Senate subcommittee advances package of bills on training, Line-of-Duty coverage, retirement and leave

Senate Human Resources Subcommittee members advanced a series of public-safety, retirement and labor bills during a meeting in Richmond, agreeing to a substitute to support Virginia’s 11 regional criminal justice academies and moving several measures — including a bill to expand Line of Duty Act coverage for auxiliary deputies — for further consideration.

The measures covered law-enforcement training, definitions in the Virginia Line of Duty Act, retirement enhancements for select law enforcement categories, the Commonwealth Savers (Virginia529) access fund, and labor proposals including paid family medical leave and overtime protections for domestic workers.

Supporters of the regional-academy change said the substitute would let regional training academies hire recently retired, highly qualified instructors more flexibly, helping smaller agencies that cannot staff and pay their own academies. "We were legislated by this body in 1966 to provide consistent training across the state to ensure we have the highest caliber officers that our Commonwealth deserves," said Michael Harvey, executive director of the Rappahannock Regional Criminal Justice Academy in Fredericksburg. Harvey said the regional system consists of 11 academies and that hiring retired officers as instructors is a recurring operational need.

On Senate Bill 1286, which would alter definitions in the Virginia Line of Duty Act to include auxiliary sheriff deputies and auxiliary police officers, Senator Durand (bill sponsor) told the panel that an Attorney General opinion and a VRS response showed those volunteers are not currently covered. A sheriff from Fredericksburg raised the issue with the…