Bill Text: VA HB487 | 2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered

Virginia House Bill 487 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: School resource officers; those employed pursuant to School Resource Officer Grants Program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2016-03-25 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0466) [HB487 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2016-HB487-Chaptered.html

CHAPTER 466 An Act to amend and reenact §9.1-110 of the Code of Virginia, relating to School Resource Officer Grants Program school resource officers; conditions of employment. [H 487] Approved March 25, 2016

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §9.1-110 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§9.1-110. School Resource Officer Grants Program and Fund.

A. From the funds appropriated for such purpose and from the gifts, donations, grants, bequests, and other funds received on its behalf, there is established (i) the School Resource Officer Grants Program, to be administered by the Board, in consultation with the Board of Education, and (ii) a special nonreverting fund within the state treasury known as the School Resource Officer Incentive Grants Fund, hereinafter known as the "Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller, and any moneys remaining in the Fund at the end of the biennium shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the Fund. Interest earned on such funds shall remain in the Fund and be credited to it.

Subject to the authority of the Board to provide for its disbursement, the Fund shall be disbursed to award matching grants to local law-enforcement agencies and local school boards that have established a collaborative agreement to employ uniformed school resource officers, as defined in §9.1-101, in middle and high schools within the relevant school division. The Board may disburse annually up to five percent of the Fund for the training of the school resource officers. School resource officers shall be certified law-enforcement officers and shall be employed to help ensure safety~~, to~~ and prevent truancy and violence in schools~~, and to enforce school board rules and codes of student conduct~~.

B. The Board shall establish criteria for making grants from the Fund, including procedures for determining the amount of a grant and the required local match. Any grant of general funds shall be matched by the locality on the basis of the composite index of local ability to pay. The Board may adopt guidelines governing the Program and the employment and duties of the school resource officers as it deems necessary and appropriate.