VAPBA Legislative Update
Jan 26, 2018
Virginia PBA members,
We have had a discussion on Senate Bill 838 with Rich Goszka, President of the Natural Resources Police Chapter. Plans are underway to talk with representatives immediately to let them know of opposition to this bill, which creates another review board. As an organization we oppose this and the other citizen review board bill submitted by Delegate Watts, HB1514.
SB 838 has been assigned to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources. Please contact the members of this committee below to voice your opposition to this bill.
SB 838 Virginia Conservation Police Review Board; created.
SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:
Virginia Conservation Police Review Board.
Creates a six-member review board composed of a State Police officer and a criminal defense lawyer, both appointed by the Governor; a recreational angler and a hunter, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates and the Senate Rules Committee, respectively; the chairman of the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries; and the Attorney General or his designee, who shall be a nonvoting member. The review board is tasked with reviewing (i) citizen complaints of misconduct by conservation police officers, (ii) the performance of conservation police officers in carrying out the policy of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (the Department), and (iii) the level of coordination and the relationships between conservation police officers and other law-enforcement agencies. The bill authorizes the review board to have access to all Department law-enforcement records, facilities, and landholdings and requires the review board to report its findings to the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries. The bill also authorizes the review board to refer serious cases of officer misconduct to the Secretary of Natural Resources with a recommendation for disciplinary action or termination of employment.
Southern States PBA
