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2018 SESSION

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18100834D
SENATE BILL NO. 185 Offered January 10, 2018 Prefiled December 29, 2017 A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 15.2-2019 and 33.2-213 of the Code of Virginia, relating to renaming primary highways; localities. ---------- Patron-- Favola ---------- Referred to Committee on Transportation ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 15.2-2019 and 33.2-213 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 15.2-2019. Localities may name streets, roads and alleys.

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A of § 15.2-2000, every locality may name streets, roads and alleys. Such names shall take precedence over any other designation except those primary highways, named after 1965, conforming to § 33.2-213, and shall be employed in references to property abutting thereon.

Renaming streets, roads and alleys on site plans or subdivision plats previously recorded and filed in a circuit court clerk's office shall not cause vacation of such site plans or subdivision plats. The locality may forward a certified copy of the action effecting such name change to the clerk of the circuit court in which the site plan or subdivision plat is recorded or filed. Upon receipt, the clerk shall (i) file the certified copy and note the name change on the site plan or subdivision plat affected or (ii) record the certified copy.

§ 33.2-213. Naming highways, bridges, interchanges, and other transportation facilities.

The A. Notwithstanding subsection B, the Board shall have the power and duty to give suitable names to state highways, bridges, interchanges, and other transportation facilities and change the names of any highways, bridges, interchanges, or other transportation facilities forming a part of the systems of state highways. The names of private entities, as defined in § 33.2-1800, located within the Commonwealth shall not be used for such purposes unless such private entity pays the Department an annual naming rights fee as determined by the Board. The Department shall place and maintain appropriate signs indicating the names of highways, bridges, interchanges, and other transportation facilities named by the Board or by the General Assembly. The costs of producing, placing, and maintaining these signs shall be paid by the localities in which they are located or by the private entity whose name is attached to the highway, bridge, interchange, or other transportation facility. No name shall be given to any state highway, bridge, interchange, or other transportation facility by the Board unless and until the Board receives from the governing body of the locality within which a portion of the facility to be named is located a resolution of that governing body requesting such naming, except in such cases where a private entity has requested the naming. No highway, bridge, interchange, or other transportation facility previously named by the Board or the General Assembly shall be eligible for renaming by a private entity, unless such naming incorporates the previous name. The Board shall develop and approve guidelines governing the naming of highways, bridges, interchanges, and other transportation facilities by private entities and the applicable fees for such naming rights. Such fees shall be deposited in the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund established pursuant to § 33.2-1530.

B. The local governing body of any county, city, or town may change the name of any highway named before 1965 within such locality. The Department shall place and maintain appropriate signs indicating the changed name of such highways. The costs of producing, placing, and maintaining these signs shall be paid by the localities in which they are located.

C. No name shall be eligible for the naming rights under this section if it in any way reasonably connotes anything that (i) is profane, obscene, or vulgar; (ii) is sexually explicit or graphic; (iii) is excretory related; (iv) is descriptive of intimate body parts or genitals; (v) is descriptive of illegal activities or substances; (vi) condones or encourages violence; or (vii) is socially, racially, or ethnically offensive or disparaging.