republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2019/hb-2721.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "School security officers; employment, law-enforcement officers previously employed by the U.S."
description: "Allows a school security officer to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties if, within 10 years immediately prior to being hired by the local school board, he was employed by a law-enforcement agency of the United States or any state or political subdivision thereof and his duties were substantially similar to those of a law-enforcement officer in the Commonwealth. Under current law, only a school security officer who was an active law-enforcement officer in the Commonwealth within 10 years immediately prior to being hired by the local school board may qualify to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties. The bill also provides that the Department of Criminal Justice Services' duty to establish minimum training standards and other requirements for school security officers includes establishing minimum training standards and requirements for school security officers previously employed by a law-enforcement agency of the United States or any state or political subdivision thereof."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 2721"
citation: "Virginia HB 2721 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Commonwealth Public Safety", "Education", "Police", "Weapons"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nicholas J. Freitas"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 22
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-01-16"
last_action: "2019-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a9cb6322-b79e-4050-a086-863ef7d7c2fd"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB2721"
source_hash: "88020ae79df39a73f4a4d2a1feba289ce4d24d3e851827d95b1f45f1fa9f5c1e"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 2721 (2019) — School security officers; employment, law-enforcement officers previously employed by the U.S.

Allows a school security officer to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties if, within 10 years immediately prior to being hired by the local school board, he was employed by a law-enforcement agency of the United States or any state or political subdivision thereof and his duties were substantially similar to those of a law-enforcement officer in the Commonwealth. Under current law, only a school security officer who was an active law-enforcement officer in the Commonwealth within 10 years immediately prior to being hired by the local school board may qualify to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties. The bill also provides that the Department of Criminal Justice Services' duty to establish minimum training standards and other requirements for school security officers includes establishing minimum training standards and requirements for school security officers previously employed by a law-enforcement agency of the United States or any state or political subdivision thereof.

## Version chain

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

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0493)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+CHAP0493)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2721ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2721ER)
3. **House: Presented and ordered printed 19100996D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2721)
4. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 19106813D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB2721S1)

## Votes

- Reported from Education — **16–5** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed House — **65–32** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute — **14–1** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate with substitute — **39–1** (pass) · upper
- Senate substitute agreed to by House 19106813D-S1 — **79–17** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **9–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Nicholas J. Freitas — primary (person)
- Michael J. Webert — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-16** Presented and ordered printed 19100996D `introduction`
- **2019-01-16** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-25** Assigned Education sub: Subcommittee #2 `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2019-01-31** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2019-02-01** Passed by for the day
- **2019-02-04** Read third time and passed House (65-Y 32-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2019-02-05** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-06** Assigned Education sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-18** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2019-02-18** Reading of substitute waived
- **2019-02-18** Committee substitute agreed to 19106813D-S1
- **2019-02-18** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute HB2721S1
- **2019-02-19** Placed on Calendar
- **2019-02-19** Senate substitute agreed to by House 19106813D-S1 (79-Y 17-N)
- **2019-02-22** Enrolled
- **2019-02-22** Signed by Speaker
- **2019-02-22** Signed by President
- **2019-03-04** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 4, 2019
- **2019-03-04** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 26, 2019
- **2019-03-18** Approved by Governor-Chapter 493 (effective 7/1/19) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a9cb6322-b79e-4050-a086-863ef7d7c2fd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).