School Safety Clearinghouse Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2530 To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a School Safety Clearinghouse, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 Mr. PERDUE (for himself, Mr. JONES, Mr. TILLIS, and Mrs. CAPITO) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a School Safety Clearinghouse, 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 ‘‘School Safety Clearing- 4 house Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) Incidents of gun violence in schools have se- 8 vere long-term effects on students and teachers, 9 such as— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2530.IS S2530 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2530 IS (A) moderate to severe post-traumatic 1 stress disorder; 2 (B) depression; 3 (C) violent behavior; and 4 (D) lower proficiencies in math and read- 5 ing. 6 (2) According to the American Institute of Ar- 7 chitects, most of the 132,853 public and private ele- 8 mentary and secondary schools in the United States 9 are not designed to deter these violent acts. 10 (3) Following the tragic 2018 school shooting 11 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Park- 12 land, Florida, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High 13 School Public Safety Commission reported that the 14 greatest vulnerabilities of the school existed because 15 of voids in basic safety policies and strategies. 16 (4) The final report of the Federal Commission 17 on School Safety found that one of the biggest con- 18 cerns raised by schools and school districts was the 19 inability to sift through the multitude of safety op- 20 tions, equipment, technologies, and building designs 21 that are available to improve the safety and design 22 of their schools. 23 (5) While there is no general approach to school 24 safety, architects and engineers as well as other ex- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2530.IS S2530 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2530 IS perts in the school security community have sug- 1 gested the establishment of a Federal clearinghouse 2 that could assess, identify, and share best practices 3 on school building design and overall safety. 4 SEC. 3. SCHOOL SAFETY CLEARINGHOUSE. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title XXII of the 6 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 651 et seq.), 7 is amended by inserting after section 2214 the following: 8 ‘‘SEC. 2215. SCHOOL SAFETY CLEARINGHOUSE. 9 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab- 11 lish a School Safety Clearinghouse (in this section 12 referred to as the ‘Clearinghouse’) within the De- 13 partment. 14 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The Clearinghouse 15 shall— 16 ‘‘(A) be managed by the Secretary, in co- 17 ordination with— 18 ‘‘(i) the Secretary of Education; 19 ‘‘(ii) the Attorney General; and 20 ‘‘(iii) the Secretary of Health and 21 Human Services; 22 ‘‘(B) engage appropriate Federal, State, 23 local, and nongovernmental organizations to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2530.IS S2530 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2530 IS identify, cross-promote, and disseminate infor- 1 mation; and 2 ‘‘(C) be assigned such personnel and re- 3 sources as the Secretary considers appropriate 4 to carry out this section, including not fewer 5 than 5 full-time equivalent employees. 6 ‘‘(3) EVIDENCE-BASED TIERS.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in con- 8 sultation with the Secretary of Education, the 9 Attorney General, and the Secretary of Health 10 and Human Services, shall develop tiers for de- 11 termining evidence-based practices that dem- 12 onstrate a significant effect on improving the 13 health, safety, and welfare of persons in school 14 settings. 15 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—The tiers required 16 to be developed under subparagraph (A) shall— 17 ‘‘(i) prioritize— 18 ‘‘(I) strong evidence from not 19 less than 1 well-designed and well-im- 20 plemented experimental study; and 21 ‘‘(II) moderate evidence from not 22 less than 1 well-designed and well-im- 23 plemented quasi-experimental study; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2530.IS S2530 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2530 IS ‘‘(ii) consider promising evidence that 1 demonstrates a rationale based on high- 2 quality research findings or positive eval- 3 uations that such activity, strategy, or 4 intervention is likely to improve school cli- 5 mate and promote school safety. 6 ‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS.—The Clearinghouse shall— 7 ‘‘(1) serve as a central resource to identify, 8 catalog, and describe best practices, case studies, 9 and relevant Federal grants related to safe school 10 design and evidence-based practices, for use by local 11 education agencies, local law enforcement agencies, 12 schools, architects, engineers, and others, and any 13 other school safety topics related to school design as 14 determined appropriate by the Secretary; 15 ‘‘(2) review and, as appropriate, incorporate fi- 16 nalized school safety recommendations from other 17 related agencies, State and local partners, and ap- 18 propriate nongovernmental organizations, such as 19 national associations of architects and engineers; 20 ‘‘(3) determine a means to solicit input from in- 21 stitutions of higher education and design schools, 22 national associations of architects, engineers, school 23 safety experts, building supervisors, school facilities 24 managers, community-based organizations, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2530.IS S2530 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2530 IS other school safety stakeholders for the purpose of 1 regularly updating the resources and evidence-based 2 recommendations of the Clearinghouse; 3 ‘‘(4) make training and technical assistance 4 available to local education agencies seeking Federal 5 grants to improve school safety, including providing 6 a website with up-to-date information on resources, 7 and may partner with nongovernmental organiza- 8 tions, such as national associations of architects and 9 engineers and security experts, to provide the train- 10 ing and technical assistance; and 11 ‘‘(5) perform such other functions necessary to 12 carry out the functions described in paragraphs (1) 13 through (4) as the Secretary determines appropriate. 14 ‘‘(c) EXEMPTION.—Chapter 35 of title 44, United 15 States Code (commonly known as the ‘Paperwork Reduc- 16 tion Act’), shall not apply to any rulemaking or informa- 17 tion collection required under this section. 18 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITION.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this sec- 20 tion, an officer or employee of the Department may 21 not approve, sponsor, endorse, or take any other ac- 22 tion that may be deemed or construed to be an ap- 23 proval, sponsorship, or endorsement of any product 24 of a specific organization (including a nonprofit or- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2530.IS S2530 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2530 IS ganization), such as a building material or tech- 1 nology, that provides a financial gain or other ben- 2 efit to the organization. 3 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Paragraph (1) 4 shall not be construed to prevent an officer or em- 5 ployee of the Department from implementing— 6 ‘‘(A) recommendations, training, and other 7 assistance developed under subsection (b), in- 8 cluding by broadly identifying building mate- 9 rials and technologies that could uphold health, 10 safety, and welfare on school property; or 11 ‘‘(B) the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fos- 12 tering Effective Technologies Act of 2002 (6 13 U.S.C. 441 et seq.).’’. 14 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 15 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Se- 16 curity Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–296; 116 Stat. 2135) 17 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 18 2214 the following: 19 ‘‘Sec. 2215. School Safety Clearinghouse.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 Sep 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2530.IS S2530 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS