Line of Duty Act; benefits for campus police and private police officers, definitions.
Summary
SB1142 amends Virginia’s Line of Duty Act to extend death, disability, and health-benefit protections to two additional categories of law-enforcement personnel: campus police officers employed by qualifying nonprofit private institutions of higher education and private police officers employed by private police departments. The bill adds these officers to the Act’s definitions and benefit framework, allowing covered institutions and departments to elect to participate in the Line of Duty Death and Health Benefits Trust Fund and to provide the same core benefits available to other covered public-safety employees.
The bill also updates related procedures and benefit rules. It provides for line-of-duty death payments, burial expense advances, continued health insurance coverage, eligibility determinations, and periodic disability reviews for these newly covered officers, while specifying that coverage applies only after an institution or private police department makes an irrevocable election to fund the benefits and join the trust fund. The act further clarifies that private police officers remain limited in jurisdiction to property controlled by their employer and are not state or local employees for retirement or other purposes unless specifically provided by law.
Impact
The bill amends several sections of the Code of Virginia, including definitions in 9.1-101 and the benefit provisions in 9.1-400 through 9.1-404, to incorporate campus police officers at participating nonprofit private colleges and private police officers at participating private police departments into the Line of Duty Act. It creates a new election process for eligible institutions and departments to decide whether to participate in the trust fund, makes that election irrevocable, and requires them to pay a pro rata share of implementation costs. It also adjusts the funding, reimbursement, and administration rules for the Virginia Retirement System and the Department of Human Resource Management, which will administer claims, benefits, and health coverage for the newly covered groups.
Sentiment
The voting history shows strong, unanimous support at every stage, with no recorded opposition in either chamber. The bill moved through committee and floor votes with large margins, suggesting broad bipartisan agreement that campus police and private police officers should receive line-of-duty protections if their employers opt into the program. The absence of recorded dissent indicates the measure was generally viewed favorably as a targeted expansion of public-safety benefits.
Contention
There was little visible contention in the available record, but the bill’s structure reflects the main policy issue: whether private institutions and private police departments should be allowed, but not required, to buy into the Line of Duty Act. The irrevocable election requirement and the obligation to fund the benefits likely address concerns about long-term fiscal exposure and fairness to the trust fund. Another potential point of concern is that coverage is limited to deaths or disabilities occurring after the employer’s election date, which may have been intended to control costs and avoid retroactive liability.