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SENATE BILL NO. 376
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the House Committee for Courts of Justice
on ________________)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Surovell)
A BILL to amend and reenact §
46.2-373
of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered
8.01-417.02
, relating to motor vehicle collisions; preservation and collection of certain mobile telephone data; collision reports.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §
46.2-373
of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered
8.01-417.02
as follows:
§
8.01-417.02
. Motor vehicle collisions; requests for certain mobile telephone information to be preserved.
A. After an attorney certifies that he represents a p
arty involved in a motor vehicle collision
pursuant to subsection C to the mobile
tele
phone provider of
another party
alleged to have caused
or contributed to the cause of
such collision
, such attorney may, prior to the filing of a civil action for personal injur
y
sustained as a result of a collision, request in writing that the mobile telephone provider of
such other party
alleged to have caused
or contributed to the cause of the collision
preserve for a period of
180 days
from the date of
such
request
the following records or information
relating to a specific phone number, to the extent that
such
records or information are available when such request
is received by the mobile tel
ephone provider,
from the two hours immediately preceding
and
the two hours immediately following such collision: (i) subscriber information; (ii) incoming and outgoing call logs; (iii)
incoming and outgoing
text message logs
, not including the content of such text messages
;
(iv) any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
assigned to the
phone
; (v) the Media Access Control (MAC) address or other unique identifier of the mobile telephone; (vi) the history of any server
, cell site, or cellular base station
accessed by the phone, including the date and time accessed;
and
(vii) real
-
time location data. Such records
may
be preserved
for 180 days
in a manner consistent with the policies of the mobile telephone provider and shall be retained in the event that such records are subpoenaed or otherwise requested by a party in a pending action.
Any request to preserve such records or information for 180 days may be renewed
by the
requesting party's attorney
, in writing, as needed.
B. Upon request from the attorney representing a
party involved in
a
motor vehicle co
llision
, the insurance carrier of the individual alleged to have caused
or contributed to the cause of the collision
shall advise such attorney whether the individual was utilizing an application
or device
through the insurance carrier
, whether directly or through a third party carrier,
to monitor the individual's driving. If such application
or device
was utilized, the insurance carrier shall, upon request from
such
party's
attorney, preserve
or, if such application or device was provided through a third party provider with
which the insurer has a contract, agreement, or other relationship,
cause to be preserved
for
180 days
from the date of
such request all
data
collected by
such application or device and received by
the
application or device provider
for the two hours immediately preceding and the two hours immediately following such collision
, to the extent that records of such data are available when such request is received by such insurer. Any request to preserve such records for 180 days may be renewed
by the requesting party's attorney, in writing, as needed.
C. For the purposes of this section, an attorney representing
a party involved in a motor vehicle collision
shall certify in accordance with the provisions of §
8.01-4.3
that such attorney has been retained to represent the
party
in relation to a specific collision. Such certification shall include
the
(i)
date, time, and place of the collision
; (ii)
name of the
party
the attorney has been retained to represent
; and (iii)
name of the party alleged to have caused or contributed to the cause of
the collision
and who is the subject of the preservation request
. The attorney shall notify the mobile telephone provider within 15 days of a termination of his representation or decision not to file an action.
§
46.2-373
. Report by law-enforcement official investigating collision.
A. Every law-enforcement officer who in the course of duty investigates a
motor vehicle accident
collision
resulting in injury to or death of any person or total property damage to an apparent extent of $3,000 or more, either at the time of and at the scene of the
accident
collision
or thereafter and elsewhere, by interviewing participants or witnesses shall, within
twenty-four
24
hours after completing the investigation, forward a written report of the
accident
collision
to the Department.
The investigating law-enforcement officer shall ask any driver involved in the
collision
about
such driver's
mobile
tele
phone usage
leading up to and at the time of the
collision
and whether such driver uses an insurance or
other
telematics application
or device
to monitor driving
.
The report shall include the name or names of the insurance carrier or of the insurance agent of the automobile liability policy on each vehicle involved in the
accident
collision
and
if
the driver
of any vehicle involved in the
collision
uses an application
or device
to monitor driving
. A law-enforcement agency may utilize a contracted service provider to forward reports electronically to the Department in compliance with this section and to manage or disseminate copies of such reports to persons identified in, and in a manner consistent with, §
46.2-380
, provided such contracted service provider complies with the requirements applicable to an agency in Chapter 38 (§
2.2-3800
et seq.) of Title 2.2.
B. Any
collision
report filed pursuant to subsection A
of this section
shall include information as to (i) the speed of each vehicle involved in the
accident
and
collision
,
(ii) the type of vehicles involved in all
accidents
collisions
between passenger vehicles and vehicles or combinations of vehicles used to transport property, and (iii) whether any trucks involved in such
accidents
collisions
were covered or uncovered.
C. The Department shall supply copies of
accident
collision
reports received under this section to the Commissioner of Highways who shall exercise the authority granted to him under §§
46.2-870
through
46.2-878
to reduce speed limits where
accident
collision
frequency or severity or other factors may indicate the course of action to be warranted.
D
. Any
collision
report filed pursuant to subsection A
shall include the mobile
tele
phone number and
name of the
mobile
tele
phone
provider
of any driver of a vehicle involved in the
collision
, as well as the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number
.
The
IMEI number shall be redacted from any report provided to a member of the public unless the requesting party is one of the individuals involved in the collision as a driver, passenger, vehicle owner, or injured person
or an attorney representing a driver, passenger, vehicle owner, or injured person.
The
report shall include whether such driver refused to provide the mobile telephone number
,
mobile telephone
provider
, or IMEI number after
requested to provide such information by a law-enforcement officer
who shall advise such driver how to locate such information
.
2. That the Department of Motor Vehicles shall amend its Traffic Records Electronic Data System (TREDS) site's data entry screen in accordance with §
46.2-373
of the Code of Virginia, as amended by this act.
3. That the provisions of this act may result in a net increase in periods of imprisonment or commitment. Pursuant to §
30-19.1:4
of the Code of Virginia, the estimated amount of the necessary appropriation cannot be determined for periods of imprisonment in state adult correctional facilities; therefore, Chapter 725 of the Acts of Assembly of 2025 requires the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission to assign a minimum fiscal impact of $50,000. Pursuant to §
30-19.1:4
of the Code of Virginia, the estimated amount of the necessary appropriation cannot be determined for periods of commitment to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice.