VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

• Code of Virginia
• Virginia Administrative Code
• Constitution of Virginia
• Charters
• Authorities
• Compacts
• Uncodified Acts
• RIS Users (account required)

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

• Bills & Resolutions
  session legislation
• Bill Summaries
  session summaries
• Reports to the General Assembly
  House and Senate documents
• Legislative Liaisons
  State agency contacts

ACROSS SESSIONS

• Subject Index: Since 1995
• Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
• Summaries: Since 1994

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2020 SESSION

• history | hilite | pdf | print version

20101698D
HOUSE BILL NO. 383 Offered January 8, 2020 Prefiled January 2, 2020 A BILL to amend and reenact § 23.1-602 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the establishment of the Law-Enforcement Officer Tuition Grant Fund and Program. ---------- Patron-- Convirs-Fowler ---------- Referred to Committee on Education ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 23.1-602 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 23.1-602. Law-Enforcement Officer Tuition Grant Fund and Program.

A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Law-Enforcement Officer Tuition Grant Fund, referred to in this section as "the Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. All funds appropriated for such purpose and any gifts, donations, grants, bequests, and other funds received on its behalf shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the Fund. Interest earned on moneys in the Fund shall remain in the Fund and be credited to it. Any moneys remaining in the Fund, including interest thereon, at the end of each fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the Fund. Moneys in the Fund shall be used solely for the purposes of providing grants pursuant to the Law-Enforcement Officer Tuition Grant Program established pursuant to subsection B. Expenditures and disbursements from the Fund shall be made by the State Treasurer on warrants issued by the Comptroller upon written request signed by the Director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services.

B. The Department of Criminal Justice Services shall enter into contracts to make payments to public institutions of higher education and accredited private institutions of higher education whose primary campus is within the Commonwealth establish the Law-Enforcement Officer Tuition Grant Program (the Program) for the purpose of providing grants from the Fund on a competitive basis to local law-enforcement agencies to cover the cost of tuition, books, and mandatory fees at a public institution of higher education for up to two years for any law-enforcement officer of the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions, departments, or authorities or any locality of the Commonwealth who (i) is enrolled on a full-time or part-time basis in courses included in an undergraduate or graduate program that leads to a degree or certificate in an area relating to law enforcement or suitable for law-enforcement officers and (ii) employed by such agency who enters into an agreement to continue to serve as a law-enforcement officer in the Commonwealth for such agency upon completion of his course of study for a period at least as long as the length of the course of study undertaken and paid for under the provisions of this section pursuant to the Program and, in the event that he does not complete such service, to repay the full amount of such payments on the terms and in the manner that the Department of Criminal Justice Services prescribes.

B. C. Any individual who receives the benefit of funds expended pursuant to this section the Program shall reimburse such funds to the Department of Criminal Justice Services if he fails to satisfactorily complete the course for which the funds were expended.

The Department of Criminal Justice Services shall use such reimbursed funds in accordance with the purposes of this section.

2. That the Department of Criminal Justice Services shall report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations, the House Committee on Education, the Senate Committee on Finance, and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than September 1, 2024, on the funding, utilization, and effectiveness of the Law-Enforcement Officer Tuition Grant Fund and Program established pursuant to the provisions of this act.

3. That the provisions of this act shall expire on July 1, 2025.