Bill Text: VA SB1368 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center Board of Trustees; authority to permit campus security officers to carry firearms in performance of official duties; conditions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-13 - Referred to Committee on Education and Health [SB1368 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2025-SB1368-Introduced.html
2025 SESSION
INTRODUCED
25104756D
SENATE BILL NO. 1368
Offered January 13, 2025
Prefiled January 13, 2025
A BILL to amend and reenact § 23.1-3127 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center Board of Trustees; authority to permit campus security officers to carry firearms in performance of official duties; conditions.
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Patron—Pillion
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Referred to Committee on Education and Health
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 23.1-3127 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 23.1-3127. Powers of the board.
A. The board has, in addition to its other powers, all the corporate powers given to corporations by the provisions of Title 13.1, except in those cases where, by the express terms of its provisions, it is confined to corporations created under that title. The board may accept, execute, and administer any trust in which it may have an interest under the terms of the instrument creating the trust.
B. The board may establish and administer agreements with (i) public institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education to provide undergraduate-level and graduate-level instructional programs at the Center and (ii) Virginia Highlands Community College and other public institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education to provide freshman-level and sophomore-level courses and associate degrees. The board shall seek opportunities to collaborate with local comprehensive community colleges to meet specialized noncredit workforce training needs identified by industry. However, if local community colleges are unable to meet identified industry needs, then the board may seek to collaborate with other education providers or may provide Center-delivered specialized noncredit workforce training independent of local comprehensive community colleges.
C. The board may, on behalf of the Center, apply for, accept, and expend gifts, grants, or donations from public or private sources to enable it to carry out its objectives.
D. Attendant to the authority granted to the board pursuant to § 23.1-3100.1 to establish and maintain a campus security department and to employ campus security personnel therein, the board may permit such campus security personnel to carry firearms in the performance of their official duties. If the board so permits such campus security personnel to carry firearms in the performance of their duties, such campus security personnel shall be considered armed security officers, as that term is defined § 9.1-138, who are required to be registered by the Department of Criminal Justice Services pursuant to subsection C of § 9.1-139 and shall comply with all relevant provisions of Article 4 (§ 9.1-138 et seq.) of Chapter 1 of Title 9.1 and regulations of the Criminal Justice Services Board relating to armed security officers, including any compulsory minimum training standards established by the Criminal Justice Services Board pursuant to subsection A of § 9.1-141.
