Latest news with #HouseBill2041
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Virginia House targets speed camera ‘cash grab'
An image of a speed camera. (Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury) With millions flowing from speed camera fines, Virginia lawmakers are pushing to curb potential profiteering and increase public oversight of the devices. A bill to bring more transparency and accountability to speed camera operations cleared the House this week and is now headed to the Senate. According to Virginia State Police data, the state collected nearly $24 million from speed cameras in school zones and almost $10 million from highway work zones last year. The cameras, approved by the General Assembly in 2020, were intended to reduce traffic fatalities and encourage safer driving near children and construction workers. But growing concerns over the financial windfall for local governments and law enforcement have put the program under scrutiny. 'We're really trying to get the change in behavior, change in driving habits versus making any money off of these cameras,' Del. Holly Seibold, D-Fairfax, told The Mercury on Tuesday. Seibold's House Bill 2041 would require local governments to approve speed cameras through an ordinance and form a stakeholder advisory group to gather community input before installation. The proposal also mandates that at least two warning signs be placed within 1,000 feet of each camera — one of which must be a flashing feedback sign to alert drivers. To prevent vendors from profiting directly from citations, the legislation would cap administrative fees and impose a $1,000 civil penalty for violations. Additionally, it introduces due process measures, including standardized citation information and an initial warning period: during the first 30 days of a camera's operation, speed violators would receive warnings by mail instead of immediate fines. Localities and law enforcement agencies would also be required to provide regular updates to the public on camera use. Seibold said the bill will likely be revised in the Senate to allow localities to retain collections — but only for pedestrian safety improvements. Under the proposal, localities would subtract their operating costs and send the remainder to the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Fund. House Transportation Committee Chair Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, strongly backed the measure, emphasizing its primary goal: reducing speeding, accidents, and fatalities. 'I think that in order for us to promote a program, to enhance a program [and] increase access to a program that can be used for safety, and to help keep people safe on the roads, we need to make sure that we are putting in place the guardrails that are necessary to ensure that this is not a profit policing program and that there is no incentive to use these cameras to drive up revenue for localities,' Delaney said. While previous efforts to expand speed and red-light camera enforcement failed in the House last month, Delaney said lawmakers have focused on understanding how camera programs impact safety, revenue collection, and legal procedures. The goal, she said, is to 'give localities the option to increase programs that could improve safety in their communities, while also putting around the guardrails that ensure that there's public trust for the program, because it's not going to be used as a policing for profit scheme.' The bill passed the House in a 55-45 vote Tuesday. If approved by the Senate, it will head to Gov. Glenn Youngkin's desk for consideration. As of Wednesday evening, the Senate had not yet assigned the bill to a committee. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
