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2012 SESSION

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12100552D
HOUSE BILL NO. 573 Offered January 11, 2012 Prefiled January 10, 2012 A BILL to amend and reenact § 18.2-490 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 18.2-488.1, relating to Uniform Flag Act; flag at half-mast for service members, police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. ----------
Patrons-- Marshall, D.W., Cole, Helsel, Keam, Kory, Massie, O'Bannon and Rush
---------- Referred to Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That § 18.2-490 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 18.2-488.1 as follows:

§ 18.2-488.1. Flag at half-mast for service members, police officers, and firefighters killed in the line of duty.

A. As used in this section, unless the context requires a different meaning:

"Firefighter" means the same as that term is defined in § 9.1-300.

"Police officer" means any full-time or part-time employee of a police department or sheriff's office which is a part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof and who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic, or highway laws of the Commonwealth.

"Service member" means a member of the United States armed forces.

B. Whenever a service member, a police officer, or a firefighter who is a resident of Virginia is killed in the line of duty, all flags, national, state, and local, flown at any building owned by the Commonwealth shall be flown at half staff or mast for one day to honor and acknowledge respect for those who made the supreme sacrifice.

C. The Department of Veterans Services and the Department of State Police shall jointly develop procedures to effectuate the purposes of this section.

§ 18.2-490. Penalty.

Any violation of this article shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to § 18.2-488.1.