Committee deadlocks on bill to standardize training for photo-enforcement administrators

Senator Vincent Diggs introduced legislation aimed at standardizing training for people who administer photo-enforcement programs, but the committee failed to report the bill after a 3–3 tie.

Senator Vincent Diggs, the bill’s patron, told the subcommittee the bill would not expand existing photo enforcement but would require training standards for those who handle violations from traffic signal cameras, speed monitoring, highway work zones and school crossing zones. “This bill will standardize the training necessary to ensure that these violations are handled appropriately and within the law,” Diggs said.

A representative from the City of Newport News, Jeri Wilson, testified in favor, saying the city supports the bill and thanked the patron for bringing it. Committee members asked questions about privacy protections and bias. Delegate McClure asked how the training would address concerns about bias-based profiling. Senator Diggs replied that existing privacy statutes and basic law enforcement training cover those issues and that the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) could require those topics if it deems them necessary.

A motion was made to report Senate Bill 14 45 and refer it to appropriations; the clerk recorded the roll and the chair announced the motion failed on a vote of 3 to 3. No amendment or substitute was recorded, and no appropriation amount or fiscal estimate was entered into the transcript during this meeting.

Because the failure was a tie, the bill did not advance from the subcommittee at this session.