Bill Commons

VA SB 471

in committee

Hunting dogs; releasing on state or local roadway, hunting, fishing, and trapping special license.

Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · upper

Description

Releasing of hunting dogs; state or local roadway; hunting, fishing, and trapping special license; penalty. Creates a Class 3 misdemeanor for the release of hunting dogs on or within 15 feet of the edge of a roadway owned or maintained by the Department of Transportation or a locality and provides that a second or subsequent offense is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill allows a court to prohibit any person who released hunting dogs on or within 15 feet of the edge of a roadway owned or maintained by the Department or locality from hunting, trapping, or fishing in the Commonwealth for a period of up to five years. The bill permits the stopping of a vehicle on a highway for the retrieval of a companion animal from a highway or area adjacent to a highway. The bill allows certain people such as a landowner and other people associated with such landowner, stockholder, tenant, or guest of the landowner in certain circumstances, to apply for a special license to hunt, fish, and trap exclusively on a landowner's property in lieu of other hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses required by state law.

Introduced
2026-01-13
Status date
—
Latest action
2026-02-03 — Passed by indefinitely in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (10-Y 4-N)
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Sponsors

  • David W. Marsdenprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2026-01-13

    Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102612D

    filing,introduction

  2. 2026-01-13

    Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources

    referral-committee

  3. 2026-01-28

    Assigned HACNR sub: Rural Affairs

    referral-committee

  4. 2026-02-03

    Passed by indefinitely in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources (10-Y 4-N)

    deferral

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • Passed by indefinitely in Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources

    2026-02-03 · pass · 10-4

    Member-level votes (15)
    • David W. Marsden: no
    • Mark D. Obenshain: yes
    • Richard H. Stuart: yes
    • William M. Stanley, Jr.: yes
    • David R. Suetterlein: yes
    • T. Travis Hackworth: yes
    • Angelia Williams Graves: yes
    • Russet Perry: yes
    • Stella G. Pekarsky: no
    • Timmy French: yes
    • Saddam Azlan Salim: no
    • Tammy Brankley Mulchi: not voting
    • Danica A. Roem: no
    • Kannan Srinivasan: yes
    • Michael J. Jones: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB471

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T05:35:59.552682Z

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