I 119THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 2259 To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the development of a national strategy to secure elementary and secondary schools against acts of terrorism, and ensure domestic preparedness for and the response to terrorism, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH21, 2025 Mr. T ONYGONZALESof Texas (for himself, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. LAWLER, Mr. M OSKOWITZ, Mr. EVANSof Colorado, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, Mr. B ACON, and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security A BILL To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the development of a national strategy to secure elemen- tary and secondary schools against acts of terrorism, and ensure domestic preparedness for and the response to terrorism, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Strategy for 4 School Security Act of 2025’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2259.IH H2259 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2259 IH SEC. 2. NATIONAL STRATEGY TO SECURE SCHOOLS FROM 1 THREATS OF TERRORISM. 2 (a) I NGENERAL.—Subtitle A of title XXII of the 3 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 651 et seq.) 4 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 5 ‘‘SEC. 2220F. NATIONAL STRATEGY TO SECURE SCHOOLS 6 FROM THREATS OF TERRORISM. 7 ‘‘(a) I NGENERAL.—To assist in the domestic pre-8 paredness for and response to acts of terrorism and to 9 coordinate Federal efforts to secure elementary and sec-10 ondary schools (as such terms are defined in section 8101 11 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 12 (20 U.S.C. 7801)), not later than one year after the date 13 of the enactment of this section, the Secretary, in con-14 sultation and cooperation with the Secretary of Education 15 and the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies and 16 departments, shall submit to the Committee on Homeland 17 Security and the Committee on Education and Workforce 18 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 19 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the 20 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 21 the Senate a national school security strategy (in this sec-22 tion referred to as the ‘strategy’). 23 ‘‘(b) U PDATES.—The Secretary, in consultation and 24 cooperation with the Secretary of Education and the heads 25 of other appropriate Federal agencies and departments, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2259.IH H2259 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2259 IH shall, if appropriate, annually through 2033 update the 1 strategy, and brief the committees specified in subsection 2 (a), as necessary, concerning any such updates. If there 3 are no such updates, the Secretary shall submit to such 4 committees a certification attesting thereto. 5 ‘‘(c) C ONTENTS.—The strategy, including any up-6 dates thereto, shall— 7 ‘‘(1) account for and describe all Federal pro-8 grams, projects, activities, and authorities including 9 associated spending levels, to secure elementary and 10 secondary schools from acts of terrorism; 11 ‘‘(2) identify specific school security 12 vulnerabilities related to acts of terrorism within the 13 United States, and delineate goals for closing such 14 security vulnerabilities; 15 ‘‘(3) describe actions to be taken to achieve 16 such goals and the means necessary to do so, includ-17 ing steps to reform, improve, and streamline existing 18 efforts to align the current threat environment to el-19 ementary and secondary schools; and 20 ‘‘(4) build upon existing or ongoing evaluations 21 and avoid unnecessary duplication by reviewing the 22 findings, conclusions, and recommendations of other 23 appropriate working groups, committees, commis-24 sions, or entities established by the Department re-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2259.IH H2259 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2259 IH lated to efforts to secure elementary and secondary 1 schools against terrorism within the United States, 2 and ensure domestic preparedness for and the re-3 sponse to terrorism.’’. 4 (b) C LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 5 in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 is 6 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 7 2220E the following new item: 8 ‘‘Sec. 2220F. National strategy to secure schools from threats of terrorism.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:15 Mar 22, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2259.IH H2259 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB