members.

Patron: Lewis

Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission.  Provides that a member performing "extraordinary duties" may receive compensation for those duties. This provision expires January 1, 2006 and contains an emergency clause.

EMERGENCY

H.B. 2186 Motor vehicle safety inspection approval stickers; allows extension for military personnel.

Patron: Wardrup

Vehicle safety inspection approval stickers.  Provides that any vehicle safety inspection approval sticker issued for any vehicle whose registered owner is a person in the armed services of the United States will not be held to have expired during the period of the owner's official absence from the Commonwealth in the armed services of the United States and for 24 hours following the return of the service person's vehicle, for any reason, to the Commonwealth. The bill also allows the owner to travel to an inspection station without penalty upon his return.  Incorporated in HB 1688 (Hargrove).

H.B. 2199 Motorcycles; safety inspection.

Patron: Abbitt

Safety inspection; fees.  Increases motorcycle fee from $5 to $12, with $10 going to inspection stations, $1.50 going into the Motorcycle Rider Safety Training Fund, and $.50 to the State Police to administer the safety inspection program.

H.B. 2249 Motorists; prohibits certain activities on highways in Albemarle and Greene Counties.

Patron: Bell

Prohibition of certain activities on highways.  Allows local governing bodies to regulate solicitations and distribution of materials in roadways and medians of public highways.  Incorporated in HB 1859 (Shannon).

H.B. 2275 Warning lights; use of red and white lights by Department of Environmental Quality.

Patron: Oder

DEQ vehicles; operating in emergencies.  Allows vehicles of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to be equipped with red or red and white warning lights and to pass slowed or stopped vehicles off the roadway on the way to an emergency when displaying these warning lights.

H.B. 2277 Oversize vehicles; use of cameras in identification.

Patron: Oder

Oversize vehicles; use of cameras in identification.  Authorizes the Virginia Department of Transportation to use optical detection systems to identify vehicles that exceed the overhead clearance of the westbound lane of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.

H.B. 2278 Oversize vehicles; driving into or through tunnels, penalty.

Patron: Oder

Tunnels; oversize vehicles.  Provides that any person who drives or attempts to drive any vehicle into or through any tunnel when the height of such vehicle exceeds that permitted for such tunnel is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor (fine up to $500) and will be assessed three driver demerit points.

H.B. 2336 William H. Hume and Jean Emmons McCarty Hume Memorial Bridge; designating portion of Route 688.

Patron: Athey

William H. Hume and Jean Emmons McCarty Hume Memorial Bridge.  Designates the Virginia Route 688 bridge across Carter's Run, South, near Hume the “William H. Hume and Jean Emmons McCarty Hume Memorial Bridge.”

H.B. 2342 License plates, special; issuance to law-enforcement chaplains.

Patron: Putney

Special license plates; law-enforcement chaplains.  Authorizes the issuance of special license plates to current and former law-enforcement chaplains and graduates and supporters of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and supporters of the On the Rebound Bulldog Rescue Foundation.

H.B. 2343 Safety glass in motor vehicles; requirements.

Patron: Putney

Motor vehicle safety glass.  Provides that the statute requiring safety glass in motor vehicles is not to be construed to require installation of safety glass in trailers, semitrailers, or other vehicles incapable of self-propulsion.

H.B. 2400 Heritage Music Trail: The Crooked Road; designating as certain highways in Southwest Virginia.

Patron: Phillips

The Crooked Road.  Extends "The Crooked Road" (designated in 2004) from Clintwood through Haysi to Breaks Interstate Park.

H.B. 2435 Motor vehicles; notice of impoundment.

Patron: Carrico

Notice of impoundment. Removes the requirement that the officer who impounds a car shall serve notice of the impoundment to the Commissioner of DMV.

H.B. 2509 Driver's licenses and special identification cards; requirements for issuance.

Patron: Welch

Driver's licenses and special identification cards.  Requires that driver's license applications include the applicant or licensee's full legal name.

H.B. 2572 License plates, special; issuance of those bearing names, numbers, colors of stock car drivers.

Patron: Dudley

Special license plates bearing the names, numbers, and color schemes used by professional stock car drivers; fees.  Allows DMV to issue stock car driver special license plates by entering into agreements to purchase such license plates from a supplier.

H.B. 2575 Overweight permits; issuance to trucks hauling products produced from gas or oil wells.

Patron: Stump

Overweight permits for trucks hauling coal, gravel, sand, crushed stone, or liquids produced from gas or oil wells. Allows coal-hauling vehicles with six axles to have a maximum gross weight, when loaded, of no more than 110,000 pounds; a single axle weight of no more than 24,000 pounds; a tandem axle weight of no more than 44,000 pounds; and a tri-axle weight of no more than 54,500 pounds. The bill also prohibits five-axle and six-axle vehicles from carrying loads in excess of the maximum bed size for such vehicle, and provides a formula for calculatinig "maximum bed size."

Finally, in counties that impose a severance tax on coal and gases, the bill applies certain coal truck weight limits to motor vehicles hauling liquids produced from a gas or oil well and water used for drilling and completion of a gas or oil well no more than 50 miles from origin to destination. Nothing contained in this subsection shall authorize any extension of weight limits provided in § 46.2-1127 for operation on interstate highways. Any weight violation involving these vehicles are to be subject to the penalties authorized by § 46.2-1135 (liquidated damages for weight limit violations).

H.B. 2576 H. Paul Buskell Memorial Bridge.

Patron: Stump

H. Paul Buskell Memorial Bridge.  Designates the U.S. Route 460 Cedar Bluff bypass bridge over the Clinch River the "H. Paul Buskell Memorial Bridge."

H.B. 2578 Resident engineers of VDOT; replaces reference with representatives of Dept. of Transportation.

Patron: Stump

VDOT resident engineers.  Replaces references to VDOT "resident engineers" with "representatives of the Department" and similar terms. Other technical corrections are also made.

H.B. 2580 License plates; allows dealers to transfer customers' plates to purchased vehicles.

Patron: Stump

Temporary license plates.  Allows dealers to transfer customers' metal license plates to purchased vehicles. 

H.B. 2605 Hwy. rest areas; federal grants to be used to convert into welcome centers for anticipated tourism.

Patron: Landes

Use of federal "transportation enhancement" grants by CTB.  Provides that the Commonwealth Transportation Board shall undertake such measures as may appear necessary or convenient, as part of the application process, to the fullest extent allowable under federal guidelines for projects qualifying as "transportation enhancements" as defined in 23 U.S.C. 101 (a) (35) or successor federal transportation legislation (i) projects that will address improvements to highway rest areas and welcome centers and (ii) other projects that will accommodate anticipated quadricentennial tourism in Virginia.

H.B. 2666 Public-Private Transportation Act ; provisions for streamlining and enhancing.

Patron: McDonnell

Public-Private Transportation Act.  Makes several revisions to the Public Private Transportation Act (PPTA).  The bill authorizes the establishment of an interim agreement to provide for partial planning and development activities while other aspects of a qualifying transportation project are being negotiated and analyzed.  The bill also (i) authorizes a private entity to request approval of multiple responsible public entities (RPEs) in proposed projects involving multimodal transportation facilities, (ii) authorizes RPE's to enter into comprehensive agreements with multiple private entities, (iii) requires the responsible public entity to protect confidential information submitted by a private entity, and (iv) adds factors that an RPE may consider when selecting proposals.  The bill requires the Secretary of Transportation to revise existing state guidelines pertaining to the PPTA by October 1, 2005 and includes a provision allowing application of the revisions made by the legislation to certain existing qualifying transportation facilities.

H.B. 2677 Pedestrian and bicycle regional advisory committees; VDOT to establish program therefor.

Patron: Ebbin

Regional pedestrian and bicycle advisory committees.  VDOT to establish regional pedestrian and bicycle advisory committees.

H.B. 2690 Utility trailers; reflectors to be used on rear.

Patron: Pollard

Utility trailers.  Requires that present requirements for reflectors or reflectorized materials on the rear of trailers with unloaded weights of 3,000 pounds or less be limited to utility trailers whose body and tailgate consist largely or exclusively of a metal mesh and whose end extends 18 inches or more beyond its taillights.

H.B. 2763 Transportation projects; removes certain designated as funded from Priority Transpotation Fund.

Patron: Wardrup

Transportation projects.  Repeals a list of transportation projects designated as funded from the Priority Transportation Fund and makes other technical changes.

H.B. 2772 Suspension or revocation of driver's licenses, etc. ; begins on date conviction is final.

Patron: Van Yahres

Commencement of periods for suspension or revocation of driver's licenses, registration cards, or license plates.  Provides that periods of suspension begin on the date the conviction becomes final or after the order of the DMV Commissioner becomes final (rather than 180 days after such dates).

H.B. 2776 License plates, special; issuance to veterans of U.S. Army.

Patron: Frederick

Special license plates; U.S. Army.  Authorizes the issuance of special license plates to persons who have served in the U.S. Army.

H.B. 2793 Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund; created.

Patron: Wardrup

Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund.  Creates the Transportation Partnership Opportunity Fund (the Fund) to be used by the Governor to encourage the development of design-build transportation projects, projects under the Public Private Transportation Act (§ 56-556 et seq.) and to provide funds to address the transportation aspects of economic development opportunities. Under the bill, the Commonwealth Transportation Board, in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Commerce and Trade, shall develop guidelines and criteria to be used in awarding grants or making loans from the Fund.

H.B. 2822 Motor vehicle title; DMV to issue new upon presentation from another state by operation of law.

Patron: Welch

Transfer of vehicle title by operation of law; emergency.  Provides that DMV will issue a new title upon presentation of a title from another state and a form prescribed by the Commissioner attesting to the lawful repossession of the vehicle and the intent to offer the vehicle for sale in the Commonwealth. DMV will then request the other state to cancel its title.

EMERGENCY

H.B. 2856 Heritage Music Trail: The Crooked Road; designating as certain highways in Southwest Virginia.

Patron: Dudley

Virginia's Heritage Music Trail: The Crooked Road.  Adds to "Virginia's Heritage Music Trail: The Crooked Road," designated in 2004.

H.B. 2905 Willard Owens Memorial Highway; designating as Route 609 in Buchanan County.

Patron: Stump

Willard Owens Memorial Highway.  Designates Virginia Route 609 in Buchanan County the Willard Owens Memorial Highway.

H.B. 2938 Michael Todd Blanton Memorial Bridge.

Patron: O'Bannon

Michael Todd Blanton Memorial Bridge.  Designates the Gaskins Road bridge over Interstate Route 64 in Henrico County the "Michael Todd Blanton Memorial Bridge."