Bill > HB630

This bill amends the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) to allow local governments to provide enhanced retirement benefits for full-time salaried 911 dispatchers, categorizing them alongside other hazardous duty service professionals like law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians. Specifically, the bill adds full-time salaried dispatchers for public safety answering points (a technical term for 911 call centers) to the list of professions eligible for special retirement benefits equivalent to those provided to state police officers. The enhanced benefits will apply only to service earned on or after July 1, 2025, though employers have the discretion to apply these benefits retroactively to service before that date. By providing these enhanced retirement benefits, the bill recognizes the stressful and critical nature of 911 dispatchers' work, offering them improved retirement options similar to other first responders. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025, giving local governments time to prepare for and implement these new retirement benefit provisions.