83R22464 JSL-F
By: Seliger S.B. No. 1556
(J. Davis of Harris)
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 1556: No.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of a school safety certification
program and the School Safety Task Force.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
amended by adding Sections 37.1081 and 37.1082 to read as follows:
Sec. 37.1081. SCHOOL SAFETY CERTIFICATION PROGRAM. (a) The
Texas School Safety Center, in consultation with the School Safety
Task Force established under Section 37.1082, shall develop a
school safety certification program.
(b) The Texas School Safety Center shall award a school
safety certificate to a school district that:
(1) has adopted and implemented a multihazard
emergency operations plan as required under Section 37.108 and
that includes in that plan:
(A) measures for security of facilities and
grounds;
(B) measures for communication with parents and
the media in the event of an emergency; and
(C) an outline of safety training for school
employees;
(2) demonstrates to the center with current written
self-audit processes that the district conducts at least one drill
per year for each of the following types of drills:
(A) a school lockdown drill;
(B) an evacuation drill;
(C) a weather-related emergency drill;
(D) a reverse evacuation drill; and
(E) a shelter-in-place drill;
(3) is in compliance with Sections 37.108(b) and (c);
and
(4) meets any other eligibility criteria as
recommended by the School Safety Task Force.
Sec. 37.1082. SCHOOL SAFETY TASK FORCE. (a) The School
Safety Task Force is established to:
(1) study, on an ongoing basis, best practices for
school multihazard emergency operations planning; and
(2) based on those studies, make recommendations to
the legislature, the Texas School Safety Center, and the governor's
office of homeland security.
(b) The task force is composed of:
(1) the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency
Management, or the chief's designee;
(2) the training director of the Advanced Law
Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State
University--San Marcos, or the training director's designee;
(3) the chairperson of the Texas School Safety Center,
or the chairperson's designee; and
(4) the agency director of the Texas A&M Engineering
Extension Service, or the agency director's designee.
(c) The chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management,
or the chief's designee, shall serve as the presiding officer of the
task force.
(d) A member of the task force is not entitled to
compensation for service on the task force but is entitled to
reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred in
performing task force duties.
(e) In performing the task force's duties under this section
for schools, the task force shall consult with and consider
recommendations from school district and school personnel,
including school safety personnel and educators, and from first
responders, emergency managers, local officials, representatives
of appropriate nonprofit organizations, and other interested
parties with knowledge and experience concerning school emergency
operations planning.
(f) Not later than September 1 of each even-numbered year,
the task force shall prepare and submit to the legislature a report
concerning the results of the task force's most recent study,
including any recommendations for statutory changes the task force
considers necessary or appropriate to improve school multihazard
emergency operations.
SECTION 2. Section 46.0081, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 46.0081. SECURITY CRITERIA IN DESIGN OF INSTRUCTIONAL
FACILITIES. A school district that constructs a new instructional
facility or conducts a major renovation of an existing
instructional facility using funds allotted to the district under
this subchapter shall consider, in the design of the instructional
facility, appropriate security criteria [developed by the Texas
School Safety Center under Section 37.2051].
SECTION 3. Section 37.2051, Education Code, is repealed.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2013.