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HB365 • 2026

Emergency vehicles; exempt from certain traffic regulations.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 46.2-920 of the Code of Virginia, relating to emergency vehicles; exempt from certain traffic regulations.

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Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
McLaughlin
Last action
2026-02-20
Official status
Failed
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide an exact effective date, only that it is enacted and passed by the Legislature.

Emergency Vehicles Can Ignore Some Rules

This bill allows state and local emergency vehicles to ignore certain traffic rules when necessary.

What This Bill Does

  • Allows state and local law-enforcement vehicles to disregard parking and stopping provisions as long as a law-enforcement officer is in charge.
  • Expands the situations where such vehicles may disregard speed limits, including when establishing evidence of other violations or responding to emergencies where emergency lights and sirens could pose safety risks.

Who It Names or Affects

  • State and local police officers
  • People driving on roads

Terms To Know

Emergency vehicles
Vehicles used by police, fire departments, and medical services to help people in emergencies.
Law-enforcement officer
A person who works for the police or other agencies that enforce laws.

Limits and Unknowns

  • Does not specify when exactly this law will start.
  • Only applies to state and local emergency vehicles, not federal ones.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HB365AHC1

2026-01-28

Transportation Amendment

Plain English: The amendment modifies the existing law to remove references to federal and state regulations regarding traffic rules for emergency vehicles.

  • Removes 'federal' from a section of the bill.
  • Removes 'state' from another part of the same section.
  • The exact impact on current traffic regulations for emergency vehicles is unclear without additional context.
  • It's not clear what specific federal or state regulations are being removed, making it hard to understand the full effect of this change.
HB365AHC2

2026-01-28 • Committee

Highway Safety and Policy Subcommittee Amendment

Plain English: The amendment removes references to federal and state regulations in the bill text regarding exemptions for emergency vehicles from certain traffic rules.

  • Removes mentions of 'federal' where it appears after line 81 and line 87.
  • Removes mentions of 'state' where it appears after line 81 and line 87.
  • The exact impact on the exemptions for emergency vehicles is unclear without knowing the full context of the original bill text.
HB365AHC3

2026-02-03 • Committee

Transportation Amendment

Plain English: The amendment modifies the conditions under which a law enforcement officer can be exempt from certain traffic regulations.

  • Adds a condition requiring law enforcement officers to be either acting in their official capacity or engaged in enforcement activities or investigations to qualify for exemptions from traffic regulations.
  • The amendment text is incomplete and does not provide full context, making it difficult to explain all potential impacts clearly.
HB365AH1

2026-02-03 • Committee

Transportation Amendment

Plain English: The amendment modifies the conditions under which a law-enforcement officer can be exempt from certain traffic regulations.

  • Adds language to specify that an officer must be acting in their official capacity or engaged in enforcement activities or investigations to qualify for exemptions.
  • The amendment text is incomplete and does not provide full context, making it difficult to explain all potential impacts clearly.
HB365AH2

2026-02-09 • Member

Delegate McLaughlin Amendments

Plain English: The amendment modifies the language regarding exemptions for emergency vehicles from certain traffic regulations by adding conditions under which a law-enforcement officer can be exempt.

  • Adds a condition that a law-enforcement officer must be acting in their official capacity and engaged in enforcement activities or investigations to qualify for an exemption.
  • The amendment text is incomplete, making it difficult to fully understand the extent of changes beyond adding conditions for law-enforcement officers' exemptions.
HB365ASC1

2026-02-20 • Committee

Transportation Amendment

Plain English: The amendment makes minor punctuation changes to the existing bill text regarding emergency vehicles.

  • Adds a comma after 'federal' in certain lines of the bill.
  • Inserts commas where there were previously no commas, maintaining the original structure.
  • The amendment does not change any substantive rules or regulations for emergency vehicles; it only alters punctuation.

Bill History

  1. 2026-02-20 Senate

    Senate committee offered

  2. 2026-02-19 Transportation

    Passed by indefinitely in Transportation (8-Y 7-N)

  3. 2026-02-16 House

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB365)

  4. 2026-02-11 Senate

    Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)

  5. 2026-02-11 Transportation

    Referred to Committee on Transportation

  6. 2026-02-10 House

    Read third time and passed House (96-Y 2-N 0-A)

  7. 2026-02-09 House

    Floor Offered

  8. 2026-02-09 House

    Read second time

  9. 2026-02-09 House

    committee amendments rejected

  10. 2026-02-09 House

    Delegate McLaughlin Floor amendments agreed to

  11. 2026-02-09 House

    Engrossed by House as amended

  12. 2026-02-06 House

    Moved from Uncontested Calendar to Regular Calendar

  13. 2026-02-06 House

    Passed by for the day

  14. 2026-02-05 House

    Read first time

  15. 2026-02-03 Transportation

    Reported from Transportation with amendment(s) (21-Y 0-N)

  16. 2026-02-03 House

    House committee offered

  17. 2026-01-28 Highway Safety and Policy

    Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (7-Y 0-N 1-A)

  18. 2026-01-28 Highway Safety and Policy

    House subcommittee offered

  19. 2026-01-19 Highway Safety and Policy

    Assigned HTRAN sub: Highway Safety and Policy

  20. 2026-01-12 House

    Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26104017D

  21. 2026-01-12 Transportation

    Referred to Committee on Transportation

Official Summary Text

Emergency vehicles; exempt from certain traffic regulations.
Authorizes a law-enforcement vehicle, defined in current law, operated by or under the direction of a state or local law-enforcement officer to disregard parking and stopping provisions. The bill expands the situations in which such vehicles may disregard speed limits to include when establishing evidence of other violations of law and when responding to an emergency in which emergency lights and siren may pose a safety risk and removes such authorization for disregarding speed limits in certain situations provided under existing law for law-enforcement vehicles operated by or under the direction of a federal law-enforcement officer.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HB 365

TRANSPORTATION

1. Line 80, engrossed, after a

strike

federal,

insert

federal,

TRANSPORTATION

2. Line 80, engrossed, after state

strike

,
[the comma]

insert

, [a comma]

TRANSPORTATION

3. Line 86, engrossed, after
a

strike

federal,

insert

federal,

TRANSPORTATION

4. Line 86, engrossed, after
state

strike

,
[the comma]

insert

,
[a comma]