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2023 SESSION

23104657D
HOUSE BILL NO. 1556
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the House Committee on Education
on January 18, 2023)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate Brewer)
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-280.2:5, relating to establishment of K-9 Detection Team Grant Program and Fund; K-9 Detection Teams permitted in public schools.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 22.1-280.2:5 as follows:

§ 22.1-280.2:5. K-9 Detection Team Grant Program and Fund established; K-9 Detection Teams permitted.

A. As used in this section, "K-9 Detection Team" means a safety assessment team that (i) consists of a canine and a canine handler who are trained specifically to detect explosives, firearms, narcotics, and tobacco products and nicotine vapor products, as those terms are defined in § 18.2-371.2, and (ii) is employed by a school board or hired by a school board on a contract basis to provide such detection services in public elementary and secondary schools in the local school division pursuant to a contract with an entity that is approved by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to train canines and canine handlers to provide such detection services.

B. From the funds appropriated for such purpose and from the gifts, donations, grants, bequests, and other funds received on its behalf, there is established the K-9 Detection Team Grant Program, to be administered by the Board, and a special nonreverting fund within the state treasury to be known as the K-9 Detection Team Grant Fund, hereinafter known as the "Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller, and any moneys remaining in the Fund at the end of the biennium shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the Fund. Interest earned on such funds shall remain in the Fund and be credited to it.

Subject to the authority of the Board to provide for its disbursement, the Fund shall be disbursed to award matching grants to school boards that have entered into a contract to employ or hire a K-9 Detection Team in an elementary or secondary school within the relevant school division.

C. The Board shall establish criteria for making grants from the Fund, including procedures for determining the amount of a grant and the required local match. Any grant of general funds shall be matched by the locality on the basis of the composite index of local ability-to-pay. The Board may adopt guidelines governing the Program and the powers and duties of the K-9 Detection Teams as it deems necessary and appropriate.

D. Any school board may, regardless of whether the school board has received a matching grant from the Fund pursuant to the Program for such purpose, employ or hire on a contract basis a full-time or part-time K-9 Detection Team in any public elementary or secondary school in the local school division, provided, however, that the contract for such services clearly sets forth the powers and duties of the school board and the K-9 Detection Team relating to the detection services that the K-9 Detection Team provides.