Summary: Funding for deputy sheriffs. Provides thatthe minimum number of deputies funded by the Compensation Board shallbe one deputy per 1,500 persons or one deputy for every 25 squaremiles, whichever is greater. Under current law, the funding is fixedat one deputy per 1,500 persons only. The provisions of the billapply to counties and cities without a police force.

Summary: Carrying a concealed handgun; permit not required.Allows any person who is otherwise eligible to obtain a concealed handgun permit to carry a concealed handgun without a permit anywherehe may lawfully carry a handgun openly within the Commonwealth.

Summary: Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Interventionand Prevention; Virginia Firearm Violence Intervention and PreventionFund; creation. Creates the Virginia Center for Firearm ViolenceIntervention and Prevention (the Center) within the Department ofCriminal Justice Services and the Virginia Firearm Violence Interventionand Prevention Fund, to be administered by the Center, to replacethe existing Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund.

Summary: Carrying a concealed handgun; permit not required. Allows any person who is otherwise eligible to obtain a concealedhandgun permit to carry a concealed handgun without a permit anywhere he may lawfully carry a handgun openly within the Commonwealth.

Summary: Use of canines in correctional and juvenile correctional facilities; prohibited acts. Makes it unlawful for any correctional officer or other employee of a state correctional facility who is permitted to handle canines to use a patrol or security canine in any state correctional facility unless such correctional officer or other employee (i) reasonably believes that the use of a patrol or security canine is immediately necessary to protect any prisoner or any officer or employee from the threat of serious bodily injury or death or (ii) has the prior approval of the warden or a supervisor to use a patrol or security canine to intervene in an altercation, fight, or other incident between three or more prisoners. The bill also makes it unlawful for any juvenile correctional officer or other employee of a juvenile correctional facility to use a patrol or security canine in any juvenile correctional facility. The bill specifies that such provisions shall not apply to the training or use of detector canines or detector canine handlers.

Summary: Private security services business; trainingrequirements; human trafficking. Requires the compulsory minimum,entry-level, and in-service training standards for an unarmed securityofficer, armed security officer, courier, security canine handler,and alarm respondent to include a training requirement on recognizingand reporting instances of suspected human trafficking. The billprovides that the Department of Criminal Justice Services shall havethe power and duty to develop an online course to meet such trainingrequirement.

Summary: Department of Criminal Justice Services; law-enforcement officers; interrogation practices. Provides that the Department of Criminal Justice Services shall have the power and duty to establish a comprehensive framework for the custodial and noncustodial interrogation of adults and juveniles by law-enforcement officers within the Commonwealth, which shall include (i) developing policies and procedures for interrogation practices, including guidance on when the use of the following is considered lawful: (a) false promises of leniency, (b) misleading statements regarding evidence or statements of witnesses or co-conspirators, and (c) inauthentic replica documents or computer-generated audiovisual evidence; (ii) establishing and publishing a model policy for conducting such interrogations to serve as a guideline for criminal justice agencies in the Commonwealth; and (iii) establishing compulsory minimum training standards for basic training and recertification of law-enforcement officers on conducting such interrogations. The bill provides that the Department shall establish and publish such model policy by January 1, 2025. The bill requires any person employed as a law-enforcement officer prior to July 1, 2024, to complete the training required by the bill by January 1, 2028.

Summary: Military leaves of absence for employees of Commonwealth or political subdivisions; professional firefighters. Provides that any person who is employed by the Commonwealth or a political subdivision of the Commonwealth as a professional firefighter shall receive paid leaves of absence for up to 388 work hours that a leave of absence is required, regardless of whether such amount of work hours exceeds 21 workdays per federal fiscal year, during which such person is engaged in federally funded military duty, to include training duty, or is called forth by the Governor for military duty. Under current law, employees of the Commonwealth or a political subdivision of the Commonwealth are limited to an eight-hour, 21-workday cap, which equates to seven workdays for such employees working in 24-hour shifts. The 388-work-hour cap would provide leave for a little over 16 workdays for such employees working in 24-hour shifts. This bill is identical to SB 401.

Summary: Virginia Rap Back Service; criminal history record monitoring. Changes the time frame for which a participating entity in the Virginia Record of Arrest and Prosecution (Rap) Back Service is required to disenroll any individual who is deceased or no longer qualifies as an individual for the purposes of the Virginia Rap Back Service from within 30 days to within five business days. The bill also removes the provision stating that an individual who moves from one participating entity in the Virginia Rap Back Service to another need not be refingerprinted. The bill contains technical amendments and is identical to SB 169.

Summary: Training standards for law-enforcement officers; drug use. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish training standards and publish and periodically update model policies for law-enforcement personnel on the use of naloxone or other opioid antagonists to prevent opioid overdose deaths, in coordination with statewide naloxone training programs developed by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the Virginia Department of Health.

Summary: Substantial risk orders; training program. Directs the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish a Substantial Risk Order Training Program for the purposes of training law-enforcement agencies and other public institutions throughout the Commonwealth to use and implement the substantial risk order law. The bill states that the programming shall provide training regarding proper procedures to follow, the circumstances under which the law can be used, the benefits to public safety from proper use of the law, and the harm that may ensue from the law not being used when lawfully available. The Program shall also include efforts to educate the public on and increase awareness of the substantial risk order law.

Summary: Space Force; extension of certain benefits andprivileges for persons serving in a branch of the Armed Forces. Amends several provisions of law related to certain benefits andprivileges available to persons serving or having served in a branchof the Armed Forces to include the Space Force as an eligible branch.

Summary: Minimum qualifications for law-enforcement officers; citizenship; waiver. Allows individuals who are lawfully admittedfor permanent residence who have resided in the United States forno less than 60 months and who are both eligible for and have appliedfor United States citizenship to qualify for the positions of chiefof police and all police officers of any locality, all deputy sheriffsand jail officers in the Commonwealth, and all law-enforcement officers.The bill allows any agency or department employing law-enforcementofficers to hire, recruit, or refer an individual who is a citizenof the United States over another individual who meets such qualificationsif such individuals are equally qualified. Currentlaw only allows citizens of the United States to qualify for thenamed positions; the citizenship requirement can only be waived forgood cause upon request of a sheriff or chief of police or the directoror chief executive of any agency or department employing law-enforcementofficers to the Department of Criminal Justice Services.

Summary: Electronic communication systems within state correctional facilities; telephone calls and communication services; lowest available rates. Requires the Department of Corrections to provide telephone systems and web-based or electronic communications systems and that such systems shall be established at the lowest available rates. The maximum number of telephone numbers permitted on an approved call list must be no fewer than 20.

Summary: Stores and telephone systems in local correctional facilities; fees. Provides that the net profits from the operation of stores and telephonic communication systems in local correctional facilities shall be used within each facility respectively for educational, recreational, or medical purposes for the benefit of the inmates to include behavioral health, substance abuse, reentry, and rehabilitative services and may be expended to pay for the training, salaries, and benefits of employees or contractors whose primary job is to provide such programs and services to the inmates.

Summary: Parole Board; voting requirements. Provides that notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulation, if the Parole Board adopts a rule or regulation requiring the concurrence of four or more members of the Board to grant discretionary parole or conditional release, in the event that there are less than four members but at least three members on the Parole Board, then such requirement shall be satisfied upon a unanimous vote of the members on the Board.

Summary: Firearm locking device required for sale or transfer of handguns; child safety warning required; penalty. Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for any licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or licensed dealer to sell, deliver, or transfer any handgun to any person, other than a licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or licensed dealer, unless the transferee is provided with a locking device for such handgun and the handgun is accompanied by a warning, in conspicuous and legible type in capital letters printed on a label affixed to the gun and on a separate sheet of paper included within the packaging enclosing the handgun, that handguns should be locked and kept away from children and that there may be civil and criminal liability for failing to do so. The bill provides exceptions for law-enforcement and governmental agencies. This bill was incorporated into HB 158.

Summary: Weapons; possession or transportation; facility that provides mental health services or developmental services; penalty. Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person to possess in or transport into any facility that provides mental health services or developmental services in the Commonwealth, including a hospital or an emergency department or other facility rendering emergency medical care, any (i) firearm or other weapon designed or intended to propel a missile or projectile of any kind; (ii) knife, except a pocket knife having a folding metal blade of less than three inches; or (iii) other dangerous weapon, including explosives and stun weapons. The bill provides that any such firearm, knife, explosive, or weapon is subject to seizure by a law-enforcement officer and specifies exceptions to the prohibition.

Summary: Firearm locking device required for sale or transfer of firearm; warning against accessibility to children; penalty. Makes it a Class 3 misdemeanor for any licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or licensed dealer to sell, deliver, or transfer any firearm to any person other than a licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or licensed dealer unless the transferee is provided with a locking device for that firearm and the firearm is accompanied by a warning, in conspicuous and legible type in capital letters printed on a separate sheet of paper included within the packaging enclosing the firearm, that firearms should be locked and kept away from children and that there may be civil and criminal liability for failing to do so. The bill provides exceptions for law-enforcement and governmental agencies. This bill incorporates HB 12.

Summary: Storage of firearms in a residence where a minor or person prohibited from possessing a firearm is present; penalty. Requires any person who possesses a firearm in a residence where such person knows that a minor or a person who is prohibited by law from possessing a firearm is present to store such firearm and the ammunition for such firearm in a locked container, compartment, or cabinet that is inaccessible to such minor or prohibited person. The bill provides that a violation is a Class 4 misdemeanor. The bill exempts (i) any person in lawful possession of a firearm who carries such firearm on or about his person and (ii) the storage of antique firearms and provides that the lawful authorization of a minor to access a firearm is not a violation of the bill's provisions. The bill also requires firearm dealers to post a notice stating such firearm storage requirements and the penalty for improperly storing such firearms. This bill is identical to SB 368.

Summary: Firearm locking device required for purchase of a firearm; warning against accessibility to children; penalty. Requires any person who purchases a firearm to either (i) obtain or purchase from a licensed dealer a locking device for such firearm if a minor is present in such person's residence for 14 days or more in a calendar month or (ii) complete a certification statement on a form provided by the Department of State Police certifying that a minor is not present in such person's residence for 14 days or more in a calendar month, with exceptions enumerated in the bill. Accordingly, the bill provides that it is unlawful for any licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or licensed dealer to sell, deliver, or transfer any firearm to any person, other than a licensed manufacturer, licensed importer, or licensed dealer, unless (a) the firearm is accompanied by a warning, in conspicuous and legible type in capital letters printed on a separate sheet of paper included within the packaging enclosing the firearm, that firearms should be locked and kept away from children and that there may be civil and criminal liability for failing to do so and (b) the transferee (1) obtains or purchases a locking device for such firearm if a minor is present in such person's residence for 14 days or more in a calendar month or (2) completes the certification statement. A violation of either provision is a Class 3 misdemeanor.

Summary: Home-based firearms dealers; prohibited nearschools; penalties. Provides that no home-based firearms dealer,as defined in the bill, shall be engaged in the business of selling,trading, or transferring firearms at wholesale or retail within 1.5miles of any elementary or middle school, including buildings andgrounds. The bill provides that any person who willfully violatessuch prohibition is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor for a first offenseand guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor for a second or subsequent offense.

Summary: Pneumatic guns; penalties. Makes it a Class6 felony to possess a pneumatic gun upon (i) the property of any child day center or public, private, or religious preschool or elementary,middle, or high school, including buildings and grounds; (ii) thatportion of any property open to the public and then exclusively usedfor school-sponsored functions or extracurricular activities whilesuch functions or activities are taking place; or (iii) any schoolbus owned or operated by any such school.

Summary: Purchase of certain firearms; age requirement; penalty. Prohibits any person under 21 years of age from purchasing a handgun or assault firearm, with exceptions for the purchase of an assault firearm by a law-enforcement officer, correctional officer, jail officer, or member of the Armed Forces of the United States, the Virginia National Guard, or the National Guard of any other state. Accordingly, the bill prohibits a licensed dealer from selling, renting, trading, or transferring from his inventory a handgun or assault firearm to any person under 21 years of age. A violation of either prohibition is a Class 6 felony. The bill also expands the definition of "assault firearm" as the term applies to criminal history record information checks. This bill is identical to SB 327.