Can Virginia rename Jefferson Davis Highway in Arlington County without an act of the General Assembly?

Plain-English summary

Delegate Mark Levine asked the AG a procedural question with strong symbolic weight: can the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) rename the parts of Jefferson Davis Highway running through Arlington County, or does that require an act of the General Assembly?

The 1922 Virginia General Assembly originally named Primary Route 1 "the Jefferson Davis highway, in honor of the only president of the Confederate[] States of America." So the name was a creature of state statute. For decades, the law said the CTB could not rename "such highways, bridges, or interchanges as have been or may hereafter be named by the General Assembly." That carve-out was the obstacle.

But in 2012, the General Assembly amended what became § 33.2-213 and deleted that carve-out language. Acts of Assembly Chapters 729 and 733, 2012, made the deletion explicit. After the amendment, § 33.2-213 lets the CTB "give suitable names to state highways, bridges, interchanges, and other transportation facilities and change the names of any highways, bridges, interchanges, or other transportation facilities forming a part of the systems of state highways," without the prior General Assembly carve-out.

The statute does keep one local protection: except for private naming-rights situations, the CTB cannot rename a transportation facility unless the locality (in which a portion of the facility is located) sends a resolution requesting the change. So Arlington County still has to ask first, but once it does, the CTB has the authority to act, no further General Assembly involvement required.

The AG cited the Virginia Supreme Court's interpretive presumption from West Lewinsville Heights v. Board of Supervisors (2005) that legislative amendments to a statute are presumed to effect substantive changes in the law. Deleting the General Assembly-named-roads carve-out had to mean something, and the only sensible reading was an intentional expansion of CTB renaming authority.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2019. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Background and statutory framework

Virginia's state highway system was established by 1918 Va. Acts ch. 10, which made Route 1 a primary road. The 1922 General Assembly (1922 Va. Acts ch. 286) named Route 1 the Jefferson Davis Highway in honor of the Confederate president.

The hierarchy of naming authority:

• Localities name streets, roads, and alleys in their jurisdictions (§ 15.2-2019).
• CTB names state highways, bridges, interchanges, and other state transportation facilities (§ 33.2-213).
• General Assembly can name state facilities by statute.

Section 33.2-213, as currently written, gives CTB broad renaming authority. The only express limitation tied to General Assembly-named facilities is for private naming-rights deals: if a private entity wants to buy naming rights to a facility previously named by the General Assembly, the new name must incorporate the previous General Assembly-given name. That limitation does not apply to a locality-initiated renaming process.

The procedural requirement: CTB cannot rename a transportation facility (other than for private naming-rights deals) unless it receives a request from the governing body of the locality in which a portion of the facility is located.

The 2012 amendments to § 33.1-12(4) (predecessor to § 33.2-213) explicitly struck through "except such highways, bridges, or interchanges as have been or may hereafter be named by the General Assembly." The strike-through is preserved in the Acts of Assembly for 2012, Chapters 729 and 733.

West Lewinsville Heights Citizens Association v. Board of Supervisors, 270 Va. 259 (2005), holds that "there is a presumption that the General Assembly, in amending a statute, intended to effect a substantive change in the law." The AG used that presumption to read the 2012 deletion as a deliberate expansion of CTB authority over General Assembly-named facilities.

Common questions

Q: What does Arlington County have to do to start the renaming?
A: Its Board of Supervisors needs to adopt a resolution requesting that the CTB rename the Arlington portion of Jefferson Davis Highway. The resolution is the trigger; the CTB then exercises its statutory renaming authority.

Q: Does the new name have to incorporate "Jefferson Davis"?
A: No. The "incorporate-the-previous-name" rule applies only when a private entity buys naming rights. For a locality-initiated renaming, the CTB can adopt any suitable new name.

Q: Can a city rename its own portion without the CTB?
A: For a primary highway in the state system, no. Section 15.2-2019 lets localities name local streets, but for state-system primary highways, names assigned by the CTB or General Assembly "take precedence." The locality's role is to request, not to rename directly.

Q: Did the 2012 amendment change the rule for all General Assembly-named roads, or just some?
A: All. The deleted carve-out was a blanket exception. Removing it gave the CTB general renaming authority over General Assembly-named highways.

Q: Could the General Assembly re-impose the carve-out?
A: Yes, by amending § 33.2-213 to restore the language it deleted in 2012. The opinion did not opine on the political likelihood of such a re-amendment, only on the current legal landscape.

Q: What's State Route 110, mentioned in a footnote?
A: Some maps designate Virginia State Route 110 as Jefferson Davis Highway. The footnote flags it as a related primary highway that might be relevant. Whether SR 110 is properly named by the General Assembly or by CTB would have to be confirmed separately.

Q: Does the federal government play any role?
A: No. The opinion treated the question as one of state law. The name in federal highway databases would update once Virginia changes its own designation.

Q: Does this opinion bind the General Assembly's choice to debate the issue legislatively?
A: No. The opinion only confirms that legislative action is not required. The General Assembly remains free to act on the name itself if it chooses.

Citations

The opinion rests on § 33.2-213 (current CTB naming authority); § 33.2-200 (CTB establishment); § 15.2-2019 (local street naming); 1918 Va. Acts ch. 10 and 1922 Va. Acts ch. 286 (establishing Route 1 and naming it); 2012 Va. Acts chs. 729 and 733 (deleting the General Assembly carve-out); the prior § 33.1-12(4) version; and West Lewinsville Heights Citizens Ass'n v. Board of Supervisors, 270 Va. 259 (2005), on the presumption of substantive change from amendment.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.oag.state.va.us/annual-reports-opinions/official-opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.oag.state.va.us/files/opinions/2019/19-010-Levine-issued.pdf

Original opinion text

COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
Office of the Attorney General
Mark R. Herring
Attorney General

March 21, 2019

202 North Ninth Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
804-786-2071
Fax 804-786-1991
Virginia Relay Services
800-828-1120
7-1-1

The Honorable Mark H. Levine
Member, Virginia House of Delegates
301 King Street
Alexandria, Virginia 22314

Dear Delegate Levine:
I am responding to your request for an official advisory opinion in accordance with § 2.2-505 of the Code of Virginia.

Issue Presented

You ask whether the Commonwealth Transportation Board has the power to rename those portions of Jefferson Davis Highway located in Arlington County.

Background

You relate that Route 1 was designated a primary road in the state highway system in 1918 and was named "Jefferson Davis Highway" by the General Assembly in 1922. You believe that § 33.2-213 of the Code of Virginia gives the Commonwealth Transportation Board authority to rename those portions of "Jefferson Davis Highway" located in Arlington County if the Board of Supervisors adopts a resolution requesting such a change.

Applicable Law and Discussion

On January 31, 1918, the Virginia General Assembly established the state highway system and designated Route 1 as a primary road therein.[1] On March 17, 1922, the Virginia General Assembly named Route 1 "the Jefferson Davis Highway":

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, [t]hat primary road number one of the State highway system, as established by an act approved January thirty-first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, is hereby designated, and shall hereafter be known as, the Jefferson Davis highway, in honor of the only president of the Confederates [sic] States of America.[2]

Localities are authorized by statute to name streets, roads, and alleys in their jurisdiction,[3] and "[s]uch names shall take precedence over any other designation" except for names of primary highways made by the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) or the General Assembly.[4] The CTB, established under § 33.2-200, is vested with the authority to "give suitable names to state highways, bridges, interchanges, and other transportation facilities and change the names of any highways, bridges, interchanges, or other transportation facilities forming a part of the systems of state highways."[5] Except in the case of private naming rights, the CTB is not to name a transportation facility unless it receives a request from the governing body of the locality in which a portion of the facility is located.[6]

With regard to the portion of Jefferson Davis Highway in question, the essential question is whether § 33.2-213 gives the CTB power to rename a primary highway originally named by the General Assembly. Section 33.2-213 currently references the renaming of transportation facilities "previously named by ... the General Assembly" only in the case of renaming a facility by a private entity and, in such event, requires that the new name incorporate the previous name given by the General Assembly.[7] No similar restriction or other limitation is placed on the CTB in renaming state transportation facilities originally named by the General Assembly at the request of the locality in which a portion of the facility is located.[8]

This was not always the case. For many years prior to 2012, state law expressly excluded from CTB's renaming authority "such highways, bridges, or interchanges as have been or may hereafter be named by the General Assembly."[9] In 2012, however, the General Assembly deleted this language from the statute, as reflected in the following excerpt from the Acts of Assembly:

The Commonwealth Transportation Board shall be vested with the following powers and shall have the following duties:
[....]
Naming highways, bridges, and interchanges, and other transportation facilities. To give suitable names to state highways, bridges, and interchanges, and other transportation facilities, and change the names of any highways, bridges, or interchanges, or other transportation facilities forming a part of the systems of state highways, except such highways, bridges, or interchanges as have been or may hereafter be named by the General Assembly[....][10]

The deletion of this language in 2012 demonstrates a clear legislative intent to empower the CTB to rename transportation facilities that were originally named by the General Assembly.[11]

Conclusion
Accordingly, it is my opinion that the Commonwealth Transportation Board may change the name of those portions of Jefferson Davis Highway located in Arlington County, provided that its Board of Supervisors adopts a resolution requesting the renaming.

With kindest regards, I am,

Very truly yours,

Mark R. Herring
Attorney General

1. 1918 Va. Acts ch. 10. This portion of Jefferson Davis Highway you reference as being in Arlington County currently is classified by the Virginia Department of Transportation as a primary highway. Additionally, State Route 110 is designated on some maps as Jefferson Davis Highway and is also a primary highway. See, e.g., VA. DEP'T OF TRANSPORTATION, ROUTE INDEX at 1, 13 (rev. 7/1/2013), available at http://www.virginiadot.org/info/resources/route-index-07012003.pdf.
2. 1922 Va. Acts ch. 286.
3. VA. CODE ANN. § 15.2-2019 (2018).
4. See id; VA. CODE ANN. § 33.2-213 (2014).
5. VA. CODE ANN. § 33.2-213.
6. Id. A private entity paying the Virginia Department of Transportation an annual naming rights fee, as established by the Commonwealth Transportation Board, may request the naming of a state transportation facility, in which case no resolution of the governing body is required. See id.
7. Id.
8. See id.
9. See VA. CODE ANN. § 33.1-12(4) (2011) (current version, as amended, at § 33.2-213).
10. 2012 Va. Acts ch. 729; see also 2012 Va. Acts. ch. 733 (containing identical amendments).
11. See W. Lewinsville Heights Citizens Ass'n v. Bd. of Supvrs., 270 Va. 259, 265, 618 S.E.2d 311, 314 (2005) ("[T]here is a presumption that the General Assembly, in amending a statute, intended to effect a substantive change in the law.").