General Assembly Passes Englin Bill To Help Recruit And Retain Quality Public Safety Workforce

(Monday) March 8, 2010

Law gives Alexandria City Council power to ensure fair, equal, and competitive public safety compensation

Delegate David Englin (Photo: James Cullum)

The General Assembly passed legislation Thursday sponsored by Delegate David Englin (D-45) to give the Alexandria City Council the power to improve retirement benefits for its deputy sheriffs, fire marshals, emergency medical technicians, and other public safety workers. House Bill 273 will empower the City of Alexandria to offer all of its public safety workers a pension plan that allows them to retire after 25 years of service, which is the standard across public safety professions.

“To protect public safety, our community needs the tools to recruit and retain the very best public safety professionals,” said Englin. “In Virginia, local governments have only the powers the General Assembly grants to them, so this is a necessary and important bill to give the City of Alexandria the tools to ensure a quality public safety workforce.”

Englin sponsored the legislation at the request of the Alexandria City Council, and Chief Deputy Tony Di Cesare from the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office traveled to Richmond to testify in favor of the bill. Currently, if Alexandria offered its deputy sheriffs the ability to retire with 25 years of service, those employees would have to accept a lower overall pension, which is a penalty other law enforcement officers do not face. If and when City Council eventually takes advantage of this new legislation, it can offer deputy sheriffs and others the same retirement package, ensuring fair, equal, and competitive public safety compensation to recruit and retain quality public safety workers for our community.

The bill passed the House of Delegates unanimously on Feb. 16, and the Senate passed it unanimously Thursday.

Delegate David Englin is Vice Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and is serving his third term in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he represents the 45th District, which includes parts of the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, and Arlington County. He serves on the Finance Committee, the Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee, and the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee.