republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/hb-279.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Military leaves of absence for employees of the Commonwealth, etc.; includes prof. firefighters.	Military leaves of absence for employees of Commonwealth or political subdivisions; professional firefighters. Provides that any person who is employed by the Commonwealth or a political subdivision of the Commonwealth as a professional firefighter shall receive paid leaves of absence for up to 388 work hours that a leave of absence is required, regardless of whether such amount of work hours exceeds 21 workdays per federal fiscal year, during which such person is engaged in federally funded military duty, to include training duty, or is called forth by the Governor for military duty. Under current law, employees of the Commonwealth or a political subdivision of the Commonwealth are limited to an eight-hour, 21-workday cap, which equates to seven workdays for such employees working in 24-hour shifts. The 388-work-hour cap would provide leave for a little over 16 workdays for such employees working in 24-hour shifts. This bill is identical to SB 401.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2024	HB 279	Virginia HB 279 (2024)	bill		enacted	Dan I. Helmer	3	27	7	2024-01-05	2024-03-28	openstates	ocd-bill/1eae750a-4f83-4d89-9326-7a5e21ddf6f1	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+HB279	55cc7940cd382d0a146d41cb5dd5409f1ad0d3f0964ccfed30a9f2448b58fd65	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia HB 279 (2024) — Military leaves of absence for employees of the Commonwealth, etc.; includes prof. firefighters.

Military leaves of absence for employees of Commonwealth or political subdivisions; professional firefighters. Provides that any person who is employed by the Commonwealth or a political subdivision of the Commonwealth as a professional firefighter shall receive paid leaves of absence for up to 388 work hours that a leave of absence is required, regardless of whether such amount of work hours exceeds 21 workdays per federal fiscal year, during which such person is engaged in federally funded military duty, to include training duty, or is called forth by the Governor for military duty. Under current law, employees of the Commonwealth or a political subdivision of the Commonwealth are limited to an eight-hour, 21-workday cap, which equates to seven workdays for such employees working in 24-hour shifts. The 388-work-hour cap would provide leave for a little over 16 workdays for such employees working in 24-hour shifts. This bill is identical to SB 401.

Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. CHAP0184 (committee substitute) — source
2. HB279ER (committee substitute) — source
3. Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24104149D (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Finance and Appropriations (13-Y 0-N) — 13–0 (pass) · upper
• Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N) — 6–0 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Public Safety (22-Y 0-N) — 22–0 (pass) · lower
• Reported from General Laws and Technology (13-Y 0-N) — 13–0 (pass) · upper
• VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — 98–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Dan I. Helmer — primary (person)
• Rozia A. Henson, Jr. — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

• 2024-01-05 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24104149D filing, introduction
• 2024-01-05 Referred to Committee on Public Safety referral-committee
• 2024-01-23 Assigned PS sub: Public Safety referral-committee
• 2024-01-25 Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 0-N)
• 2024-01-26 Reported from Public Safety (22-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2024-01-30 Read first time reading-1
• 2024-01-31 Read second time and engrossed reading-2
• 2024-02-01 Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) passage, reading-3
• 2024-02-01 VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) passage
• 2024-02-02 Constitutional reading dispensed
• 2024-02-02 Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology referral-committee
• 2024-02-08 Impact statement from DPB (HB279)
• 2024-02-14 Reported from General Laws and Technology (13-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2024-02-14 Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations referral-committee
• 2024-02-28 Reported from Finance and Appropriations (13-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2024-02-29 Constitutional reading dispensed (39-Y 0-N)
• 2024-03-01 Read third time reading-3
• 2024-03-01 Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) passage
• 2024-03-07 Enrolled enrolled
• 2024-03-07 Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB279ER) passage
• 2024-03-07 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2024-03-08 Signed by President passage
• 2024-03-11 Impact statement from DPB (HB279ER)
• 2024-03-11 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 enrolled, executive-receipt
• 2024-03-11 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 executive-receipt
• 2024-03-28 Approved by Governor-Chapter 184 (effective 7/1/24) executive-signature
• 2024-03-28 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0184)

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/1eae750a-4f83-4d89-9326-7a5e21ddf6f1. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).