II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1305 To provide block grants to assign armed law enforcement officers to elementary and secondary schools. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 26, 2023 Mr. SCOTT of Florida introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide block grants to assign armed law enforcement officers to elementary and secondary schools. 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 Guardian Act 4 of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. SCHOOL GUARDIAN GRANTS. 6 Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 7 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) is amended 8 by adding at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1305.IS S1305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1305 IS ‘‘PART PP—SCHOOL GUARDIAN GRANTS 1 ‘‘SEC. 3061. GRANTS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AT 2 SCHOOLS. 3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘K–12 school’ means an elemen- 5 tary school or secondary school, as such terms are 6 defined under section 8101 of the Elementary and 7 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801); 8 and 9 ‘‘(2) the term ‘local educational agency’ has the 10 meaning given such term under section 8101 of the 11 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 12 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 13 ‘‘(b) GRANT AUTHORIZATION.—Subject to the avail- 14 ability of appropriations, the Attorney General shall make 15 a grant to each State that elects to receive a grant under 16 this section for the cost of assigning armed law enforce- 17 ment officers to provide security at K–12 schools, which 18 may be used for the cost of pay, training, and equipment 19 for the law enforcement officers. 20 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT.—A grant under this section to a State 21 for a fiscal year shall be in an amount that bears the same 22 ratio to the total amount awarded under this section for 23 the fiscal year as the total number of individuals attending 24 a K–12 school in the State bears to the total number of 25 individuals attending a K–12 school in the United States. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:17 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1305.IS S1305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1305 IS ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION OF GRANTS.—The use of, and 1 award of subgrants using, amounts received under this 2 section shall be administered by the head of the chief law 3 enforcement agency of a State. 4 ‘‘(e) SUBGRANTS.— 5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of the chief law 6 enforcement officer of a State may award a subgrant 7 to a law enforcement agency of a unit of local gov- 8 ernment in the State for the cost of hiring 1 or more 9 full-time law enforcement officers who will be as- 10 signed to provide full-time security at K–12 schools. 11 ‘‘(2) AGREEMENTS.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A law enforcement 13 agency of a unit of local government desiring a 14 subgrant under this subsection shall enter into 15 a written agreement with each K–12 school in 16 the jurisdiction of the agency, or with the local 17 educational agency that serves such K–12 18 school, which shall indicate the number of law 19 enforcement officers the law enforcement agen- 20 cy will hire and assign to each such K–12 21 school if awarded a subgrant. 22 ‘‘(B) OFFICERS AT EACH SCHOOL.—The 23 written agreements entered into by a law en- 24 forcement agency under subparagraph (A) shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:17 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1305.IS S1305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1305 IS provide for the hiring of not less than 1 full- 1 time law enforcement officer who will be as- 2 signed to provide full-time security at each K– 3 12 school in the jurisdiction of the law enforce- 4 ment agency. 5 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT.—The amount of a subgrant 6 under this subsection to a law enforcement agency 7 of a unit of local government shall be based on the 8 number of law enforcement officers the law enforce- 9 ment agency will hire, as indicated in the written 10 agreements described in paragraph (2). 11 ‘‘(f) REPORTING.—Each State that receives a grant 12 under this section for a fiscal year shall submit to the At- 13 torney General a report regarding the use of the grant 14 for that fiscal year, which shall include— 15 ‘‘(1) the number of subgrants awarded; 16 ‘‘(2) the amount of each subgrant awarded; 17 ‘‘(3) the number of law enforcement officers 18 hired to provide security at a K–12 school using 19 amounts received under the grant; and 20 ‘‘(4) the number of K–12 schools in the State 21 with 1 or more full-time law enforcement officers for 22 whom the cost of the pay, training, or equipment for 23 the law enforcement officers was paid using amounts 24 received under the grant. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:17 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1305.IS S1305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1305 IS ‘‘(g) FAILURE TO USE AMOUNTS.— 1 ‘‘(1) RETURN.—A State shall return to the At- 2 torney General any amounts received under a grant 3 under this section for a fiscal year which are unobli- 4 gated as of the day after the last day of the fiscal 5 year. 6 ‘‘(2) USE.—Amounts returned to the Attorney 7 General under paragraph (1) shall be merged with 8 other amounts available to carry out this section and 9 remain available until expended to the Attorney 10 General to make grants under this section, without 11 further appropriation. 12 ‘‘(3) REPORTING.—The Attorney General shall 13 submit to Congress a report that provides, for each 14 fiscal year, the total amount of funds provided for 15 that fiscal year that are returned under paragraph 16 (1) and the amount of funds provided for that fiscal 17 year that are returned under paragraph (1) by each 18 State. 19 ‘‘(h) FUNDING.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date of en- 21 actment of this Act, of the unobligated balances of 22 amounts made available to the Internal Revenue 23 Service under Public Law 117–169 (136 Stat. 24 1818), $80,000,000,000 shall be transferred, on a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1305.IS S1305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1305 IS pro rata basis, to the Attorney General to carry out 1 this section. 2 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY AND USE.—Amounts trans- 3 ferred under paragraph (1) shall be merged with, 4 and subject to the same terms and conditions as, 5 other amounts available to carry out this section, 6 and shall remain available until expended. 7 ‘‘(3) ANNUAL AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS.— 8 From amounts transferred under paragraph (1), the 9 Attorney General may make not more than 10 $8,000,000,000 in grants under this section for each 11 of fiscal years 2024 through 2033.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 May 03, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1305.IS S1305 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS