By: Kolkhorst S.B. No. 2273
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring semiannual school safety meetings in certain
counties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 37, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 37.0833 to read as follows:
Sec. 37.0833. SCHOOL SAFETY MEETINGS. (a) The sheriff of a
county with a total population of less than 300,000 in which a
public school is located, shall call and conduct semiannual
meetings to discuss:
(1) school safety;
(2) coordinated law enforcement response to school
violence incidents;
(3) law enforcement agency capabilities;
(4) available resources;
(5) emergency radio interoperability;
(6) chain of command planning; and
(7) other related subjects proposed by a person in
attendance at the meeting.
(b) The following persons shall attend a meeting called
under Subsection (a):
(1) the sheriff or the sheriff's designee;
(2) the police chief of a municipal police department
in the county or the police chief's designee;
(3) each elected constable in the county or the
constable's designees;
(4) each police chief of a school district's police
department or school district security coordinator from each school
district located in the county;
(5) a representative of the Department of Public
Safety assigned to the county;
(6) a person appointed to a command staff position at
an emergency medical service in the county;
(7) a person appointed to a command staff position at a
municipal emergency medical service in the county;
(8) a person appointed to a command staff position at a
fire department in the county; and
(9) any other person the sheriff considers
appropriate.
(c) As soon as practicable after a meeting under Subsection
(a), the sheriff shall submit a notice to the Texas School Safety
Center identifying the attendees of the meeting and a statement of
compliance with this provision. The Texas School Safety Center
shall publish the notice on the center's Internet website.
(d) A meeting under this section shall be conducted as a
closed, nonpublic meeting that is not subject to the open meetings
law, Chapter 551, Government Code.
SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the sheriff of a county described by Section
37.0833(a), Education Code, as added by this Act, shall call a
meeting as provided by that section.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.