SENATE BILL No. 991

 

 

May 10, 2018, Introduced by Senator ZORN and referred to the Committee on Education.

 

 

     A bill to amend 2013 PA 183, entitled

 

"Student safety act,"

 

by amending section 3 (MCL 752.913).

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 3. (1) The department, in consultation with the

 

department of state police, the department of community health,

 

health and human services, and the department of education shall,

 

to the extent that funds are appropriated for the purpose,

 

establish a program for receiving reports and other information

 

from the public regarding potential self-harm and potential harm or

 

criminal acts directed at school students, school employees, or

 

schools in this state. The department shall establish the program

 

within the guidelines of this act. The department shall have access

 


to the information needed to meet the reporting requirements of

 

section 8.

 

     (2) The program described in subsection (1) shall must include

 

a hotline for receiving reports and information described in

 

subsection (1). The hotline shall must be available for use 24

 

hours a day, 365 days a year. The department may provide

 

promotional information regarding the program on its departmental

 

website.

 

     (3) Prior to operation of the hotline, the department of

 

technology, management, and budget shall issue a request for

 

proposals to enter into a contract for operation of the hotline.

 

The department of technology, management, and budget shall have has

 

sole authority over the request for proposals process and the

 

decision over which entity is awarded the contract. This subsection

 

does not prohibit the department of state police from submitting a

 

proposal. Any contract shall must require the vendor to be bound by

 

the requirements of this act, including its confidentiality

 

provisions. Beginning on the date that the hotline established

 

under this act is operational, all calls received by any existing

 

state-run school violence hotline in operation prior to the

 

establishment of this act shall be directed to the hotline

 

established under this act. Any existing state-run school violence

 

hotline in operation prior to the effective date of this act shall

 

before December 13, 2013 must be disconnected within 6 months after

 

the hotline established under this act is operational.

 

     (4) The department shall be responsible for the continued

 

operational and administrative oversight of the program. The


program shall must provide for a means to review all information

 

submitted through the hotline and to direct those reports and that

 

information, including any analysis of the potential threat as

 

determined appropriate by the department or a vendor under contract

 

with the department to local law enforcement officials and school

 

officials. The program shall must include a means by which

 

responses at the local level are determined and evaluated for

 

effectiveness. The department shall ensure that appropriate

 

training is provided to program personnel in all of the following

 

areas:

 

     (a) Crisis management, including recognizing mental illness

 

and emotional disturbance.

 

     (b) The resources that are available in the community for

 

providing mental health treatment and other human services.

 

     (c) Other matters determined by the department to be relevant

 

to the administration and operation of the program.

 

     (5) A report or other information submitted to the hotline is

 

considered to be a report to a law enforcement agency and shall

 

must be maintained as a record by the vendor described in section

 

3(3) subsection (3) for at least 1 year, subject to the

 

confidentiality requirements of this act.

 

     (6) The department shall ensure that any hotline information

 

that suggests that a psychiatric emergency is taking place within a

 

county is immediately referred to the community mental health

 

services program psychiatric crisis line for that county.

 

     (7) The department shall develop a source of information on

 

available community mental health resources and contacts, including


mental health services. The department shall notify schools and law

 

enforcement of this information source. The notice shall must

 

include the departmental recommendation that school and law

 

enforcement, upon investigating a case and determining that mental

 

illness or emotional disturbance is or may be involved, utilize

 

this information in aiding subjects and their parents or guardians.

 

     (8) At least biannually, the governing body of a school shall

 

provide to the department of state police current emergency contact

 

information at which a school official for the school is able to

 

receive information under subsection (4) 24 hours a day, 365 days a

 

year.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.