SD6 - Report of the Modified Vehicle Joint Subcommittee

  • Published: 1985
  • Author: General Assembly. Joint subcommittee
  • Enabling Authority: Senate Joint Resolution 61 (Regular Session, 1984)

Executive Summary:
The present study was called for by the 1984 General Assembly in Senate Joint Resolution No. 61 sponsored by Senator Frank W. Nolen of Augusta County (see Appendix I). This resolution was the outgrowth of legislation which was considered by the 1983 Session of the General Assembly

In 1983, Delegates Frederick H. Creekmore, V. Thomas Forehand, Jr., W. Tayloe Murphy, John G. Dicks III, and Robert B. Ball, Sr., sponsored House Bill No. 477, a measure intended to guarantee that modifications to the suspensions of motor vehicles - particularly four-wheel-drive utility vehicles - did not render those vehicles unsafe for operation on the public highways.

Although the bill passed both houses, it was vetoed by the Governor, and no attempt was made to override the veto.

In his veto message, the Governor observed, "All parties concerned agree that there are safety problems with some of the modified vehicles operating on Virginia's highway." However, he felt that HB No. 477 would have imposed unnecessarily burdensome regulations on operators of modified vehicles, many of whom had incurred considerable expense in the process of making these modifications. The Governor also expressed his belief that insufficient opportunity had been afforded affected motor vehicle owners to comment on the legislation before the General Assembly. In an effort both to deal with questions of safety of these modified vehicles, and also to give concerned parties a chance to be heard, the Governor directed the Secretary of Public Safety, "to fully examine the issues raised by this legislation (HB 477) and to make recommendations to him [the Governor] in anticipation of the 1984 General Assembly Session.

In agreement with one of the recommendations made in the Secretary's report, Senate Joint Resolution No. 61 was offered to the 1984 Session of the General Assembly. It was the only legislation specifically derived from that report to be offered in 1984.