Maryland 2023 Regular Session

Maryland Senate Bill SB935 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3	EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
4	4	[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5	5	sb0935
6	6
7	7	SENATE BILL 935
8	8	F1 3lr3014
9	9	SB 973/22 – SRU
10	10	By: Senator Jennings
11	11	Introduced and read first time: February 16, 2023
12	12	Assigned to: Rules
13	13
14	14	A BILL ENTITLED
15	15
16	16	AN ACT concerning 1
17	17
18	18	Public Schools – School Resource Officers – Firearms Required 2
19	19
20	20	FOR the purpose of requiring a Baltimore City school police officer or a school resource 3
21	21	officer to carry a firearm while present on the premises of a certain school; and 4
22	22	generally relating to school resource officers. 5
23	23
24	24	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 6
25	25	Article – Education 7
26	26	Section 4–318(d)(3)(i) and 7–1508 8
27	27	Annotated Code of Maryland 9
28	28	(2022 Replacement Volume) 10
29	29
30	30	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 11
31	31	Article – Education 12
32	32	Section 7–1501(a) and (j) 13
33	33	Annotated Code of Maryland 14
34	34	(2022 Replacement Volume) 15
35	35
36	36	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 16
37	37	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 17
38	38
39	39	Article – Education 18
40	40
41	41	4–318. 19
42	42
43	43	(d) (3) (i) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a Baltimore City 20
44	44	school police officer whose permanent or temporary assignment is at a school or on school 21
45	45	property [may] SHALL carry a firearm on the premises of the school to which the officer is 22
46	46	assigned before or after regular school hours on school days and on days other than school 23
47	47	days. 24 2 SENATE BILL 935
48	48
49	49
50	50
51	51	7–1501. 1
52	52
53	53	(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. 2
54	54
55	55	(j) “School resource officer” means: 3
56	56
57	57	(1) A law enforcement officer as defined under § 3–101(e) of the Public 4
58	58	Safety Article who has been assigned to a school in accordance with a memorandum of 5
59	59	understanding between the chief of a law enforcement agency as defined under § 3–101(b) 6
60	60	of the Public Safety Article and the local education agency; or 7
61	61
62	62	(2) A Baltimore City school police officer, as defined in § 4–318 of this 8
63	63	article. 9
64	64
65	65	7–1508. 10
66	66
67	67	(a) (1) Each local school system shall designate a school safety coordinator. 11
68	68
69	69	(2) A designated school safety coordinator shall: 12
70	70
71	71	(i) Be certified by the Center; and 13
72	72
73	73	(ii) Serve as a liaison between the local school system, the local law 14
74	74	enforcement agency, and the Center. 15
75	75
76	76	(B) A SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFI CER SHALL CARRY A FI REARM WHILE 16
77	77	PRESENT ON THE PREMI SES OF THE SCHOOL TO WHICH THE OFFICER IS ASSIGNED. 17
78	78
79	79	[(b)] (C) (1) (i) On or before September 1, 2018, the Center, in 18
80	80	consultation with local school systems, shall: 19
81	81
82	82	1. Develop a specialized curriculum for use in training of 20
83	83	school resource officers and school security employees; and 21
84	84
85	85	2. Submit the curriculum to the Maryland Police Training 22
86	86	and Standards Commission for approval. 23
87	87
88	88	(ii) The specialized curriculum developed under this subsection shall 24
89	89	include training in: 25
90	90
91	91	1. De–escalation; 26
92	92
93	93	2. Disability awareness; 27
94	94
95	95	3. Maintaining a positive school climate; 28
96	96	SENATE BILL 935 3
97	97
98	98
99	99	4. Constructive interactions with students; and 1
100	100
101	101	5. Implicit bias and disability and diversity awareness with 2
102	102	specific attention to racial and ethnic disparities. 3
103	103
104	104	(iii) 1. The specialized curriculum developed under this 4
105	105	subsection may not go into effect until it is approved by the Maryland Police Training and 5
106	106	Standards Commission. 6
107	107
108	108	2. If the Maryland Police Training and Standards 7
109	109	Commission does not initially approve the specialized curriculum, the Center shall amend 8
110	110	the curriculum until it meets with the Commission’s approval. 9
111	111
112	112	(2) On or before March 1, 2019, the Center shall develop and submit to the 10
113	113	Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission for approval a model training 11
114	114	program that meets the requirements of the curriculum approved under paragraph (1) of 12
115	115	this subsection. 13
116	116
117	117	(3) Each local law enforcement agency shall: 14
118	118
119	119	(i) Enroll individuals assigned to be school resource officers in the 15
120	120	model training program developed by the Center under paragraph (2) of this subsection; or 16
121	121
122	122	(ii) 1. Submit to the Maryland Police Training and Standards 17
123	123	Commission for approval a training program that is consistent with the curriculum 18
124	124	developed under paragraph (1) of this subsection; and 19
125	125
126	126	2. Enroll individuals assigned to be school resource officers 20
127	127	in the training program developed under item 1 of this item. 21
128	128
129	129	(4) Beginning September 1, 2019, to be assigned as a school resource officer 22
130	130	an individual shall: 23
131	131
132	132	(i) Complete: 24
133	133
134	134	1. The model training program developed by the Center 25
135	135	under paragraph (2) of this subsection through instruction provided by the Center in 26
136	136	collaboration with the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission; or 27
137	137
138	138	2. A local law enforcement agency’s training program 28
139	139	developed under paragraph (3)(ii) of this subsection; and 29
140	140
141	141	(ii) Be certified by the Maryland Police Training and Standards 30
142	142	Commission. 31
143	143
144	144	(5) Beginning September 1, 2019, to be employed as a school security 32
145	145	employee at a public school, an individual shall complete: 33 4 SENATE BILL 935
146	146
147	147
148	148
149	149	(i) The model training program developed by the Center under 1
150	150	paragraph (2) of this subsection through instruction provided by the Center in collaboration 2
151	151	with the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission; or 3
152	152
153	153	(ii) A local law enforcement agency’s training program developed 4
154	154	under paragraph (3)(ii) of this subsection. 5
155	155
156	156	[(c)] (D) The Center shall collect data regarding the school resource officers in 6
157	157	each local school system, including: 7
158	158
159	159	(1) The number of full–time and part–time school resource officers 8
160	160	assigned to each elementary school, middle school, and high school; and 9
161	161
162	162	(2) Any other local school system employees or local law enforcement 10
163	163	officers who are fulfilling the role of a school resource officer. 11
164	164
165	165	[(d)] (E) (1) On or before December 15, 2018, the Center, in collaboration 12
166	166	with local law enforcement agencies and local school systems, shall analyze the initial data 13
167	167	collected under subsection [(c)] (D) of this section and develop guidelines to assist local 14
168	168	school systems in: 15
169	169
170	170	(i) Identifying the appropriate number and assignment of school 16
171	171	resource officers, including supplemental coverage by local law enforcement agencies; and 17
172	172
173	173	(ii) Collaborating and communicating with local law enforcement 18
174	174	agencies. 19
175	175
176	176	(2) On or before July 1, 2019, each local school system, in consultation with 20
177	177	local law enforcement agencies, shall: 21
178	178
179	179	(i) Develop a plan to implement the guidelines developed by the 22
180	180	Center; and 23
181	181
182	182	(ii) Submit the plan to the Center for review and comment. 24
183	183
184	184	[(e)] (F) (1) Before the 2018–2019 school year begins, each local school 25
185	185	system shall file a report with the Center identifying: 26
186	186
187	187	(i) The public high schools in the local school system’s jurisdiction 27
188	188	that have a school resource officer assigned to the school; and 28
189	189
190	190	(ii) If a public high school in the local school system’s jurisdiction is 29
191	191	not assigned a school resource officer, the adequate local law enforcement coverage that 30
192	192	will be provided to the public high school. 31
193	193
194	194	(2) Beginning with the 2019–2020 school year, and each school year 32 SENATE BILL 935 5
195	195
196	196
197	197	thereafter, before the school year begins, each local school system shall, in accordance with 1
198	198	the plan developed under subsection [(d)(2)] (E)(2) of this section, file a report identifying: 2
199	199
200	200	(i) The public schools in the local school system’s jurisdiction that 3
201	201	have a school resource officer assigned to the school; and 4
202	202
203	203	(ii) If a public school in the local school system’s jurisdiction is not 5
204	204	assigned a school resource officer, the adequate local law enforcement coverage that will be 6
205	205	provided to the public school. 7
206	206
207	207	(3) On or before October 1, 2018, and each October 1 thereafter, the Center 8
208	208	shall submit a summary of the reports required under this subsection to the Governor and, 9
209	209	in accordance with § 2–1257 of the State Government Article, the General Assembly. 10
210	210
211	211	[(f)] (G) Each local school system shall post on the school system’s website 11
212	212	information on the role and authority of school resource officers assigned to public schools 12
213	213	within the school system. 13
214	214
215	215	[(g)] (H) (1) For fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Governor 14
216	216	shall include in the annual budget bill an appropriation of $10,000,000 to the Fund for the 15
217	217	purpose of providing grants to local school systems and local law enforcement agencies to 16
218	218	assist in meeting the requirements of subsection [(e)] (F) of this section. 17
219	219
220	220	(2) Grants provided under this subsection shall be made to each local 18
221	221	school system based on the number of schools in each school system in proportion to the 19
222	222	total number of public schools in the State in the prior year. 20
223	223
224	224	[(h)] (I) (1) The Center shall collect data on incidents of use of force between: 21
225	225
226	226	(i) Any school resource officer and a student while a school resource 22
227	227	officer is carrying out the officer’s duties; and 23
228	228
229	229	(ii) Any school security employee and a student while the school 24
230	230	security employee is carrying out the employee’s duties. 25
231	231
232	232	(2) On or before December 1, 2020, and each December 1 thereafter, the 26
233	233	Center shall submit a report on the data collected under paragraph (1) of this subsection 27
234	234	for each jurisdiction, in accordance with federal and State law, to the Governor and, in 28
235	235	accordance with § 2–1257 of the State Government Article, the General Assembly. 29
236	236
237	237	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take ef fect July 30
238	238	1, 2023. 31
239	239