TITLE 4. CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES
MARINE RESOURCES COMMISSION
Initial Agency Notice
Title of Regulation: 4VAC20-1270. Pertaining to Atlantic Menhaden.
Statutory Authority: § 28.2-201 of the Code of Virginia.
Name of Petitioner: Dale Neal.
Nature of Petitioner's Request: Because the Marine Resources Commission holds authority over fishing regulations in Virginia's salt waters and the menhaden fishery, the petitioner asks the commission to amend the annual quota allocation, as well as to expand upon and codify the memorandum of understanding establishing the one-mile purse seine buffer zone agreed upon at the December 2022 commission meeting. This request is submitted pursuant to the commission's authority under § 28.201 of the Code of Virginia and 4VAC20-1270-30.
To preserve and increase the menhaden non-purse seine bait sector and recreational bait harvests and to create an exclusive menhaden bait zone, the petitioner asks that the commission amend or establish the following regulations:
1. Increase the non-purse seine menhaden bait sector quota from 1.58% to 5.0%.
2. Establish a legally binding one-mile shoreline restricted zone across the entirety of Virginia's Chesapeake Bay waters and Atlantic coastal waters prohibiting purse seine harvesting operations and establish penalties for violations. Creating a one-mile buffer zone will give the Atlantic menhaden biomass a fighting chance to re-establish sustainable nearshore populations. This in turn could restore the opportunity for non-purse seine bait fishermen, crabbers, hook-and-liners, shoreline subsistence anglers, and recreational fishermen to benefit as well from the menhaden fishery, as is the statutory duty of the commission. Virginia could establish itself as a robust menhaden bait fishery, supplying internal and external needs at a reasonable acquisition cost for all. An added benefit could extend as well to the fish, shellfish, and wildlife that depend on an abundant nearshore supply of menhaden, protecting the ecological forage and fish stocks of the Commonwealth, which is also a statutory duty of the commission. No other fish species contains the nutritional power of menhaden. This request is based upon the commission's own scientific landing data over the past five seasons showing large shortfalls in the catch versus the allowable quota. The petitioner additionally provided the following reference: subdivisions 4 and 5 of § 28.2-203 of the Code of Virginia. Commission to prepare fishery management plans; standards.
"4. Conservation and management measures shall not discriminate among user groups. If it becomes necessary to allocate or assign fishing privileges among various user groups, such allocation shall be (i) fair and equitable to all fishermen; (ii) reasonably calculated to promote conservation; and (iii) carried out in such manner that no person acquires an excessive share of such privileges;
5. Conservation and management shall, where practicable, promote efficiency in the utilization of fishery resources, except that no such measure shall have economic allocation as its sole purpose;"
Agency Plan for Disposition of Request: The Marine Resources Commission is submitting notice of the petition for rulemaking for publication in the Virginia Register of Regulations and will be announcing a public comment period once established. Following receipt of comments on the petition, the commission will review the petition at a regularly scheduled commission meeting within 90 days of the end of the public comment period.
Public Comment Deadline: November 23, 2026.
Agency Contact: Benjamin Foster, Regulatory Coordinator, Marine Resources Commission, 380 Fenwick Road, Building 96, Fort Monroe, VA, 23651, telephone (757) 247-2200, or email benjamin.foster@mrc.virginia.gov.
VA.R. Doc. No. PFR27-04; Filed October 01, 2026, 7:53 p.m.
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TITLE 24. TRANSPORTATION AND MOTOR VEHICLES
DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES
Initial Agency Notice
Title of Regulation: 24VAC20. Department of Motor Vehicles regulations.
Statutory Authority: § 46.2-203 of the Code of Virginia.
Name of Petitioner: Christopher Wright.
Nature of Petitioner's Request: "I am writing as a constituent and resident of Leesburg to demand immediate legislative and regulatory intervention regarding the unchecked operation of automated driving software, most notably Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" (FSD), on Virginia's public roads.
Today, automakers are exploiting a dangerous regulatory loophole. Systems like Tesla's FSD are capable of full lateral and longitudinal control across complex surface streets, navigating intersections, executing turns, and traversing pedestrian-dense corridors, yet manufacturers classify them as "SAE Level 2" driver-assistance features. By appending the word "Supervised" to "Full Self-Driving," manufacturers transfer legal liability and the burden of crash avoidance entirely onto human operators, while bypassing the pre-market testing, independent audits, and transparent reporting required of true autonomous vehicles.
This practice effectively turns public roads in Loudoun County and across the Commonwealth into uncontrolled testing grounds. Pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and other motorists have never consented to be test subjects for experimental neural networks. Innocent lives have already been lost in collisions linked to automated driver-assist systems across the United States. While European and Asian regulators have refused to approve unverified public beta rollouts without exhaustive pre-market type approval, Virginia motorists remain exposed to unpredictable software disengagements and split-second driver takeovers.
While the federal government sets baseline vehicle manufacturing standards under the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Commonwealth of Virginia holds plenary authority under the Tenth Amendment to regulate driver conduct, licensing, and operational safety on state roadways.
I respectfully urge the General Assembly and the Department of Motor Vehicles to take the following actions:
1. Reclassify complex surface-street automation under state law: Amend the Code of Virginia to stipulate that any motor vehicle feature capable of steering, accelerating, braking, and navigating surface intersections without planned human intervention must meet the testing, licensing, and insurance standards of Automated Driving Systems (ADS), regardless of how an automaker markets or self-certifies the system.
2. Prohibit deceptive and misleading ADAS terminology: Enact consumer protection statutes similar to California SB 1398 that prohibit automakers and dealers from naming, advertising, or selling Level 2 partial driving automation using terms such as "Full Self-Driving," "Autopilot," or "Autonomous" when driver supervision is mandatory.
3. Mandate non-defeatable driver-monitoring standards: Establish strict operational requirements making it unlawful to engage hands-free or semi-autonomous steering unless the vehicle is equipped with active, camera-based, eye-tracking driver-monitoring systems that promptly disengage the software when attention lapses.
4. Require direct state crash and incident reporting: Mandate that automakers deploying Level 2 and Level 3 automated driving features within Virginia furnish real-time, unfiltered incident data to the Virginia State Police and DMV whenever a collision occurs while automated software is active.
Automakers must be forced to prove their systems are safe on closed courses before deploying them onto Virginia streets. I ask that your offices prioritize constituent safety and introduce legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session to close this loophole.
Thank you for your time, leadership, and dedication to the safety of all Virginians.
Sincerely,
Christopher Wright"
Agency Plan for Disposition of Request: The petition for rulemaking will be published in the Virginia Register of Regulations on November 2, 2026, and on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall. Public comment opens November 2, 2026, and closes November 23, 2026. The Department of Motor Vehicles will consider the petition and all comments in support or opposition after the close of the public comment period. The agency will issue a written decision within 90 days following the close of the comment period.
Public Comment Deadline: November 23, 2026.
Agency Contact: Nicholas Megibow, Director of Legislative Services, Department of Motor Vehicles, 2300 West Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23220, telephone (804) 367-6701, or email nicholas.megibow@dmv.virginia.gov.
VA.R. Doc. No. PFR27-05; Filed October 2, 2026, 4:54 p.m.