Innovations Subcommittee

Tuesday, February 10, 2026·1h 56m·▶ Watch / Listen

The Innovations Subcommittee advanced a sweeping package of automated traffic enforcement bills — including speed cameras, stop sign cameras, and bus lane cameras — while tabling two child safety and small-town camera bills on procedural and jurisdictional grounds; the sovereign immunity waiver in Chair Delaney's guardrail bill drew the sharpest opposition from localities and county associations throughout the hearing.

Key Actions

·HB 564 – Bus Lane Camera EnforcementPassed

+ 8 more actions

Controversies

Sovereign immunity waiver in HB 1220 and related bills

Chair Delaney argued the waiver is necessary because courts have ruled neither vendors nor localities can be held liable under current law, leaving citizens with 'no accountability available right now.' Mitchell Smiley (VML) countered 'We do oppose the sovereign immunity provisions that are in this bill. We don't think that that's necessary in this case.' James Hutzer (VACo) called it 'way too far,' and Mindy Carlin (City of Suffolk) expressed desire to find 'another solution on the accountability front short of sovereign immunity.'

+ 4 more controversies

Notable Quotes

“The courts have ruled that the vendors cannot be held liable because they are operating in official duties of the of the locality. So that falls to the locality. And then the courts have ruled that the localities can't be liable because they have sovereign immunity. That leaves the citizens in a position where if the law is not followed and these are, and the current law isn't followed as written and someone wants to challenge that in court, there's no accountability available right now.”
Chair Delaney — Delaney was explaining to Delegate Mehta why HB 1220 includes a sovereign immunity waiver provision, which drew opposition from VML, VACo, and Fairfax County.

+ 4 more quotes

Votes

Report HB 564 as amendedPassed

Lay HB 311 on the tableFailed

Lay HB 1010 on the tablePassed

Report HB 684Passed

Report HB 994 as substitutedPassed

Report HB 1330 (corrected roll)Passed

Lay HB 818 on the tableFailed

Report HB 818Failed

Report HB 821Failed

Report HB 1273 as substituted and amendedPassed

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TranscriptPreview

Subcommittee for Transportation Innovation. Subcommittee to order. We're going to verify that we have a quorum. I'm going to put us at ease and then we'll go ahead and get started from there. Okay? All right. Thank you all for your patience. The committee will be at ease. Call this meeting to order. We will go ahead and have the clerk open the rolls so we can take attendance. The clerk will close the rolls. We have a quorum. What I want to do first before we get into bills is sort of level set on what we have on the docket because I think everybody kind of has their interest in this room. We have looked at overall as we roll through these bills. First off, we're looking at guardrails today, then we're looking at where monies go, and then we're looking at an expansion piece. So know that the committee is coming from those three different perspectives. I expect there to probably be a great deal of testimony, maybe depending on the bill. We're going to base the timeline off of how many folks we have speaking. So if you're coming up to speak in favor or in…

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