Summary: Department of Fire Programs; work group; options for local government employees who respond to emergencies with toxic material exposure. Directs the Department of Fire Programs to convene a work group to identify and analyze options to help ensure that local government employees who respond to emergencies that expose them to toxic materials have appropriate preemptive and ongoing health care and are able to pay any health expenses related to such emergency and its aftereffects that are not covered by relevant health insurance plans. The work group is directed to report its findings to the General Assembly by November 1, 2024. This bill is identical to SB 650.

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: Arrest, prosecution, and disciplinary or administrative procedures and penalties for individuals experiencing or reporting overdoses while incarcerated. Provides that no individual incarcerated in a local, regional, or state correctional facility shall be subject to arrest or prosecution for or disciplinary or administrative procedures or penalties related to the unlawful purchase, possession, or consumption of alcohol; possession of a controlled substance; possession of marijuana; procurement, sale, secretion, or possession of any chemical compound not lawfully received; intoxication in public; or possession of controlled paraphernalia if such individual seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for himself or another individual experiencing an overdose or is experiencing an overdose and another individual seeks or obtains emergency medical attention for him. The bill also provides that no correctional officer, deputy sheriff, or jail officer acting in good faith shall be found liable for false arrest if it is later determined that the person arrested was immune from prosecution or disciplinary procedures or penalties.

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: 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: Virginia Fire and EMS Safety Loan Fund.Creates the Virginia Fire and EMS Safety Loan Fund, to be administeredby the Virginia Resources Authority. Under the bill, money in theFund would be used exclusively for the financing of purchases by localfire and EMS services of at least $50,000 (i) for capital projectsto construct or modernize facilities that house firefighting equipmentor vehicles or ambulance or rescue vehicles; (ii) of firefightingapparatus, ambulances, or rescue vehicles; and (iii) of protective, accessory, or communication equipment for firefighting or EMS services.The bill also establishes the Joint Fire and EMS Loan Board, whichshall be responsible for directing the distribution of loans fromthe Fund, with an emphasis on localities in need of financing assistanceto meet minimum standards.

Summary: Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman; created. Creates, within the Office of the State Inspector General, the Office of the Department of Corrections Ombudsman (the Office) headed by an Ombudsman who is selected by the State Inspector General. The bill creates the Corrections Oversight Committee (the Committee) made up of four members of the General Assembly, nine nonlegislative citizen members appointed by the Governor, subject to criteria described in the bill, and two nonvoting members, appointed as described in the bill, who monitor the activities of the Ombudsman and the Department of Corrections (the Department). The bill provides the Office with authority to conduct inspections at least once every three years and more often when warranted of Department facilities and requires the Office to establish a statewide toll-free telephone number, website, mailing address, and paper and electronic forms for inmates, family members, friends, and advocates to submit complaints and inquiries. In addition, the bill requires the Committee to hold at least two public hearings per year and requires the Office to submit an annual report to be made available online and to be delivered to the Governor, the Attorney General, the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services, the House Committee on Public Safety, the Committee, and the Director of the Department. The bill directs the Office to develop a short-term and long-term strategic plan and to provide a report on its initial activities and strategic plan to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before November 15, 2025. This bill is identical to SB 456.

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: 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: Virginia Firefighting Personnel and Equipment Grant Program. Establishes the Virginia Firefighting Personnel and Equipment Grant Program for the purpose of providing grants to localities to hire additional firefighters and to improve their firefighting and emergency medical services. The Department of Fire Programs shall administer the Program, and two types of grants shall be made from the Program. The first shall provide grants to localities to increase the number of firefighters. Such grants shall be made for up to three years and shall be used by localities for programs to (i) hire new, additional full-time firefighters; (ii) convert part-time or volunteer firefighters to full-time firefighters; or (iii) recruit and retain volunteer firefighters. The other type of grant shall be provided to localities for improving firefighting and emergency medical services. Authorized uses of grant funds include acquiring firefighting and emergency medical services vehicles and equipment and modifying facilities. For both grants, the funds shall not be used to supplant any funds currently provided by the Commonwealth or by the locality and shall be used to increase the total amount of funds available for the provision of firefighting or  emergency medical services.The Department shall report annually, beginning November 1, 2025, to the Governor and the General Assembly information regarding a list of grants, the amount of each approved grant, information on the performance assessment system that the bill directs the Department to create, an evaluation of each grant based on such system, and any other criteria deemed relevant by the Department.

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.

Summary: Commonwealth Mass Transit Fund; Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority; budget; operating assistance. Providesthat payments and obligations arising from or related to any contractpertaining to employee compensation and work conditions under thenormal operation of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) may be included in the calculation of a WMATA budget increasefor purposes of the cap of such budget increase. Current law providesthat any payment or obligation of any kind arising from or relatedto legal disputes or proceedings between or among WMATA and any otherperson or entity shall not be used in calculating a WMATA budgetincrease.

Summary: Virginia Public Safety Communications Infrastructure Fund and Program; established. Establishes the Virginia Public Safety Communications Infrastructure Fund and Program, to be administered by the Department of Emergency Management and financially managed by the Virginia Resources Authority, for the purpose of making loans and awarding grants to local governments to assist with improvement projects relating to public safety radio and communications infrastructure.