Virginia Bills

Requires that the compulsory training standards established by the Department of Criminal Justice Services for persons employed as deputy sheriffs and jail officers by local criminal justice agencies include annual training in mental health first aid. This bill was incorporated into

Expands the prohibition on manually entering multiple letters or text in a handheld communications device while operating a motor vehicle to also prohibit the manual selection of multiple icons and removes the condition that such manual entry is prohibited only if performed as a means of communicating with another person. The bill prohibits the operator of a motor vehicle from reading any information displayed on the device; current law prohibits reading an email or text message. The bill provides that this prohibition does not apply to reading any information displayed through the use of a global positioning system for the purposes of navigation. The bill eliminates the current exemption from the prohibition on using a handheld personal communications device while operating a motor vehicle when the vehicle is stopped or not moving; the current exemption from the prohibition when the vehicle is parked is not affected.