The following are a reports or studies impacting members of Virginia’s fire and rescue community. The Department of Fire Program did not author any of these reports. However, the Department was an active participant in the conversation and development of the reports listed below:
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Railroad Safety and Security Task Force Report (April 2015 Draft) – Created shortly after a freight train derailment near Lynchburg in April 2014, the Task Force seeks to make Virginia a national leader in preventing, preparing for, and responding to similar events. The Task Force includes state agencies, officials, and subject matter experts who will make recommendations and take action to enhance Virginia’s capability to protect lives, property, and the environment along our many rail lines. The Executive Director of Fire Programs served as a member of this Task Force. In April 2015, the Task Force adopted its report and policy recommendations to the Governor. External Link |
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Virginia’s Line of Duty Act (December 2014 Draft) – The 2014 General Assembly directed the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the costs, structure, and administration of Virginia’s Line of Duty Act and to identify recommendations to improve the program’s design and implementation. Interest in this topic was spurred by the rising cost of benefits to the state and localities, and concerns over the long-term financial sustainability of the program. The Line of Duty Act provides a death benefit and lifetime health insurance benefits to the families of public safety officers who were killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. The state and localities paid a combined $12.2 million in Line of Duty Act benefits to 952 beneficiaries in FY 2013. External Link |
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2015-04-23-Missing-Persons-FINAL (November 2014) – The 2014 General Assembly directed the Virginia State Crime Commission to study the current state of readiness of Virginia’s law enforcement and Search and Rescue efforts for rapid and well-coordinated deployment in all missing, endangered, and abducted person cases. Among other things, the Crime Commission researched how to increase coordination efforts for large-scale rapid search and rescue and how to institute immediate notification to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management when a person is determined to be endangered or abducted. External Link |
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Line of Duty Act Report HD21 (December 2012) – The 2012 General Assembly tasked the Governor’s Chief of Staff to lead a working group to review the current process for determining eligibility of state and local Line of Duty Act recipients and the funding responsibility between the Commonwealth and its localities. The purpose of this study is to examine cost efficiencies and determine a fair and equitable division of financial responsibility for Line Duty Act program costs. External Link |