Transportation subcommittees report multiple bills on driver education, highway safety and rest-area human-trafficking signage

A Transportation Committee meeting moved a slate of Senate bills forward, including measures on driver education, highway-safety funding and rest-area signage, the committee reported.

Senate Bill 41, patroned by Sen. Roehm, would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish a method for individuals to make voluntary contributions to the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Program. The subcommittee recommended reporting the bill favorably.

Senate Bill 309 (patron: Sen. Pekarski) would require driver education programs to include information about voluntary initiatives for drivers with autism spectrum disorder — specifically naming the driver communication improvement program and optional license and registration indicators — and directs the Board of Education to prepare and distribute instructional materials on those initiatives. The subcommittee recommended reporting that bill as well.

The subcommittee reported those three bills en bloc (SB 41, SB 309 and SB 399) with a recorded recommendation of 10–0.

A separate substitute to Senate Bill 396 was reported by the subcommittee. Under the substitute the bill would conform to House Bill 1224 and require an applicant for a first-time noncommercial driver's license who is at least 18 but not older than 21 to complete a course of driver instruction before being issued a license. The panel recommended reporting the substitute by a 10–0 tally.

Senate Bill 595 was reported by a narrower margin, 6–4. The measure removes a general requirement that the DMV, when searching for owner or lienholder information for a vehicle titled in another jurisdiction or when enforcing a mechanics' or storage lien or determining ownership of an abandoned vehicle, must ascertain such information by contacting the other jurisdiction. The bill retains that duty when a search is initiated by a bailee or by a person in possession of an abandoned vehicle.

In a separate subcommittee report chaired by Delegate Carr, members recommended reporting Senate Bill 95, which would add information about identifying signs of human trafficking to the notices the Department of Transportation posts at interstate rest areas. The subcommittee recorded a 10–0 recommendation and the clerk closed the roll on the measure.

The same subcommittee also reported Senate Bill 321 (patron: Sen. McPike), which would remove the requirement that a section of the secondary state highway system be located in a residential district for a county to find that the section is no longer necessary for public use and abandon it; the subcommittee recommended reporting the bill 10–0.

All reported bills were transmitted out of committee for further consideration. The Transportation Committee then adjourned.

Notes on procedure and next steps: "Reporting" from the subcommittees indicates the measures were recommended to proceed to the next stage of committee consideration; the transcript records vote tallies for each reported item but does not specify subsequent hearing dates or final enactment timelines.