(a)

(1) There is created within the department of safety a division of protective services.

(2) This division shall exercise the powers and duties formerly imposed upon the department of general services to provide police services by sworn officers for the State Capitol, the Legislative Plaza, the War Memorial Building and all state office buildings, and to provide personal security from time to time of state officials as directed by the commissioner, along with the primary, but not exclusive, responsibility of enforcing the parking regulations and policies as established by the department of general services.

(3) This division shall oversee the state facility protection officer program in conjunction with the commissioner or the commissioner's designee pursuant to § 4-3-2019(c)(1).

(b)

(1) The commissioner of safety shall be authorized to issue special police commissions to qualified state security personnel, who are full-time salaried employees of the state, to go armed or carry pistols while on active duty engaged in carrying out their responsibilities under subsection (a).

(2) Such commissions shall only be issued to those personnel who have satisfactorily completed appropriate training and are certified as qualified, including physical and mental competency, to carry firearms by the Jerry F. Agee Tennessee law enforcement training academy or other similar agency; provided, that security personnel employed before July 1, 1980, shall not be required to meet the training or mental and physical requirements set out in this subdivision (b)(2) as a condition of tenure or continued employment, nor shall their failure to fulfill such requirements make them ineligible for any promotional examination for which they are otherwise eligible.

(3) Nothing contained herein shall be construed to impose upon such security personnel the same criteria for employment and retention in state service as are required of members of the Tennessee highway patrol.