Luke and Alex School Safety Act of 2019

II Calendar No. 402 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 2779 [Report No. 116–193] To establish the Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 5, 2019 Mr. JOHNSON (for himself, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs JANUARY 6, 2020 Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with amendments [Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] A BILL To establish the Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices, 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 ‘‘Luke and Alex School 4 Safety Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 2 •S 2779 RS SEC. 2. FEDERAL CLEARINGHOUSE ON SCHOOL SAFETY 1 BEST PRACTICES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title XXII of the 3 Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 651 et seq.) 4 is amended by inserting after section 2214 the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 2215. FEDERAL CLEARINGHOUSE ON SCHOOL SAFETY 6 BEST PRACTICES. 7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordina- 9 tion with the Secretary of Education, the Attorney 10 General, and the Secretary of Health and Human 11 Services, shall establish a Federal Clearinghouse on 12 School Safety Best Practices (in this section referred 13 to as the ‘Clearinghouse’) within the Department. 14 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The Clearinghouse shall be 15 the primary resource of the Federal Government to 16 identify and publish the best practices and rec- 17 ommendations for school safety for use by State and 18 local educational agencies, institutions of higher edu- 19 cation, State and local law enforcement agencies, 20 health professionals, and the general public. 21 ‘‘(3) PERSONNEL.— 22 ‘‘(A) ASSIGNMENTS.—The Clearinghouse 23 shall be assigned such personnel and resources 24 as the Secretary considers appropriate to carry 25 out this section. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 3 •S 2779 RS ‘‘(B) DETAILEES.—The Secretary of Edu- 1 cation, the Attorney General, and the Secretary 2 of Health and Human Services may detail per- 3 sonnel to the Clearinghouse. 4 ‘‘(4) EXEMPTIONS.— 5 ‘‘(A) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT.— 6 Chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 7 (commonly known as the ‘Paperwork Reduction 8 Act’) shall not apply to any rulemaking or in- 9 formation collection required under this section. 10 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE 11 ACT.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 12 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply for the purposes of 13 carrying out this section. 14 ‘‘(b) CLEARINGHOUSE CONTENTS.— 15 ‘‘(1) CONSULTATION.—In identifying the best 16 practices and recommendations for the Clearing- 17 house, the Secretary may consult with appropriate 18 Federal, State, local, Tribal, private sector, and non- 19 governmental organizations. 20 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA FOR BEST PRACTICES AND REC- 21 OMMENDATIONS.—The best practices and rec- 22 ommendations of the Clearinghouse shall, at a min- 23 imum— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 4 •S 2779 RS ‘‘(A) involve comprehensive school safety 1 measures, including threat prevention, pre- 2 paredness, protection, mitigation, incident re- 3 sponse, and recovery and recovery to improve 4 the safety posture of a school upon implementa- 5 tion; and 6 ‘‘(B) include any evidence or research ra- 7 tionale supporting the determination of the 8 Clearinghouse that the best practice or rec- 9 ommendation has been shown to have a signifi- 10 cant effect on improving the health, safety, and 11 welfare of persons in school settings, including— 12 ‘‘(i) evidence from an experimental or 13 quasi-experimental study; 14 ‘‘(ii) high-quality research findings or 15 a positive evaluation that such activity, 16 strategy, or intervention is likely to improve 17 the health, safety, and welfare of persons in 18 school settings; 19 ‘‘(iii) findings and data from previous 20 Federal or State commissions relating to 21 school climate, health, safety, and welfare; 22 or 23 ‘‘(iv) any other supporting evidence or 24 findings relied upon by the Clearinghouse 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 5 •S 2779 RS in determining best practices and rec- 1 ommendations; and 2 ‘‘(B)(C) include information on Federal 3 grant programs for which implementation of 4 each best practice or recommendation is an eli- 5 gible use for the program. 6 ‘‘(3) PAST COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS.— 7 To the greatest extent practicable, the Clearinghouse 8 shall present, as appropriate, Federal, State, local, 9 Tribal, private sector, and nongovernmental organi- 10 zation issued best practices and recommendations 11 and identify any best practice or recommendation of 12 the Clearinghouse that was previously issued by any 13 such organization or commission. 14 ‘‘(c) ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.—The Secretary 15 may produce and publish materials on the Clearinghouse 16 to assist and train educational agencies and law enforce- 17 ment agencies on the implementation of the best practices 18 and recommendations. 19 ‘‘(d) CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT.—The Secretary 20 shall— 21 ‘‘(1) collect for the purpose of continuous im- 22 provement of the Clearinghouse— 23 ‘‘(A) Clearinghouse data analytics; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 6 •S 2779 RS ‘‘(B) user feedback on the implementation 1 of resources, best practices, and recommenda- 2 tions identified by the Clearinghouse; and 3 ‘‘(C) any evaluations conducted on the best 4 practices and recommendations of the Clearing- 5 house; and 6 ‘‘(2) in coordination with the Secretary of Edu- 7 cation, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 8 and the Attorney General— 9 ‘‘(A) regularly assess and identify Clear- 10 inghouse best practices and recommendations 11 for which there are no resources provided by 12 Federal Government programs for implementa- 13 tion; and 14 ‘‘(B) establish an external advisory board, 15 which shall be comprised of appropriate State, 16 local, private sector, and nongovernmental orga- 17 nizations, including organizations representing 18 parents of elementary and secondary school stu- 19 dents, to— 20 ‘‘(i) provide feedback on the imple- 21 mentation of best practices and rec- 22 ommendations of the Clearinghouse; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 7 •S 2779 RS ‘‘(ii) propose additional recommenda- 1 tions for best practices for inclusion in the 2 Clearinghouse. 3 ‘‘(e) PARENTAL ASSISTANCE.—The Clearinghouse 4 shall produce materials to assist parents and legal guard- 5 ians of students with identifying relevant Clearinghouse 6 resources and engaging with appropriate officials to sup- 7 port the implementation of Clearinghouse best practices 8 and recommendations.’’. 9 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of con- 10 tents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 11 2002 (Public Law 107–296; 116 Stat. 2135) is amended 12 by inserting after the item relating to section 2214 the 13 following: 14 ‘‘Sec. 2215. Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices.’’. SEC. 3. NOTIFICATION OF CLEARINGHOUSE. 15 (a) NOTIFICATION BY THE SECRETARY OF EDU- 16 CATION.—The Secretary of Education shall provide writ- 17 ten notification of the publication of the Federal Clearing- 18 house on School Safety Best Practices (referred to in this 19 section and section 4 as the ‘‘Clearinghouse’’), as required 20 to be established under section 2215 of the Homeland Se- 21 curity Act of 2002, as added by section 2 of this Act, to— 22 (1) every State and local educational agency; 23 and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 8 •S 2779 RS (2) other Department of Education partners in 1 the implementation of the best practices and rec- 2 ommendations of the Clearinghouse, as determined 3 appropriate by the Secretary of Education. 4 (b) NOTIFICATION BY THE SECRETARY OF HOME- 5 LAND SECURITY.—The Secretary of Homeland Security 6 shall provide written notification of the publication of the 7 Clearinghouse, as required to be established under section 8 2215 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, as added 9 by section 2 of this Act, to— 10 (1) every State homeland security advisor; 11 (2) every State department of homeland secu- 12 rity; and 13 (3) other Department of Homeland Security 14 partners in the implementation of the best practices 15 and recommendations of the Clearinghouse, as deter- 16 mined appropriate by the Secretary of Homeland Se- 17 curity. 18 (c) NOTIFICATION BY THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH 19 AND HUMAN SERVICES.—The Secretary of Health and 20 Human Services shall provide written notification of the 21 publication of the Clearinghouse, as required to be estab- 22 lished under section 2215 of the Homeland Security Act 23 of 2002, as added by section 2 of this Act, to— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 9 •S 2779 RS (1) every State department of public health; 1 and 2 (2) other Department of Health and Human 3 Services partners in the implementation of the best 4 practices and recommendations of the Clearing- 5 house, as determined appropriate by the Secretary of 6 Health and Human Services. 7 (d) NOTIFICATION BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 8 The Attorney General shall provide written notification of 9 the publication of the Clearinghouse, as required to be es- 10 tablished under section 2215 of the Homeland Security 11 Act of 2002, as added by section 2 of this Act, to— 12 (1) every State department of justice; and 13 (2) other Department of Justice partners in the 14 implementation of the best practices and rec- 15 ommendations of the Clearinghouse, as determined 16 appropriate by the Attorney General. 17 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM REVIEW. 18 (a) FEDERAL GRANTS AND RESOURCES.—The Sec- 19 retary of Education, the Secretary of Homeland Security, 20 the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the At- 21 torney General shall each— 22 (1) review all grant programs administered by 23 their respective agency and identify any grant pro- 24 gram that may be used to award grants for the pur- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 10 •S 2779 RS poses of implementing best practices and rec- 1 ommendations of the Clearinghouse; 2 (2) identify any best practices and rec- 3 ommendations of the Clearinghouse for which there 4 is not a Federal grant program that may be award- 5 ed for the purposes of implementing the best prac- 6 tice or recommendation; and 7 (3) report any findings under paragraph (2) to 8 the appropriate committees of Congress. 9 (b) STATE GRANTS AND RESOURCES.—The Clearing- 10 house shall, to the extent practicable, identify, for each 11 State— 12 (1) each agency responsible for school safety in 13 the State, or any State that does not have such an 14 agency designated; 15 (2) any grant program that may be used to 16 award grants for the purposes of implementing best 17 practices and recommendations of the Clearing- 18 house; and 19 (3) any resources other than grant programs 20 that may be used to assist in implementation of best 21 practices and recommendations of the Clearing- 22 house. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 11 •S 2779 RS SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 1 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 2 Act shall be construed to create, satisfy, or waive any re- 3 quirement under— 4 (1) title II of the Americans With Disabilities 5 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12131 et seq.); 6 (2) the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 7 701 et seq.); 8 (3) title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 9 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.); 10 (4) title IX of the Education Amendments of 11 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.); or 12 (5) the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (42 13 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.). 14 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779 Calendar No. 402 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 2779 [Report No. 116–193] A BILL To establish the Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Best Practices, and for other purposes. JANUARY 6, 2020 Reported with amendments VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Jan 06, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\S2779.RS S2779