13103305D
HOUSE BILL NO. 1830
Offered January 9, 2013
Prefiled January 8, 2013
A BILL to amend and reenact §46.2-380 of the Code of
Virginia, relating to the Department of State Police; crash reports maintained
by the Department.
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Patron-- Villanueva
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Referred to Committee on Transportation
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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 an accident 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 thirty-six 36 months from the date of the
accident and shall be open to the inspection of any person involved or injured
in the accident or as a result thereof, or his attorney or any authorized
representative of any insurance carrier reasonably anticipating exposure to
civil liability as a consequence of the accident or to which the person has
applied for issuance or renewal of a policy of automobile insurance. The
Commissioner or
Superintendent, or the area or division offices of the Department of State
Police having a copy of the report,
shall on written request of the person or attorney or any authorized
representative of any insurance carrier reasonably anticipating exposure to
civil liability as a consequence of the accident or to which the person has
applied for issuance or renewal of a policy of automobile insurance, furnish a
copy of the report, in either hard copy or electronic
form, at the expense of the person, attorney, or
representative. Any such report shall also be open to inspection by the
personal representative of any person injured or killed in the accident,
including his guardian, conservator, executor, committee, or administrator, or,
if the person injured or killed is under eighteen 18 years old of age, his parent or
guardian. The Commissioner or
Superintendent 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 or
Superintendent, or to the area or division offices of the Department of State
Police having a copy of any such report, as the case may be.
The Commissioner and the
Superintendent, acting jointly, 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. Nothing contained in this section shall require any
division office of the Department of State Police to furnish any copy when
duplicating equipment is not available.
B. The Commissioner or Superintendent of State Police having a
copy of any photograph taken by a law-enforcement officer relating to a
nonfatal accident, shall maintain the negatives for such photographs in their
records for at least thirty-six 36 months from the date of the
accident.
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