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Department of Motor Vehicles Subcommittee

Tuesday, February 3, 2026·1h 22m·▶ Watch / Listen

The DMV Subcommittee tabled several bills — including proposals to restrict DMV registration holds to single vehicles (HB 1129) and eliminate front license plates (HB 1198) — while advancing vehicle inspection reform (HB 1145), towing lien updates (HB 1288), and federal weight definition alignment (HB 1290) unanimously; the contentious decal elimination bill (HB 1143) was continued by voice vote with a directive for DMV to work directly with local treasurers and report back to the General Assembly.

Key Actions

·HB 1143 – Registration Decal EliminationNo Vote

+ 10 more actions

Controversies

HB 1129 – Scope of DMV registration holds for unpaid vehicle taxes

Delegate Walker argued the bill merely clarifies that registration holds apply only to the vehicle with unpaid taxes and 'does not remove a locality's authority to collect what is owed,' while Alan Albert (Treasurers Association of Virginia) countered that this is 'the single most important collection tool for personal property taxes for local governments' and that the change 'will adversely impact the collection rate for personal property taxes in every jurisdiction in this state.' Nicole Armstead (City Treasurer, Richmond) called the bill 'a loophole for the taxes not being collected.'

+ 2 more controversies

Notable Quotes

“There are 520,000 people driving around who could be pulled over for these expired decals, and about 1,500 every month are actually ticketed. So it's a perception that there's enforcement, but there's no real enforcement going on along roadside.”

Commissioner Lackey (DMV Commissioner) — Commissioner Lackey testified in support of HB 1143, which would eliminate physical registration decals, arguing the current decal system creates a false impression of enforcement.

+ 1 more quote

Votes

Lay House Bill 1129 on the tableFailed
Lay House Bill 1198 on the tableFailed
Gently lay House Bill 1205 on the table (with substitute)Failed
Lay House Bill 1281 on the tableFailed
Report House Bill 1097No Vote
Report House Bill 1145 with substituteNo Vote
Report House Bill 1288No Vote
Report House Bill 1290No Vote
Report HB 1226Passed
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TranscriptPreview
As a quorum is present, the subcommittee will come to order. The clerk will take the role, will open the roll so that attendance can be. The clerk will close the roll. Today we have 13 bills on our docket as one patient, one patron has requested extra time to fine tune this legislation. With that being said, the chair will entertain a motion to take House Bill 1137 by for the day. Haven't been moved and properly seconded. Without Objection, House Bill 1137 goes by for the day. I will generally proceed in numerical order based upon how are things listed on the docket, but of course I'll make exceptions given special circumstances of individuals. With that being said, Delegate reed, House Bill 269. Thank you, madam Chair and members of the committee. I'm going to try to make this easy for you this morning since you do have 12 remaining bills. And as a little bit of foreshadowing, I'm going to review some of this and then I'd like to ask you to continue this until 2027 because we have a whole lot more work to do on this. But I would like to just share some background…
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