Maryland 2025 Regular Session

Maryland Senate Bill SB644 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 MATTER ADDE D TO EXISTING LAW .
4	4	[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5	5	sb0644
6	6
7	7	SENATE BILL 644
8	8	F1 5lr3015
9	9	SB 819/24 – EEE
10	10	By: Senators Jennings, Bailey, Carozza, Corderman, Folden, Gallion, Hershey,
11	11	McKay, Ready, Salling, and West
12	12	Introduced and read first time: January 25, 2025
13	13	Assigned to: Education, Energy, and the Environment
14	14
15	15	A BILL ENTITLED
16	16
17	17	AN ACT concerning 1
18	18
19	19	Public Schools – School Resource Officers – Firearms Required 2
20	20
21	21	FOR the purpose of requiring a Baltimore City school police officer or a school resource 3
22	22	officer to carry a firearm while present on the premises of a certain school; and 4
23	23	generally relating to school resource officers. 5
24	24
25	25	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 6
26	26	Article – Education 7
27	27	Section 4–318(d)(3)(i) and 7–1508 8
28	28	Annotated Code of Maryland 9
29	29	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 10
30	30
31	31	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 11
32	32	Article – Education 12
33	33	Section 7–1501(a) and (j) 13
34	34	Annotated Code of Maryland 14
35	35	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 15
36	36
37	37	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 16
38	38	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 17
39	39
40	40	Article – Education 18
41	41
42	42	4–318. 19
43	43
44	44	(d) (3) (i) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a Baltimore City 20
45	45	school police officer whose permanent or temporary assignment is at a school or on school 21
46	46	property [may] SHALL carry a firearm on the premises of the school to which the officer is 22
47	47	assigned before or after regular school hours on school days and on days other than school 23 2 SENATE BILL 644
48	48
49	49
50	50	days. 1
51	51
52	52	7–1501. 2
53	53
54	54	(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated. 3
55	55
56	56	(j) “School resource officer” means: 4
57	57
58	58	(1) A law enforcement officer as defined under § 3–101(e) of the Public 5
59	59	Safety Article who has been assigned to a school in accordance with a memorandum of 6
60	60	understanding between the chief of a law enforcement agency as defined under § 3–101(b) 7
61	61	of the Public Safety Article and the local education agency; or 8
62	62
63	63	(2) A Baltimore City school police officer, as defined in § 4–318 of this 9
64	64	article. 10
65	65
66	66	7–1508. 11
67	67
68	68	(a) (1) Each local school system shall designate a school safety coordinator. 12
69	69
70	70	(2) A designated school safety coordinator shall: 13
71	71
72	72	(i) Be certified by the Center; and 14
73	73
74	74	(ii) Serve as a liaison between the local school system, the local law 15
75	75	enforcement agency, and the Center. 16
76	76
77	77	(B) A SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFI CER SHALL CARRY A FI REARM WHILE 17
78	78	PRESENT ON THE PREMI SES OF THE SCHOOL TO WHICH THE OFFICER IS ASSIGNED. 18
79	79
80	80	[(b)] (C) (1) (i) On or before September 1, 2018, the Center, in 19
81	81	consultation with local school systems, shall: 20
82	82
83	83	1. Develop a specialized curriculum for use in training of 21
84	84	school resource officers and school security employees; and 22
85	85
86	86	2. Submit the curriculum to the Maryland Police Training 23
87	87	and Standards Commission for approval. 24
88	88
89	89	(ii) The specialized curriculum developed under this subsection shall 25
90	90	include training in: 26
91	91
92	92	1. De–escalation; 27
93	93
94	94	2. Disability awareness; 28
95	95
96	96	3. Maintaining a positive school climate; 29 SENATE BILL 644 3
97	97
98	98
99	99
100	100	4. Constructive interactions with students; and 1
101	101
102	102	5. Implicit bias and disability and diversity awareness with 2
103	103	specific attention to racial and ethnic disparities. 3
104	104
105	105	(iii) 1. The specialized curriculum developed under this 4
106	106	subsection may not go into effect until it is approved by the Maryland Police Training and 5
107	107	Standards Commission. 6
108	108
109	109	2. If the Maryland Police Training and Standards 7
110	110	Commission does not initially approve the specialized curriculum, the Center shall amend 8
111	111	the curriculum until it meets with the Commission’s approval. 9
112	112
113	113	(2) On or before March 1, 2019, the Center shall develop and submit to the 10
114	114	Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission for approval a model training 11
115	115	program that meets the requirements of the curriculum approved under paragraph (1) of 12
116	116	this subsection. 13
117	117
118	118	(3) Each local law enforcement agency shall: 14
119	119
120	120	(i) Enroll individuals assigned to be school resource officers in the 15
121	121	model training program developed by the Center under paragraph (2) of this subsection; or 16
122	122
123	123	(ii) 1. Submit to the Maryland Police Training and Standards 17
124	124	Commission for approval a training program that is consistent with the curriculum 18
125	125	developed under paragraph (1) of this subsection; and 19
126	126
127	127	2. Enroll individuals assigned to be school resource officers 20
128	128	in the training program developed under item 1 of this item. 21
129	129
130	130	(4) Beginning September 1, 2019, to be assigned as a school resource officer 22
131	131	an individual shall: 23
132	132
133	133	(i) Complete: 24
134	134
135	135	1. The model training program developed by the Center 25
136	136	under paragraph (2) of this subsection through instruction provided by the Center in 26
137	137	collaboration with the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission; or 27
138	138
139	139	2. A local law enforcement agency’s training program 28
140	140	developed under paragraph (3)(ii) of this subsection; and 29
141	141
142	142	(ii) Be certified by the Maryland Police Training and Standards 30
143	143	Commission. 31
144	144
145	145	(5) Beginning September 1, 2019, to be employed as a school security 32 4 SENATE BILL 644
146	146
147	147
148	148	employee at a public school, an individual shall complete: 1
149	149
150	150	(i) The model training program developed by the Center under 2
151	151	paragraph (2) of this subsection through instruction provided by the Center in collaboration 3
152	152	with the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission; or 4
153	153
154	154	(ii) A local law enforcement agency’s training program developed 5
155	155	under paragraph (3)(ii) of this subsection. 6
156	156
157	157	[(c)] (D) The Center shall collect data regarding the school resource officers in 7
158	158	each local school system, including: 8
159	159
160	160	(1) The number of full–time and part–time school resource officers 9
161	161	assigned to each elementary school, middle school, and high school; and 10
162	162
163	163	(2) Any other local school system employees or local law enforcement 11
164	164	officers who are fulfilling the role of a school resource officer. 12
165	165
166	166	[(d)] (E) (1) On or before December 15, 2018, the Center, in collaboration 13
167	167	with local law enforcement agencies and local school systems, shall analyze the initial data 14
168	168	collected under subsection [(c)] (D) of this section and develop guidelines to assist local 15
169	169	school systems in: 16
170	170
171	171	(i) Identifying the appropriate number and assignment of school 17
172	172	resource officers, including supplemental coverage by local law enforcement agencies; and 18
173	173
174	174	(ii) Collaborating and communicating with local law enforcement 19
175	175	agencies. 20
176	176
177	177	(2) On or before July 1, 2019, each local school system, in consultation with 21
178	178	local law enforcement agencies, shall: 22
179	179
180	180	(i) Develop a plan to implement the guidelines developed by the 23
181	181	Center; and 24
182	182
183	183	(ii) Submit the plan to the Center for review and comment. 25
184	184
185	185	[(e)] (F) (1) Before the 2018–2019 school year begins, each local school 26
186	186	system shall file a report with the Center identifying: 27
187	187
188	188	(i) The public high schools in the local school system’s jurisdiction 28
189	189	that have a school resource officer assigned to the school; and 29
190	190
191	191	(ii) If a public high school in the local school system’s jurisdiction is 30
192	192	not assigned a school resource officer, the adequate local law enforcement coverage that 31
193	193	will be provided to the public high school. 32
194	194	SENATE BILL 644 5
195	195
196	196
197	197	(2) Beginning with the 2019–2020 school year, and each school year 1
198	198	thereafter, before the school year begins, each local school system shall, in accordance with 2
199	199	the plan developed under subsection [(d)(2)] (E)(2) of this section, file a report identifying: 3
200	200
201	201	(i) The public schools in the local school system’s jurisdiction that 4
202	202	have a school resource officer assigned to the school; and 5
203	203
204	204	(ii) If a public school in the local school system’s jurisdiction is not 6
205	205	assigned a school resource officer, the adequate local law enforcement coverage that will be 7
206	206	provided to the public school. 8
207	207
208	208	(3) On or before October 1, 2018, and each October 1 thereafter, the Center 9
209	209	shall submit a summary of the reports required under this subsection to the Governor and, 10
210	210	in accordance with § 2–1257 of the State Government Article, the General Assembly. 11
211	211
212	212	[(f)] (G) Each local school system shall post on the school system’s website 12
213	213	information on the role and authority of school resource officers assigned to public schools 13
214	214	within the school system. 14
215	215
216	216	[(g)] (H) (1) For fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter, the Governor 15
217	217	shall include in the annual budget bill an appropriation of $10,000,000 to the Fund for the 16
218	218	purpose of providing grants to local school systems and local law enforcement agencies to 17
219	219	assist in meeting the requirements of subsection [(e)] (F) of this section. 18
220	220
221	221	(2) Grants provided under this subsection shall be made to each local 19
222	222	school system based on the number of schools in each school system in proportion to the 20
223	223	total number of public schools in the State in the prior year. 21
224	224
225	225	[(h)] (I) A local school system may use funds provided under subsection [(g)] 22
226	226	(H) of this section for school security employees. 23
227	227
228	228	[(i)] (J) (1) The Center shall collect data on incidents of use of force between: 24
229	229
230	230	(i) Any school resource officer and a student while a school resource 25
231	231	officer is carrying out the officer’s duties; and 26
232	232
233	233	(ii) Any school security employee and a student while the school 27
234	234	security employee is carrying out the employee’s duties. 28
235	235
236	236	(2) On or before December 1, 2020, and each December 1 thereafter, the 29
237	237	Center shall submit a report on the data collected under paragraph (1) of this subsection 30
238	238	for each jurisdiction, in accordance with federal and State law, to the Governor and, in 31
239	239	accordance with § 2–1257 of the State Government Article, the General Assembly. 32
240	240
241	241	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect July 33
242	242	1, 2025. 34 6 SENATE BILL 644
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