Bill Text: VA HB1620 | 2023 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Crash reports; inspection by certain persons.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-03-26 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0601) [HB1620 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2023-HB1620-Chaptered.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §46.2-380 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§46.2-380. Reports made under certain sections open to inspection by certain persons; copies; maintenance of reports and photographs for three-year period.
A. Any report of a crash made pursuant to §46.2-372,
46.2-373, 46.2-375, or 46.2-377 shall be maintained by the Department in either
hard copy or electronic form for a period of at least 36 months from the date
of the crash. The report shall be open to the inspection of (i) any person
involved or injured in the crash or as a result thereof, or his attorney, or
any person owning who, at the time of the crash, owned a vehicle
or property involved in the crash, or his attorney, (ii) any authorized
representative of any insurance carrier reasonably anticipating exposure to
civil liability as a consequence of the crash or to which the person has
applied for issuance or renewal of a policy of automobile insurance, or (iii)
the FMCSA or any authorized agent thereof. The Commissioner shall, upon written
request of the person authorized to inspect the report, furnish a copy of the
report, in either hard copy or electronic form, at the expense of the
requester. Any such report shall also be open to inspection by the personal
representative of any person injured or killed in the crash, including his
guardian, conservator, executor, committee, next of kin as defined in §
54.1-2800, or administrator, or, if the person injured or killed is under 18
years of age, his parent or guardian. The Commissioner shall only be required
to furnish under this section copies of reports required by the provisions of
this article to be made directly to the Commissioner. The Commissioner may set
a reasonable fee for furnishing a copy of any report, provide to whom payment
shall be made, and establish a procedure for payment.
B. The Commissioner or Superintendent of State Police having a copy of any photograph taken by a law-enforcement officer relating to a nonfatal crash shall maintain the negatives for or an electronic record of such photographs in their records for at least 36 months from the date of the crash.