HB0043 School Security Amendments
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Lawmakers looking to tweak last session’s sweeping school safety bill
After the Utah Legislature passed a sweeping school safety bill earlier this year that beefed up armed security, mandated secure entrances and created a new threat reporting software, lawmakers are hoping to make some changes.
HB84 passed last legislative session with broad approval, receiving unanimous support in the Senate and, after some amendments, just nine “no” votes in the House. This week, the bill sponsor, Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, told lawmakers that a few “follow ups” are needed.
On Wednesday, Wilcox’s new bill, School Safety Amendments, received unanimous approval from the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee.
The “follow ups” include changes to how schools should vet personnel hired as school security, and new building requirements.
Now, instead of the local county sheriff’s office training the schools’ “guardians” — school employees who can volunteer to be an armed guard, if the school doesn’t already have a resource officer or armed security guard — they would be trained by the local police department.
Local police would also now be tasked with creating a school safety needs assessment, which was previously the responsibility of sheriffs.
School guardians are required to undergo a mental health screening, but if the school chooses to instead hire private security, current state code doesn’t require them to be screened. Now, Wilcox’s bill would require the same mental health screening for guardians and private security.
The bill also requires all exterior and interior glass in Utah schools to have a bulletproof film on it (previously, the bill only required exterior glass to be bulletproof) and centralizes all security footage to one program.
Hallways and doorways would all have the same letter and number identification system, “so if a student calls and says I’m by D7, the police will know exactly where in the building they will need to get to,” said Jeff Van Hulten with the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, during Wednesday’s meeting.
Wilcox’s bill will also impose a tiered system of compliance for school systems and charter schools, so school officials know if they’re adhering to the state’s security standards.
And, the amendments would create a foundation, allowing the creation of a nonprofit to raise private funds, on top of state dollars, for schools to make safety-related purchases.
A massive bill at nearly 2,800 lines long, last session’s HB84 was the product of the state’s School Security Task Force and included input from parents of students killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
The bill, among other things, directs school buildings to install emergency communication systems and panic buttons, requires threat reporting if employees are aware of a particular safety concern, and links the state’s SafeUT Crisis Line to Utah’s intelligence database.
The bill also beefed up armed security in Utah’s schools, sparking some controversy and pushback from teachers.
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