Safer Schools Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3618 To establish a grant program to encourage schools to conduct independent facility security risk assessments and make hard security improvements, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 23, 2023 Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas (for himself and Mr. MOSKOWITZ) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a pe- riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con- sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To establish a grant program to encourage schools to conduct independent facility security risk assessments and make hard security improvements, 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 ‘‘Safer Schools Act of 4 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3618 IH SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM FOR GRANTS FOR INDEPENDENT 1 FACILITY SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENTS AND 2 HARD SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS. 3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 120 days after 4 the date of the enactment of this Act the Attorney General 5 shall establish a pilot program (hereinafter referred to as 6 the ‘‘pilot program’’) to issue grants pursuant to sub- 7 sections (b) and (c), including releasing guidelines and ap- 8 plications with respect to such grant programs. 9 (b) INDEPENDENT FACILITY SECURITY RISK AS- 10 SESSMENT GRANTS.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 12 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, 13 the Attorney General shall award grants to public 14 schools to have independent facility security risk as- 15 sessments performed. 16 (2) APPLICATION.— 17 (A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive 18 a grant under this section, a public school shall 19 submit to the Attorney General an application 20 at such time, in such manner, and containing 21 such information as the Attorney General may 22 require, including— 23 (i) the size of the school; 24 (ii) a comprehensive report on the fi- 25 nancial state of the school, including any 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3618 IH Federal, State, or local funds used in the 1 school’s budget; and 2 (iii) a certification to the Attorney 3 General that the school is unable to cover 4 the cost of an independent facility security 5 risk assessment without the grant awarded 6 under this section. 7 (B) PRIORITY.—The Attorney General, in 8 awarding a grant under this section, shall give 9 priority to applications of public schools that 10 have experienced an event in which an indi- 11 vidual inflicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict 12 deadly harm against multiple individuals. 13 (3) INELIGIBILITY.— 14 (A) IN GENERAL.—A public school shall be 15 ineligible to receive a grant under this section 16 if it— 17 (i) received a grant under this section 18 in the previous 5 fiscal years; or 19 (ii) receives a grant under this section 20 in the same fiscal year. 21 (B) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding para- 22 graph (1), in the case that a grant recipient ex- 23 periences an event in which an individual in- 24 flicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3618 IH harm against multiple individuals, such grant 1 recipient shall be eligible to receive an addi- 2 tional grant under this section in the fiscal year 3 after the date of the event. 4 (c) HARD SECURITY IMPROVEMENT GRANTS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 6 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, 7 the Attorney General shall award grants to public 8 schools for the purpose of making hard security im- 9 provements to schools. 10 (2) APPLICATION.— 11 (A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive 12 a grant under this section, a public school shall 13 submit to the Attorney General an application 14 at such time, in such manner, and containing 15 such information as the Attorney General may 16 require, which application shall include— 17 (i) the size of the school; 18 (ii) a comprehensive report on the fi- 19 nancial state of the school, including any 20 Federal, State, or local funds used in the 21 school’s budget; 22 (iii) a comprehensive description of 23 previous improvements made to the school 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3618 IH meant to address school security related 1 vulnerabilities; 2 (iv) the specific products and services 3 that will be purchased with the grant 4 funds and an estimate of such costs and 5 services; and 6 (v) the results of the school’s most re- 7 cent independent facility security risk as- 8 sessment. 9 (B) PRIORITY.—The Attorney General, in 10 awarding a grant under this section, shall give 11 priority to applications of schools that have ex- 12 perienced an event in which an individual in- 13 flicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 14 harm against multiple individuals. 15 (3) INELIGIBILITY.— 16 (A) IN GENERAL.—A public school shall be 17 ineligible to receive a grant under this section 18 if— 19 (i) a public school received a grant 20 under this section in the previous 5 fiscal 21 years; or 22 (ii) a public school receives a grant 23 under this section in the same fiscal year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3618 IH (B) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding para- 1 graph (1), in the case that a grant recipient ex- 2 periences an event in which an individual in- 3 flicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 4 harm against multiple individuals, such grant 5 recipient shall be eligible to receive an addi- 6 tional grant under this section in any fiscal 7 year after the date on which the event occurred. 8 (4) MATCHING FUNDS.— 9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of a 10 grant received under this subsection may not 11 exceed 50 percent of the hard security improve- 12 ment costs. 13 (B) WAIVER.—The Attorney General may 14 waive in whole or in part, the matching require- 15 ment under paragraph (1) in the case that the 16 recipient has a financial need for such waiver. 17 (5) GRANT CONDITIONS.—A recipient of a 18 grant under this section shall— 19 (A) use the grant to make hard security 20 improvements identified as necessary by the 21 most recent independent facility security risk 22 assessment; 23 (B) in the case that a panic alarm is not 24 installed or operable according to the inde- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3618 IH pendent facility risk assessment, use the grant 1 for the installation of at least 1 panic alarm for 2 use in a school security emergency, including a 3 non-fire evacuation, lockdown, or active shooter 4 situation, which alarm— 5 (i) shall be directly linked to the local 6 law enforcement agency that is closest in 7 proximity to the grant recipient; 8 (ii) shall immediately transmit a sig- 9 nal or message to such law enforcement 10 agency upon activation; and 11 (iii) shall not be audible within the 12 public school building; 13 (C) before entering into a contract with a 14 vendor, obtain written confirmation from the 15 law enforcement agency or entity that con- 16 ducted the independent facility security risk as- 17 sessment that the improvement will mitigate a 18 vulnerability identified in the independent facil- 19 ity security risk assessment; and 20 (D) ensure that hard security improve- 21 ments comply with local building code require- 22 ments and standards. 23 (d) INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3618 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 1 disseminate to each local educational agency in the 2 United States information about the availability of 3 grants under this section. 4 (2) EVENT NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days 5 after an event in which an individual inflicts deadly 6 harm or attempts to inflict deadly harm against 7 multiple individuals occurs in a public school, the 8 Director shall contact verbally the head of such pub- 9 lic school to provide notice of priority eligibility for 10 grants under this section and to offer technical as- 11 sistance in navigating the application process. 12 (e) REPORTS.— 13 (1) GRANT RECIPIENT REPORT.—Not later 14 than one year after receiving a grant under sub- 15 section (b) or (c), a recipient shall submit to the At- 16 torney General— 17 (A) a copy of the results of each security 18 assessment with how many vulnerabilities were 19 found; 20 (B) a list of each hard improvement made 21 and the percentage of vulnerabilities fixed, in- 22 cluding the percentage of vulnerabilities out- 23 standing; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3618 IH (C) a list of the number of events in which 1 an individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts 2 to inflict deadly harm against multiple individ- 3 uals, if any, that happened five years before 4 hard security vulnerabilities were fixed or one 5 year after the hard security vulnerabilities were 6 made; and 7 (D) a survey assessing how safe students 8 and facility members feel on the school’s cam- 9 pus before hard security improvements were 10 made and one year after they were made. 11 (2) ATTORNEY GENERAL REPORT.—Not later 12 than two years after the date of enactment, and an- 13 nually thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit 14 to appropriate Congressional committees a report on 15 the national state of physical security in schools, in- 16 cluding— 17 (A) the contents of grant recipient reports 18 under paragraph (1); 19 (B) a percentage breakdown of the type of 20 hard security fixes; 21 (C) the percentage of outstanding 22 vulnerabilities remaining; 23 (D) a percentage breakdown of each type 24 of hard security improvements made; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 3618 IH (E) the average percentage of 1 vulnerabilities fixed and average percentage of 2 vulnerabilities outstanding after the hard secu- 3 rity improvements were made. 4 (f) SUNSET.—The pilot program shall terminate on 5 the date that is five years after the date on which the pilot 6 program is established. 7 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 9 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 10 mittees’’ means the Committee on the Judiciary and 11 the Committee on Education and the Workforce of 12 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 13 the Judiciary and the Committee on Health, Edu- 14 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 15 (2) HARD SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS.—The 16 term ‘‘hard security improvements’’ means improve- 17 ments to the infrastructure of school property perim- 18 eter, parking lot perimeter, building perimeter, en- 19 trance and exit points of the school building, video 20 monitoring equipment, alert notification equipment, 21 the interior and perimeter of the classroom, and any 22 other physical improvements related to camera sys- 23 tems and related hardware, alarm and notification 24 technology, and visitor management technologies 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 3618 IH deemed eligible for improvement by the Attorney 1 General. 2 (3) INDEPENDENT FACILITY SECURITY RISK AS- 3 SESSMENT.—The term ‘‘independent facility security 4 risk assessment’’ means an assessment that— 5 (A) identifies active shooter and related se- 6 curity vulnerabilities of public schools, consid- 7 ering security factors, including the strength 8 and maintenance levels of the property perim- 9 eter, parking lot perimeter, building perimeter, 10 and classroom and interior perimeter, and the 11 presence of a silent security system signal gen- 12 erated by the manual activation of a device in- 13 tended to signal a life-threatening or emergency 14 situation requiring a response from law enforce- 15 ment; and 16 (B) is conducted by a Federal, State, or 17 local entity determined to be qualified by the 18 Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice As- 19 sistance. 20 (4) PUBLIC SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘public 21 school’’ means a public elementary school or a public 22 secondary school, including an elementary school or 23 a secondary school that is predominately funded by 24 an Indian tribal government. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •HR 3618 IH (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 2 appropriated to carry about the pilot program— 3 (A) $100,000,000 for fiscal year one of the 4 pilot program; 5 (B) $200,000,000 for fiscal year two of the 6 pilot program; and 7 (C) $300,000,000 for fiscal years three 8 through five of the pilot program. 9 (2) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—Any funds au- 10 thorized under paragraph (1) shall be allocated— 11 (A) with 30 percent of any such funds to 12 the grant program under section 2(b); and 13 (B) with 70 percent of any such funds to 14 the grant program under section 2(c). 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jul 19, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3618.IH H3618 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB