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2013 SESSION
13101828DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 33.1-56.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 33.1-56.1. Definitions.
For purposes of this article:
"Board" means the Commonwealth Transportation Board;
"High-occupancy requirement" means the number of persons required to be traveling in a vehicle for the vehicle to use HOT lanes without the payment of a toll. Emergency vehicles, law-enforcement vehicles using HOT lanes in the performance of their duties, which shall not include the use of such vehicles for commuting to and from a place of business, and mass transit vehicles and commuter buses shall meet the high-occupancy requirement for HOT lanes, regardless of the number of occupants in the vehicle;
"High-occupancy toll lanes" or "HOT lanes" means a portion of a highway containing one or more travel lanes separated from other lanes, that has an electronic toll collection system, provides for free passage by vehicles that meet the high-occupancy requirement, and contains a photo-enforcement system for use in such electronic toll collection. HOT lanes shall not be a "toll facility" or "HOV lanes" for the purposes of any other provision of law or regulation;
"HOT lanes operator" means the operator of the facility containing HOT lanes, which may include the Virginia Department of Transportation or some other entity;
"Mass transit vehicles" and "commuter buses" mean vehicles providing a scheduled transportation service to the general public. Such vehicles shall comprise nonprofit, publicly or privately owned or operated transportation services, programs, or systems that may be funded pursuant to § 58.1-638;
"Owner" means the registered owner of a vehicle on record with the Department of Motor Vehicles, or with the equivalent agency in another state. "Owner" does not mean a vehicle rental or vehicle leasing company;
"Photo-enforcement system" means a sensor installed in conjunction with a toll collection device to detect the presence of a vehicle that automatically produces one or more photographs, one or more microphotographs, a videotape, or other recorded images of each vehicle's license plate at the time it is detected by the toll collection device; and
"Unauthorized vehicle" means a motor vehicle that is restricted from use of the HOT lanes pursuant to subdivision D 1 of § 33.1-56.3.