Got lucky at 7 this morning in House Trans Sub 2 as Del. Riley Ingram’s (who’s District includes Hopewell and across the Benj. Harrison Bridge to Charles City county) HB1746 Mandatory Sidepath bill was heard first. Stating that he had been swamped with EMails from around the state, he was amending the bill from statewide to only Rt. 5 and the Virginia Capital Trail. He further stated that a female constituent had contacted him, stating that driving east on Rt.5 in Charles City county, with a completed section of the Trail alongside (on which millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money had been spent) she came around a bend only to find cyclists riding four abreast in the highway, who she almost hit. Her request to him was, “Please do what you can to get those cyclists off the road and onto that Trail. I couldn’t live with myself, if I had hit one of them”.

After I stated that this incident did not warrant banning cyclists from the entire length of Rt. 5, Del. Ingram responded that he would further amend his bill to cover only Rt. 5 in Charles City county. Given a final chance to respond by Chairman Garrett, I stated that this section was on Bike Rt. 76, the TransAmerica Trail, and although cyclists would generally opt to ride the Trail rather than the road, there would be occasions when it would be preferable to be on the road, and they should have that option. Further, I mentioned that the Commonwealth Trans Board already had the authority to restrict slow traffic from highway sections where they thought they would be unsafe, so no further legislation was necessary. With that, the Chairman called for a vote, and by 7-0 the bill was tabled, although he offered Del. Ingram the chance to rework the bill into something “acceptable” if he could do so by tomorrow or Thursday so it could be heard in the Full Committee’s final meetings prior to Crossover. In talking to Del. Ingram (who is a really good guy) after the meeting, we apologized for the riders’ improper behavior, stating we would continue to preach for proper riding, whereupon he replied that he thought he would “drop the matter”. Tomorrow’s House Trans Comm docket does not list this bill, which I believe confirms his intention.

Our other bill that we were opposing, to restrict mo-peds to highways with 45 mph speed limits or below, was listed for House Trans SubComm3 at 4 p.m., but upon arrival we and a number of Committee members, Patron Delegates and the usual attendees were informed by the Clerk that the meeting was postponed, to be rescheduled. Later, we learned that it will be tomorrow at 4 p.m.

The only other bill of interest to us that is still being considered prior to Crossover, SB1220, Sen. Reeves’ Following Too Closely bill, had 2nd reading on the Senate floor today, so 3rd reading and vote should be tomorrow or Wednesday. If and when it passes, it will be conformed with Del. DeSteph’s identical House bill, and it will go to the Governor for his signature.

Our other bills, Dooring, Crossing the Double Yellow Line, and Reimbursement for Bike Lanes, have all passed their House of origin, and are awaiting Crossover (which is not til next week), so it appears we will have the rest of the week off after tomorrow’s House TransSubComm3 meeting.

HB1402 (providing Maintenance Payments even if motor vehicle lanes are converted to bike lanes) PASSED the House today by a 84-12 vote and now joins the following two bills that have passed their originating body and are awaiting Crossover — SB781 (Crossing the Double Yellow Line) and SB882 (the Dooring bill).

HB1342 (Del. DeSteph’s Following Too Closely bill) has also passed the House, but Sen. Reeves’ identical SB1220 is now on the Senate floor awaiting passage. Should it pass, as I expect, it and Del. DeSteph’s House bill will go into Conference Committee and be “conformed” into one bill considered as having passed all the way through the process so it can be forwarded to the Governor for his signature.

That leaves us with only two other bills still alive prior to Crossover, both of which will be heard in House Transportation SubCommittees on Monday, and both of which we will be opposing — HB1746 (the Mandatory Sidepath bill) which is at 7 a.m. in Sub 2, and HB2353 (Restricting Mo-Peds to Highways with speed limits of 45 or under) which is in Sub 3 at 4 p.m.

It won’t hurt for everyone to contact their Senators in favor of Sen. Reeves’ SB1220 (Following too closely bill)…

…and for constituents to contact LeMunyon (Chantilly), Austin (Bedford), Taylor (Va Beach), Pillion (Abingdon), Ward (Newport News), and Carr (Richmond) in opposition to HB1746

…and for constituents to contact Hugo (Fairfax & Prince William), Scott (Culpeper), Yancey (Newport News), Davis (VA Beach),McQuinn (Richmond) & Plum (Fairfax) in opposition to HB2353

Thanks again for everyone’s efforts! We’re well on our way to having a very productive session.

I had a family commitment today, but Champe did a fine job of covering the Senate Transportation Committee meeting, as four bills, all of which had previously been heard in the House with different patrons, were on the docket.

SB952, patroned by Sen. Dance of Petersburg & Richmond, which is identical to Del. Loupassi’s HB 1402, providing for Highway Maintenance payments from VDOT to jurisdictions even if lanes are converted to bike lanes was Passed by Indefinitely by a unanimous voice vote and referred to a Committee for further study. Since Del. Loupassi’s bill has already cleared the House Trans Sub2 and the House Trans Committees and appears to be sailing through, this result was not unexpected, and the Committee didn’t seem to see a need to let this duplicate bill go forward. So strike SB952 off your list, as henceforth we will only be following HB1402, which presently is on the House floor.

SB953, also carried by Sen. Dance, which was a duplicate of Del. Betsy Carr’s HB1502, providing for the Payments from VDOT to jurisdictions for the maintenance of paved trails that had been built by VDOT, met a fate similar to that met by 952, and it can also be stricken off your list. It’s demise was not a surprise either, since the identical HB1502 had not survived in the House Transportation SubCommittee.

Next came SB1220 the Don’t Follow Too Closely bill carried by Sen. Bryce Reeves of Fredericksburg, the House version of which, carried by Del. DeSteph of VA Beach, has already cleared the House and is awaiting crossover. Quick work was made of this one as, after Champe Burnley spoke in favor of it, it was Reported unanimously (15-0) with the yea votes including that of Sen. Carrico. Since this was his very first vote in favor of a Bicycling Safety bill in more than a decade, I lost my bet with Champe and gladly owe him a bottle of Champagne. I have a similar bet, which I also hope I can lose the first time Del. Scott Garrett votes for a bike safety bill. He did vote for Del. Loupassi’s Maintenance Funds for Bike Lanes bill yesterday, but I didn’t count that as a Bike Safety bill, so the bet still stands. Now Sen. Reeves’ bill is on to the Senate floor very soon, where it is in order for everyone to ask their Senator to support SB1220. Should it get through, we’ll then see how they handle it, with DeSteph’s identical bill already having cleared the House.

Lastly, Sen. Wexton’s SB1279, providing a penalty for a driver using a handheld communication device while driving, was Passed By Indefinitely by a 8-7 vote, despite the strong support of VBF, AAA, and Drive Smart Virginia. An interesting voting pattern on this one, as the R Senator McWaters from VA Beach joined the D’s to vote FOR the bill, while D Senator Alexander of Norfolk joined the R’s to give them the deciding vote to kill the bill. It also should be noted that this bill, having been assigned to the Transportation Committee in the Senate, came much closer to being reported than did Del. Rich Anderson’s similar HB1926 which had been assigned to the Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee in the House, where it was tabled by a unanimous voice vote.

Now we have SB1220/Following Too Closely on the Senate Floor to ask our Senators to Support plus HB1402/Maintenance Reimbursement for Bike Lanes to ask our Delegates to support on the House floor. Lets see if we can get both of these out of their originating House to Cross Over, as Bill DeSteph and his Following too Closely bill already has done, along with SB781/Crossing the Double Yellow Line , and SB882/Dooring. Keep up your support, its really helping!

Today was a good day at the legislature.

I’m happy to report that SB1220, Senator Reeve’s Following Too Closely, reported from Senate Transportation unanimously, 15-0.

Senator Reeves did a great job presenting the bill.

There were a few questions regarding the ability to enforce the law The State Police testified that if this were enacted, they would investigate an incident the same way they would a car on car accident. In the case of a blatant tailgating situation, the police could use their judgement and charge if appropriate.

The VBF, of course, spoke in favor of the bill as did Drive Smart Virginia’s, Janet Brooking. No one spoke in opposition.

The bill passed on a voice vote, with no opposition. A number of Senators were out of the room at the time. Checking back, it appears those absent cast proxy votes and the bill has reported from the Senate Transportation Committee unanimously, 15-0. This is very good news for us and is a testimony to everyones’ hard work. Well done!

In other news, Senator Dance presented her Maintenance Funding bills, SB952 and SB953 which were identical to the House Bills offered by Betsy Carr and acted upon last week.

As expected, both bills were tabled but the Committee recommended they be referred to the Commission on Transportation Accountability. Recommending that they be reviewed by the Commission will allow the legislature to investigate a new policy area which is a positive outcome.

Finally, Senator Jennifer Wexton presented SB1279, her anti-texting bill. It was was tabled, 8-7.

Wexton’s bill was amended to be identical to Delegate Anderson’s HB1926.

There were a number of people speaking in favor of the bill including the VBF, DriveSmart, AAA and a gentleman who had been involved in a distracted driving accident several years ago.

The only people speaking against it were HAM radio operators who felt this might interfere with their ability to assist in times of crisis.

Voting AGAINST the bill: Newman, Watkins, Wagner, McDougle, Smith, Carrico, Alexander, Cosgrove–8.

Voting in FAVOR: Deeds, Marsden, McWaters, Colgan, Favola, Edwards, Wexton–7.

Finally, I’m happy to report that I had a cordial discussion with Delegate Riley Ingram, Patron of the Mandatory Sidepath Bill, HB1746. Delegate Ingram is open to considering a much more limited scope which is a move in the right direction.

We will continue to explore options with him.

In the meantime, I encourage interested advocates to stay tuned until we have further developments.

Champe