Transportation

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1438 authorizes the state to issue a special "Green Star Family" license plate to family members of veterans who died by suicide related to their military service. To qualify, the veteran must have been discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable, and the applicant must be a specific relative such as a spouse, parent, child, sibling, or foster parent. The special plate is available for passenger cars and trucks with a registered gross weight of 14,000 pounds or less, requiring a $28 fee in addition to standard registration costs.

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1426 designates the Interstate 81 and State Route 4007 interchange, known as Exit 119 in Schuylkill County, as the PSP Trooper Michael E. Pahira, Jr. Memorial Interchange. The bill honors Trooper Pahira, who died in July 2026 after being struck by a tractor-trailer while conducting a commercial vehicle safety inspection at that specific location. It directs the state Department of Transportation to erect and maintain signs displaying the new name at the interchange.

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1427 removes a specific legal protection from the state's vehicle code that previously prevented seat belt and child restraint violations from being used as evidence in civil lawsuits. The bill deletes the provision that barred juries from considering failure to use safety restraints as contributory negligence or admissible evidence in personal injury trials. This change directly affects individuals involved in civil litigation, allowing courts to potentially factor in whether a victim was wearing a seat belt or using a child restraint system when determining liability.

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1421 authorizes municipalities to install automated cameras in school zones to enforce traffic laws, specifically targeting failures to stop at signs or yield to pedestrians. The bill imposes a $50 fine on the registered vehicle owner rather than the driver, with a mandatory 30-day warning period before fines are issued. It requires that all revenue generated from these fines be reinvested into local road safety projects, such as sidewalk improvements and traffic signal upgrades. Additionally, the legislation mandates strict privacy protections, including the blurring of pedestrian faces in images and prohibiting the use of camera data for general surveillance or sale to third parties.

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 1420 amends state vehicle laws to allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs and permits specific maneuvers at red lights. Under the new rules, a cyclist may proceed through an intersection on a steady red light after coming to a complete stop and yielding to pedestrians and other traffic. The bill also allows cyclists to make right turns on red without stopping if they slow down and yield, or left turns onto one-way streets after stopping. These changes apply to all persons operating pedalcycles on public highways and take effect 60 days after the act is signed.