Virginia Legislation Action Thread

[Mark Blacknell]

Hi, all. I thought it would be helpful to start a new thread that summarizes the state of play for the various bits of legislation working its way through the General Assembly in Richmond. I’ll lead off with WABA’s Action Alert for today’s items, and then follow up with a post about other pending items.

Today:

Please Act Now to Support SB 1060 and Oppose SB 731 in the Virginia Senate

The Virginia Senate Transportation Committee will consider two bicycle-related bills on Wednesday afternoon (1/23/13). We need you to respectfully ask the Senate Transportation Committee members to:

1) Support SB 1060, Reeves, which would prohibit motorists from rear-ending or side-swiping bicyclists (i.e., following bicyclists too closely or passing bicyclists with less than a 3-foot gap).

2) Oppose SB 731, Carrico, which would prohibit riding mopeds on highways with speed limits above 35 MPH. If moped riding is banned, bicycling may be next!
You can identify and contact your state legislators from the Who’s My Legislator page.
If your Senator is listed below, call or email them directly – constituent calls really matter. Otherwise, you may call or email all three committee members from NoVA or bulk email the entire 14-member committee by simply copying the email addresses on this page and pasting them into your email’s To: field.

Senate Transportation Committee Members from NoVA

* Sen. Barbara Favola (D-31st District), [URL=”tel:804-698-7531″]804-698-7531[/URL], <district31@senate.virginia.gov>
* Sen. Dave Marsden (D-37th District), [URL=”tel:804-698-7537″]804-698-7537[/URL], <district37@senate.virginia.gov>
* Sen. Chuck Colgan (D-29th District), [URL=”tel:804-698-7529″]804-698-7529[/URL], <district29@senate.virginia.gov>

Thank you for acting on very short notice to improve bicycling in Virginia. Unfortunately, bills move swiftly at the Virginia General Assembly, and we only learned yesterday afternoon that these bill would be heard today. If the Senate Transportation Committee reports these bill today, they will be considered by the full Senate in just a few days. Please check our blog for regular updates – we’ll try not too email you too frequently.

Due to the response to our recent action alerts, the Virginia Senate has already passed SB 736 (prohibits dooring), whereas the House Transportation Committee has passed HB 1950 (prohibits rear-ending bicyclists) with a 20-1 vote.

I cannot emphasize enough now much of a difference actual constituent contact makes on these matters. We turned some votes last year with them, and have again this year. We need that to keep happening. Please feel free to cut, paste, and forward to your friends and relatives who don’t read the forum.

Finally, the General Assembly makes it difficult to get notice of what’s on the docket in a timely manner, unfortunately, so if communications/action alerts seem a bit rushed and disjointed, well . . . there are many things I’d like to fix about Richmond. But let’s start with getting better bike legislation out of them.

Topic

[Mark Blacknell]

@Terpfan 41436 wrote:

Glad to see HB1950 passed out of committee. Isn’t that the one that died in committee last year? I reached out to some local legislators and made a non-traditional appeal on the matter that I hoped may catch their attention.

Just reported (without confirmation, but I trust the source) that HB1950 died in an unrecorded floor vote in the House.

Also, the House analog to Favola’s SB959 (stop signs on trails, opening the door to harassment) is HB2217, and it passed out of Transportation Subcommittee #2 with an amendment. I’ve asked Del. Greason for a copy of the amendment, as I have no reports from the hearing.

Just to let folks know, the passage of SB959/HB2217 is looking likely, as there are few points ahead at which friends of cycling will be able to improve the bill. I don’t know when it’ll be put on the agenda, but the next step for the House bill is consideration before the Transportation Committee. Members and email here.

Remember, it’s an unnecessary bill (cyclists and pedestrians already have a duty to not enter the road in disregard of approaching traffic) and creates an opportunity for revenue-raising harassment of cyclists who fail to put a foot down at every stop sign (something Loudoun County already engages in). And by all reports, Loudoun County was lobbying heavily for it, so you can be sure they’re going to try to recover their costs on the W&OD this summer.

[mstone]

shit, yup, if it flew through committee it’s done.

[sjclaeys]

Just so I understand. The bill against following too closely is now dead, but the bill requiring “full stops” is on its way to passing?

[Mark Blacknell]

@sjclaeys 42369 wrote:

Just so I understand. The bill against following too closely is now dead, but the bill requiring “full stops” is on its way to passing?

One of the bills re: following too closely is dead – the House bill. The other following too closely bill, which includes a requirement to give at least three feet when passing, passed through the Senate. *That* bill will be headed to the House (where, if past is prologue, it will run into significant opposition because many legislators there think giving three feet is unreasonable and also shut up that’s why).

SB959, which would permit localities to require pedestrians and cyclists to come to some undefined “complete stop” has passed through the Senate. It’s partner bill in the House has already been met with a warm 6-0 reception in subcommittee.

[sjclaeys]

So it sounds like in Virginia we are getting two steps back and no steps forward on cycling-related bills.

[acc]

This makes zero sense at intersections where bikes outnumber cars. There are main commuter throughways where this is a reality.

Why isn’t there an assumption that cars stop when a pedestrian or cyclist is within 10 feet of an intersection? Why couldn’t there be a painted box on the edge of an intersection? If there is a pedestrian or cyclist within the box, the motorist should have a duty to stop.

Or, another possibility, one that seems to work at Mason, are raised pedestrian walkways. They are like speed bumps but used to slow traffic to allow pedestrians to cross.

[Mark Blacknell]

Well, nothing’s done until it’s done, but I think that it’s worth putting some effort into supporting both SB1060 (following too closely + 3 foot passing) and SB736 (dooring) when they get to the House.

(Also, if you’re a constituent of Sen. Favola’s, I’d put a reminder on my calendar to let her know how disappointed I was in her patroning a bill that will do nothing more than introduce confusion and enable harassment.)

[mstone]

@Mark Blacknell 42402 wrote:

Well, nothing’s done until it’s done, but I think that it’s worth putting some effort into supporting both SB1060 (following too closely + 3 foot passing) and SB736 (dooring) when they get to the House.

(Also, if you’re a constituent of Sen. Favola’s, I’d put a reminder on my calendar to let her know how disappointed I was in her patroning a bill that will do nothing more than introduce confusion and enable harassment.)

Yes, I was surprised that was introduced by an Arlington Dem, it seemed much better suited to a down-state Republican.

[Mark Blacknell]

BTW, today is Ride Richmond’s Bicycle Action Day. Can’t beat doing this stuff in person, but a close second is supporting them with your calls & emails today and tomorrow.

[sjclaeys]

@Mark Blacknell 42402 wrote:

Well, nothing’s done until it’s done, but I think that it’s worth putting some effort into supporting both SB1060 (following too closely + 3 foot passing) and SB736 (dooring) when they get to the House.

(Also, if you’re a constituent of Sen. Favola’s, I’d put a reminder on my calendar to let her know how disappointed I was in her patroning a bill that will do nothing more than introduce confusion and enable harassment.)

Perhaps if the bill is referred to as the “Favola Cyclist Harassment Bill” it would get some attention. :rolleyes:

[consularrider]

@Mark Blacknell 42411 wrote:

BTW, today is Ride Richmond’s Bicycle Action Day. Can’t beat doing this stuff in person, but a close second is supporting them with your calls & emails today and tomorrow.

And you get such nice weather!

[Mark Blacknell]

From our excellent Ride Richmond friends on the ground:

“SB736 was debated but successfully passed out of House Transportation Sub-committee #2. The legislation could be heard by the full House Transportation Committee as early as tomorrow, though we are hopeful it will not be until next week.”

[acc]

From WABA:
Tomorrow, SB 736 will be heard in the full transportation committee of Virginia’s House of Representatives. SB 736 would make it illegal in Virginia to “open the door of a motor vehicle on the side adjacent to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so.” A violation would constitute a traffic infraction punishable by a fine no more than $100.
We’ve written about the dooring bill here previously and have urged you, if you’re a Virginia resident, to take action to support it. Thanks in part to your dedicated and vocal support, SB 736 passed the House’s transportation subcommittee, where it was voted for by delegates Richard Anderson and J. Randall Minchew.
We appreciate any additional support you can give to SB 736 in advance of its hearing tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. Constituents of delegates Anderson and Minchew should express thanks for their support of the bill in subcommittee, and constituents of Thomas Rust and Barbara Comstock should reiterate that their support is needed for this bill, which would make dooring illegal.

The list of legislators can be found here. http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView[URL=”http://http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView”]http://http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView[/URL]

[Mark Blacknell]

SB736 (anti-dooring bill) failed on a tie vote (ties fail) in the House Transportation Committee. Dels. Comstock and Anderson were curiously absent, as was – I believe – Minchew (who had voted for it in subcommittee). Report by Virginia Bike Federation’s Bud Vye is here. I don’t have anything helpful to add except for surprise at the willful ignorance of Del. Garrett and spite of Del. Cox (who, by the way, makes his living off the public roads as owner of a trucking company). So this bill is dead for the year. And probably next year, too, unless we can find a Republican to patron it (that’s just how Virginia rolls).

SB959 (Favola’s redundant enforcement at path/road intersections) flew right through, with the committee not even giving her a chance to speak in support. I had a very direct conversation with Sen. Favola in hallways after. This bill will almost certainly be bundled up with others as part of a unanimous block vote in the next few days. It’s as good as passed.

As I type this, the fate of SB1060 (three foot to pass, following too closely) is being decided in House Transportation Sub #2 (domain of the aforementioned Del. Cox). I’ll update when I’ve got word.

I appreciate everyone’s action and support over the past few weeks.

[sjclaeys]

Great, the anti-dooring law does not get passed and prospects for the 3 foot/following too closely bill do not look great, but Favola’s cycling harassment bill goes through. How does she defend sponsoring this ill considered legislation?

[Author]

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