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Subcommittee approves bill allowing private campus police to opt into Line of Duty Act
Summary
The House Appropriations Compensation and Retirement Subcommittee voted 7-0 to advance HB 1815, which would permit authorized private police departments, including private campus police, to opt into the Commonwealth's Line of Duty Act by paying premiums into the fund.
Delegate Della Campbell told the Compensation and Retirement Subcommittee that HB 1815 would let certain private police agencies opt into the Line of Duty Act by paying premiums into the fund.
The bill would allow private campus police departments and other specially authorized private police departments to participate in the Line of Duty Act (LODA) protections by opting in and paying required premiums, Campbell said. "Currently, private police departments in the commonwealth are not eligible to participate in the loader program," she said, adding that when a private police officer is killed in the line of duty, "their family receives nothing from the state."
The measure's backers argued private officers who meet the same training standards and complete the same criminal justice academy as public officers should be eligible to participate. The bill is structured as an opt-in program and, according to proponents, does not impose a financial obligation on the state or localities where those private agencies operate. "This would be an opt in approach, does not involve any involvement or financial obligation for the state or the localities where these agencies are located," a committee member reiterated during discussion.
The subcommittee approved a motion to pass HB 1815; the bill passed on the board by a vote of 7 to nothing.
The subcommittee did not record any amendments to HB 1815 during the hearing. No fiscal note or budgetary amendment was discussed on the record during the presentation.
