SCHOOL SAFETY PACKAGE

House Bill 5828 (H-1) as reported from committee

Sponsor:  Rep. Jason Wentworth

House Bill 5829 as introduced

Sponsor:  Rep. Pamela Hornberger

House Bill 5830 (H-3) as reported

Sponsor:  Rep. Robert Kosowski

House Bill 5851 (H-5) as reported

Sponsor: Rep. Beau LaFave

House Bill 5852 (H-3) as reported

Sponsor: Rep. Joseph Bellino

Committee:  Appropriations

Complete to 5-2-18

BRIEF SUMMARY:

House Bills 5828, 5829, 5830, 5851, and 5852 compose a School Safety package that would do all of the following:

·         Create the School Safety Commission (“the Commission”) in the Department of State Police.

·         Require the Commission to establish school safety metrics and inspect and issue school safety grades for all school buildings.

·         Create a Comprehensive School Safety Plan Fund, which, upon appropriation, would be used by the Commission to inspect school buildings and provide grants to improve school building safety.

·         Require that school buildings built or remodeled, with certain exceptions, after July 1, 2019 be built with additional, prescribed safety measures.

·         Require school districts, intermediate school districts (ISDs), and public school academies (PSAs) to report on prevented attempts or threats of violence either on school grounds or toward a school, school staff, or students.

·         Require that, beginning January 1, 2020, all current and new law enforcement officers receive active violence response training, for which the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) would be responsible for creating standards.

           

Each bill would take effect 90 days after being enacted.

DETAILED SUMMARY:

House Bill 5828 would create the Comprehensive School Safety Plan Act, which would create the School Safety Commission (“the Commission”) within the Department of State Police (MSP) on January 15, 2019, or upon the abolishment of the School Safety Task Force created by the governor under Executive Order 2018-5,[1] whichever comes first.

School Safety Commission

Under the bill, members of the Commission would be appointed by the governor and would serve 4-year terms, except for those members representing the MSP, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), who could be removed only for good cause or if there were a change in department leadership. Additionally, members first appointed to the Commission would have varied terms in order to stagger the reappointment schedule. The members appointed to the Commission, with their initial terms, would include:

·         The director of the MSP or his or her designee (no term limit).

·         The Superintendent of Public Instruction or his or her designee (no term limit).

·         The director of the DHHS or his or her designee (no term limit).

·         An individual representing local law enforcement agencies (1 year).

·         An individual representing teachers (1 year).

·         An individual representing school administrators (4 years).

·         An individual with expertise in behavioral and mental health (4 years).

·         An individual recommended by the Speaker of the House (2 years).

·         An individual recommended by the House Minority Leader (2 years).

·         An individual recommended by the Senate Majority Leader (2 years).

·         An individual recommended by the Senate Minority Leader (2 years).

Vacancies on the Commission would be filled in the same manner as the original appointment and would cover only the remainder of the unexpired term. The governor could remove any member for incompetence, dereliction of duty, malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, or any other good cause. Members of the Commission would not be compensated, but could be reimbursed for incidental expenses incurred in performing their duties.

Meetings of the Commission would be held quarterly and in compliance with the Open Meetings Act, 1976 PA 267, with the first meeting called by the director of the MSP or his or her designee. Members of the Commission would choose a chairperson at the first meeting. Meetings could be held more frequently at the call of the chairperson or if requested by 6 or more Commission members. All information obtained by the Commission would be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 1976 PA 442.

School Safety Inspections and Categories

Under the bill, within 90 days of its creation, the Commission would have to promulgate rules to determine the measures and metrics that define 3 safety categories: optimal, adequate, or inadequate. At a minimum, the measures and metrics would have to address all of the following:

·         School building layouts.

·         School building proximity to law enforcement agencies.

·         Emergency planning strategies.

·         Employment of school resource officers or other individuals authorized by law to provide safety in school buildings.

·         Surveillance technology.

·         Threat reporting systems.

·         Remote door locks.

·         Reinforced entryways.

Under the bill, the Commission would have to assist school safety liaisons in evaluating their schools for safety measures from 6 to 18 months after its creation, and would have to implement a plan to ensure that each school is inspected not later than 30 months after its creation.

The Commission, in consultation with the MSP, would employ or contract school safety inspectors to inspect and evaluate each school and present a safety grade for each school building to each school’s governing board. The safety grades and their standards would be as follows:

·         Optimal: Meets all of the Commission’s determined safety standards. Must be inspected again but not sooner than 7 years after initial inspection.

·         Adequate: Requires additional safety measures as recommended by the Commission. Must be inspected again but not sooner than 5 years after initial inspection.

·         Inadequate: Urgently requires additional safety measures as recommended by the Commission. Must be inspected again but not later than 2 years after initial inspection.

The safety grades issued to each school by the Commission would remain confidential.

Comprehensive School Safety Plan Fund

House Bill 5828 would create the Comprehensive School Safety Plan Fund (“the Fund”). Revenues in the Fund could be used only upon appropriation, and unexpended funds would not lapse back to the General Fund at the end of a fiscal year. The MSP could use appropriations from the Fund to award school safety improvement grants to schools and carry out the duties of the Commission.

The Commission would develop the process for submitting a grant application, and each grant would be issued for a period of 1 year. In awarding grants, the Commission would have to prioritize schools receiving inadequate safety grades, but could also award grants to schools receiving adequate safety grades. Schools receiving grants from the Fund could use the funds only to implement additional safety measures identified or recommended by Commission inspectors, such as purchasing and installing security equipment or upgrading school buildings.

House Bill 5828 is tie-barred to House Bill 5829, meaning that it cannot take effect unless House Bill 5829 were also enacted into law.

House Bill 5829 would amend the Revised School Code to require the board of a school district, ISD, or PSA or the governing body of a nonpublic school to designate an employee as a school safety liaison to coordinate with the School Safety Commission to identify and evaluate school safety measures. The liaison must be either a school employee or an individual regularly and continuously working under contract in the school. The bill would require that each school submit to a school safety inspection by the MSP as proposed under House Bill 5828.

House Bill 5829 is tie-barred to House Bill 5828, meaning that it cannot take effect unless House Bill 5828 is also enacted into law.

Proposed MCL 380.1241

House Bill 5830 would amend the act regulating the construction of school buildings, 1937 PA 306, to require that all new school buildings constructed after July 1, 2019, whether public or private, be built to incorporate at least 3 of the following safety measures as determined by the School Safety Commission proposed under House Bill 5828:

·         A schematic of building layouts.

·         Surveillance technology.

·         Remote door locks.

·         Reinforced entryways.

In addition, beginning July 1, 2019, this bill would require any school building remodeled at a cost of $250,000 or more also include a minimum of 3 of the aforementioned safety measures. However, the bill would allow the Commission to grant a school a waiver for a building being remodeled.

House Bill 5830 is tie-barred to House Bill 5828, meaning that it cannot take effect unless House Bill 5828 is also enacted into law.

           

            MCL 388.851

House Bill 5851 would amend the Revised School Code to require school districts, ISDs, and PSAs to report annually to the MSP the following incidents:

·         Attempted acts of violence on school grounds that were prevented or thwarted.

·         Threats of violence made on or off of school grounds directed at a school, school staff, or pupils for which attempts were prevented or thwarted.  

The bill would require that the reports must include a description of each incident and how each incident was prevented or thwarted and must exclude the name of the school affected, the name of any individual involved in each incident, and any other identifying information. From the required school reports, the MSP would have to compile and submit a report annually to the School Safety Commission proposed in House Bill 5828.  Reports would be exempt from FOIA, 1976 PA 442.

The bill would include the following definitions:

·         “Act of violence” would mean a willful and deliberate act which is either of the following:

o   A violent felony under state law, whether or not committed in this state, and that a person knows or has reason to know is dangerous to human life.

o   Intended to coerce or intimidate a school, school staff, or pupils or affect the operation of a school through intimidation or coercion.

·         “Threat of violence” would mean a statement expressing an intent to commit an act of violence.

·         “Dangerous to human life”, would mean that term as defined under 1931 PA 328, MCL 750.543b.

·          “Violent felony” would mean that term as defined under 1931 PA 328, MCL 750.82 et. seq.

Proposed MCL 380.1308a

House Bill 5852 would amend the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards Act to require that, beginning January 1, 2020, all law enforcement officers must complete active violence response training that emphasizes coordinated technical response to rapidly developing incidents in which intentional physical injury or death to a specific population occurs through the use of conventional or unconventional weapons and tactics, in order to become licensed or maintain licensure under 1965 PA 203. 

The bill would require the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) to promulgate rules to establish minimum standards for the required active violence response training.

            MCL 28.609

FISCAL IMPACT:

House Bill 5828 would have a significant fiscal impact on the MSP. The MSP’s ability to carry out inspections of approximately 3,450 public and 650 nonpublic schools,[2] in coordination with the School Safety Commission, would be dependent upon appropriations to the Comprehensive School Safety Plan Fund and would require additional FTEs or contract personnel to perform the inspections.  The House omnibus budget bill for FY 2018-19, House Bill 5578, appropriates $25.0 million from the School Safety Plan Fund to support the responsibilities of the School Safety Commission, including safety inspections of and safety improvement grants to public and private schools. The total grant funds necessary to bring each school building within the state up to the standards to be recommended by the Commission is unknown.

House Bill 5829 would create administrative costs for school districts, ISDs, and PSAs to collaborate with the School Safety Commission. School districts, ISDs, and PSAs would have to designate a liaison, likely a redirection of existing staff time, to work with the School Safety Commission to identify and evaluate school safety measures and to coordinate and participate in school building inspections.

House Bill 5830 would likely increase school construction and remodeling costs for local school districts, ISDs, and PSAs to incorporate at least 3 of the following proposed safety measures in all newly constructed school buildings or buildings remodeled at a cost of $250,000 or more: schematics of school building layouts, surveillance technology, remote door locks, and reinforced entryways.  However, the bill would allow the Commission to grant waivers for this requirement for building remodels, which would limit the potential cost.

House Bill 5851 could create administrative costs, likely borne by redirection of existing staff time, for school districts, ISDs, and PSAs related to the proposed reporting requirements for threats or attempts of violence that were thwarted or prevented.

House Bill 5852 would increase costs for the MSP, the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES), and local law enforcement agencies. According to MCOLES, the bill’s provisions requiring MCOLES to promulgate rules regarding the minimum training standards for active violence response training, and provide train-the-trainer courses to instructors, including equipment costs, would cost approximately $168,000. The MSP and local law enforcement agencies would incur substantive training costs in order to train the approximately 18,700 licensed law enforcement officers currently within their ranks on the new active violence response training regimen[3]. MCOLES estimates that approximately 600 6- to 8-hour sessions are necessary to train all licensed law enforcement offices, as well as 43 40-hour sessions to train school resource officers. MCOLES estimates the training session costs at approximately $3.4 million. This would bring the total statewide costs to implementing this portion of the bill to approximately $3.5 million.

Additionally, the MSP and local law enforcement agencies that administer their own recruit schools would incur increased costs related to administering active violence response training in order to graduate law enforcement officers licensed under 1965 PA 203.

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                               Fiscal Analysts:   Kent Dell

                                                                                                                           Bethany Wicksall

                                                                                                                           Samuel Christensen

■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.

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