Maryland 2024 Regular Session

Maryland Senate Bill SB127 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	sb0127
6	6
7	7	SENATE BILL 127
8	8	F1, E4, F2 4lr1317
9	9	(PRE–FILED)
10	10	By: Senators Watson, Carozza, and Muse
11	11	Requested: October 31, 2023
12	12	Introduced and read first time: January 10, 2024
13	13	Assigned to: Education, Energy, and the Environment and Judicial Proceedings
14	14
15	15	A BILL ENTITLED
16	16
17	17	AN ACT concerning 1
18	18
19	19	Maryland Center for School Safety – Firearm Detection Platforms – Evaluation 2
20	20	(Maryland Firearm Detection Platform Act) 3
21	21
22	22	FOR the purpose of requiring the Maryland Center for School Safety, in collaboration with 4
23	23	certain public safety and educational institutions, to conduct an evaluation of 5
24	24	firearm detection platforms; authorizing funds from the Safe Schools Fund to be used 6
25	25	to assist local school systems in the procurement and maintenance of firearm 7
26	26	detection platforms; and generally relating to the Maryland Center for School Safety 8
27	27	and firearm detection platforms. 9
28	28
29	29	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 10
30	30	Article – Education 11
31	31	Section 7–1501 12
32	32	Annotated Code of Maryland 13
33	33	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2023 Supplement) 14
34	34	(As enacted by Chapter 59 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 2021) 15
35	35
36	36	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 16
37	37	Article – Education 17
38	38	Section 7–1512(a) 18
39	39	Annotated Code of Maryland 19
40	40	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2023 Supplement) 20
41	41
42	42	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 21
43	43	Article – Education 22
44	44	Section 7–1512(f)(9) and (10) 23
45	45	Annotated Code of Maryland 24
46	46	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2023 Supplement) 25
47	47
48	48	BY adding to 26 2 SENATE BILL 127
49	49
50	50
51	51	Article – Education 1
52	52	Section 7–1512(f)(11) 2
53	53	Annotated Code of Maryland 3
54	54	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2023 Supplement) 4
55	55
56	56	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 5
57	57	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 6
58	58
59	59	Article – Education 7
60	60
61	61	7–1501. 8
62	62
63	63	(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. 9
64	64
65	65	(b) “Advisory Board” means the School Safety Subcabinet Advisory Board. 10
66	66
67	67	(c) (1) “Behaviors of concern” means behaviors or threats that indicate a 11
68	68	student may pose a risk of self–harm or harm to others. 12
69	69
70	70	(2) “Behaviors of concern” includes: 13
71	71
72	72	(i) Expressions of hopelessness; 14
73	73
74	74	(ii) Known drug use; 15
75	75
76	76	(iii) Suicidal gestures or statements; and 16
77	77
78	78	(iv) Known gang activity. 17
79	79
80	80	(d) “Center” means the Maryland Center for School Safety. 18
81	81
82	82	(e) “Drill” means a formalized exercise by which school system personnel, staff, 19
83	83	or students rehearse a school emergency plan. 20
84	84
85	85	(f) “FIREARM DETECTION PLA TFORM” MEANS ANY TECHNOLOGY 21
86	86	PLATFORM OR SYSTEM THAT USES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGE NCE AND OTHER 22
87	87	VALIDATION MECHANISM S TO: 23
88	88
89	89	(1) ANALYZE VIDEO STREAMS FROM SURVEILLANCE CA MERAS IN 24
90	90	REAL TIME FOR THE DETECTI ON OF FIREARMS ; AND 25
91	91
92	92	(2) PROACTIVELY NOTIFY LA W ENFORCEMENT AND OT HER PUBLIC 26
93	93	SAFETY AUTHOR ITIES. 27
94	94
95	95	(G) “Fund” means the Safe Schools Fund. 28
96	96	SENATE BILL 127 3
97	97
98	98
99	99	[(g)] (H) “Local law enforcement agency” means: 1
100	100
101	101	(1) A police department of a county or municipal corporation in the State; 2
102	102	or 3
103	103
104	104	(2) A sheriff’s office that provides a law enforcement function in a county 4
105	105	or municipal corporation in the State. 5
106	106
107	107	[(h)] (I) “Safety evaluation” means a written assessment of the safety conditions 6
108	108	in each public school, including ingress, egress, and access to areas of refuge for all 7
109	109	students. 8
110	110
111	111	[(i)] (J) “School emergency plan” means a plan for each local school system and 9
112	112	each public school within the school system that addresses mitigation of, preparedness for, 10
113	113	response to, and recovery from emergencies, including: 11
114	114
115	115	(1) Violent or traumatic events on school grounds during regular school 12
116	116	hours or during school–sponsored activities; and 13
117	117
118	118	(2) Events in the community that affect school operations. 14
119	119
120	120	[(j)] (K) “School resource officer” means: 15
121	121
122	122	(1) A law enforcement officer as defined under § 1–101(c) of the Public 16
123	123	Safety Article who has been assigned to a school in accordance with a memorandum of 17
124	124	understanding between the chief of a law enforcement agency as defined under § 3–201(d) 18
125	125	of the Public Safety Article and the local education agency; or 19
126	126
127	127	(2) A Baltimore City school police officer, as defined in § 4–318 of this 20
128	128	article. 21
129	129
130	130	[(k)] (L) “School security employee” means an individual, as defined in 22
131	131	regulations adopted by the Subcabinet, who: 23
132	132
133	133	(1) Is not a school resource officer; and 24
134	134
135	135	(2) Is employed by a local school system to provide safety and 25
136	136	security–related services at a public school. 26
137	137
138	138	[(l)] (M) “Subcabinet” means the School Safety Subcabinet. 27
139	139
140	140	[(m)] (N) “Wraparound services” means services provided to students, and their 28
141	141	families as appropriate, including: 29
142	142
143	143	(1) Mentoring; 30
144	144	4 SENATE BILL 127
145	145
146	146
147	147	(2) Tutoring; 1
148	148
149	149	(3) Child care services; 2
150	150
151	151	(4) Housing referrals; 3
152	152
153	153	(5) Transportation; 4
154	154
155	155	(6) Crisis intervention; 5
156	156
157	157	(7) Substance abuse prevention and treatment; 6
158	158
159	159	(8) Legal aid; 7
160	160
161	161	(9) Academic counseling; and 8
162	162
163	163	(10) Career counseling. 9
164	164
165	165	7–1512. 10
166	166
167	167	(a) There is a Safe Schools Fund. 11
168	168
169	169	(f) Except as provided in subsection (g) of this section, the Fund may be used only 12
170	170	to provide grants to local school systems to enhance school safety, including: 13
171	171
172	172	(9) Providing information to students and parents on traveling safely to 14
173	173	and from school, including data related to bus and pedestrian safety, strategies for ensuring 15
174	174	personal safety, efforts of the local school system to improve safety, and information on 16
175	175	available options for reporting incidents and concerns; [and] 17
176	176
177	177	(10) Assisting local school systems to improve and monitor traffic control 18
178	178	measures in the immediate vicinity of schools to reduce the potential for pedestrian and 19
179	179	vehicle accidents; AND 20
180	180
181	181	(11) ASSISTING LOCAL SCH OOL SYSTEMS IN P ROCURING AND 21
182	182	MAINTAINING FIREARM DETECTION PL ATFORMS ASSESSED BY THE CENTER FOR 22
183	183	USE ON PUBLIC SCHOOL PROPERTY . 23
184	184
185	185	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That : 24
186	186
187	187	(a) In this section, “firearm detection platform” means any technology platform 25
188	188	or system that uses artificial intelligence and other validation mechanisms to: 26
189	189
190	190	(1) analyze video streams from surveillance cameras in real time for the 27
191	191	detection of firearms; and 28
192	192	SENATE BILL 127 5
193	193
194	194
195	195	(2) proactively notify law enforcement and other public safety authorities. 1
196	196
197	197	(b) The Maryland Center for School Safety, in collaboration with public safety 2
198	198	agencies, the State Department of Education, local school systems, the University System 3
199	199	of Maryland, and other public institutions of higher education in the State, shall conduct 4
200	200	an evaluation of firearm detection platforms to assess: 5
201	201
202	202	(1) the capabilities of the firearm detection platform, including: 6
203	203
204	204	(i) the platform’s effectiveness in real–time firearm detection, 7
205	205	avoiding false positives, and timely notification of law enforcement personnel; 8
206	206
207	207	(ii) whether the platform contains control mechanisms to reduce 9
208	208	false positives, which may include the use of drone technology or manual validation of 10
209	209	flagged video clips; 11
210	210
211	211	(iii) the ability to integrate with building floor plan mapping tools to 12
212	212	increase law enforcement response times during emergencies; and 13
213	213
214	214	(iv) whether the platform utilizes cloud–based storage for flagged 14
215	215	video clips to aid law enforcement investigations; 15
216	216
217	217	(2) federal certifications, if any; 16
218	218
219	219	(3) the platform’s cost and maintenance requirements, including data 17
220	220	security; 18
221	221
222	222	(4) documented examples of performance in similar locations at which the 19
223	223	platform would be used; and 20
224	224
225	225	(5) the platform’s ability to adequately meet the needs of local school 21
226	226	systems and public institutions of higher education. 22
227	227
228	228	(c) On or before April 30, 2025, the Maryland Center for School Safety shall 23
229	229	submit to the State Department of Education, each county board of education, the 24
230	230	University System of Maryland, Morgan State University, and St. Mary’s College of 25
231	231	Maryland a report on the result of the evaluation required under this section, including 26
232	232	recommendations on specific firearm detection platforms. 27
233	233
234	234	SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect July 28
235	235	1, 2024. 29