A BILL to establish a Potomac River Ferry Restoration of Service Working Group; report.
HB1134 would create a Potomac River Ferry Restoration of Service Working Group, chaired by the Commissioner of Highways, to study and help develop a path to restore ferry service that stopped operating on or after December 1, 2020, between Point of Rocks and the American Legion Bridge along the Potomac River. The work group would include state transportation and legal officials, affected local county representatives, the Maryland Department of Transportation, the U.S. Coast Guard as appropriate, and relevant landowners, ferry owners, operators, and experts.
The group would be tasked with identifying options to reestablish ferry access points, including solutions involving landing rights, easements, and fair compensation. It would also have to include any proposal requiring state funding or legislative action in its final report. The bill requires the Attorney General to review proposed agreements for legality and compliance with state and federal law, and it authorizes certain state officials to enter into agreements only if they are necessary, prudent, in the public interest, and impose no additional financial burden on the Commonwealth. A report and executive summary would be due to the Governor and General Assembly by December 1, 2026.
The bill does not itself restore ferry service or appropriate money, but it creates a formal state process to evaluate legal, property, funding, and operational issues tied to reopening a discontinued Potomac River ferry route. It would involve the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Office of the Attorney General, and local government in a coordinated effort, and it could lead to future agreements, easements, or legislative action affecting transportation policy, land use, and interstate coordination with Maryland and federal authorities.
Based on the bill text and its procedural status, the measure appears exploratory and problem-solving in nature rather than controversial on its face. There is no recorded committee testimony or vote history in the provided materials, and the bill was left in the Committee on Rules, suggesting it did not advance. The structure of the bill indicates an effort to build consensus around a transportation restoration issue while avoiding any immediate fiscal commitment by the Commonwealth.
The main points of potential contention are likely to be property rights, compensation for landing rights and easements, and whether the Commonwealth should take on any role in facilitating or funding ferry restoration. The bill anticipates these concerns by requiring Attorney General review and by limiting state participation to agreements that impose no additional financial burden on Virginia. Another likely issue is the need for coordination across jurisdictions and with private landowners, ferry operators, and federal or interstate entities, which may complicate implementation.