Speed camera reform stalls in Virginia Senate
Virginia's new General Assembly Building in downtown Richmond opened just before the 2024 legislative session. (Photo by Graham Moomaw/Virginia Mercury)
After lawmakers uncovered millions in speed camera revenue across Virginia, a proposal to tighten regulations on the devices has hit a legislative roadblock. The General Assembly now waits to see whether a pared-down version of the plan will survive without triggering an expansion of automated enforcement.
The holdup follows the failure of House Bill 2041 — sponsored by Del. Holly Seibold, D-Fairfax — along with two related Senate Bills, in the Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday. The 6-9 vote came amid a shake-up in the upper chamber's leadership, with Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, replacing Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, as committee chair.
For Seibold, the outcome was frustrating, especially after making multiple concessions to local governments and camera vendors. Seibold said she even included language from Senate Bill 1209, sponsored by Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, requiring more regulations around operating speed cameras.
'I did act in best faith. I tried to give them everything they wanted, but clearly, they were working in the opposite direction of this bill all along,' Seibold said.
Her push for reform is deeply personal. Seibold said she introduced the bill in memory of three Fairfax teenagers struck by a student driver going 81 mph in a 35 mph zone in 2022. Two of them, 15-year-old Leeyan Yan and 14-year-old Ada Martinez Nolasco, lost their lives.
'I don't care about local governments making money off these devices,' Seibold said. 'Local governments have many opportunities to make money, how to drive revenue, increase taxes. This is not a tool to make money. This is a tool to save lives.'
HB 2041 would have required stricter approval for speed cameras, barred vendors from profiting off citations, ensured due process protections, and restricted revenue use to pedestrian safety improvements.
Seibold is now closely watching Senate Bill 1233, sponsored by Sen. Angelia Williams Graves, D-Norfolk, which carries the same language as her bill and awaits consideration in the House.
House Transportation Committee Chair Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, noted that both bills were merged on Thursday in an agreement between her and the then-Senate committee chair, Boysko. Lawmakers will now meet in a conference to negotiate final language for the Seibold-Williams Graves bill.
Delaney hopes that the legislation will advance to a conference committee, ensuring the language from Seibold's proposal 'stays alive.' The measure has already cleared the Senate. It would allow law enforcement to install monitoring systems in school crossing zones, highway work zones, and high-risk intersections to record pedestrian crossing and stop sign violations.
Still, Delaney said she was frustrated by the Senate Transportation Committee's rejection of Seibold's version of the bill.
'I'm disappointed by the Senate's actions, because we had an opportunity to really make a statement against the policing for profit scheme that many localities seem to have in place right now,' Delaney said.
Before the committee voted on Seibold's bill, lawmakers conformed a third proposal — Senate Bill 776, introduced by Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax — to the Seibold-Williams Graves package. But the procedural move left Seibold unable to fully explain the bill's language or clarify where revenue from citations would be directed.
Surovell's bill, which sought to expand speed cameras to roads in National Parks, passed in the Senate but ultimately failed in the House.
The committee's decision reflects a broader sentiment among lawmakers: focus on tightening oversight of speed cameras rather than expanding their use.
'We all, I believe, are in agreement that these speed safety cameras have a role in helping to provide for better pedestrian safety and there are towns and localities who want to do this,' said Vice Chair David Reid, D-Loudoun, to The Mercury. 'But we also have to recognize that we've got to have the right type of guardrails to prevent abuse.'
For now, speed camera reform remains in limbo, as lawmakers debate how far the regulations should go.
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