II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 809 

To transfer funds for Energy Efficiency Improvements and Renewable Energy 

Improvements at Public School Facilities to the Attorney General to 

award grants to States to promote safety and security in schools. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 15, 2023 

Mr. ROUNDS (for himself, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, and Ms. 

LUMMIS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To transfer funds for Energy Efficiency Improvements and 

Renewable Energy Improvements at Public School Facilities to the Attorney General to award grants to States 

to promote safety and security in schools. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Security to Avoid Vio5 lence in Educational Settings Act’’ or the ‘‘SAVES Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR STATES FOR SCHOOL SAFE7 TY AND SECURITY. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti2 ty’’ means— 

3 (A) a local educational agency, as defined 

4 in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec5 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

6 7801); 

7 (B) an Indian Tribe or Tribal organiza8 tion, as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self9 Determination and Education Assistance Act 

10 (25 U.S.C. 5304); or 

11 (C) an elementary school or secondary 

12 school, as such terms are defined in section 

13 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu14 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

15 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

16 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the 

17 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

18 (b) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—The amount appro19 priated for Energy Efficiency Improvements and Renew20 able Energy Improvements at Public School Facilities, as 

21 authorized under section 40541 of the Infrastructure In22 vestment and Jobs Act (42 U.S.C. 18831), under the In23 frastructure Investments and Jobs Appropriations Act (di24 vision B of Public Law 117–58) is transferred to the At25 torney General to carry out subsection (c). 


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1 (c) GRANT PROGRAM FOR STATES FOR SCHOOL

2 SAFETY AND SECURITY.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 

4 use the amount transferred under subsection (b) to 

5 award grants to States from allotments under para6 graph (2) for each of fiscal years 2023 through 

7 2027. From the amount transferred, $100,000,000 

8 shall be available to be allotted for each fiscal year. 

9 (2) STATE ALLOTMENTS.— 

10 (A) ALLOTMENT.— 

11 (i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clauses 

12 (ii) and (iii), from the amount available to 

13 be allotted for a fiscal year under para14 graph (1), the Attorney General shall allot 

15 to each State for the fiscal year an amount 

16 that bears the same relationship to the 

17 amount available as the number of individ18 uals residing in the State who are aged 5 

19 through 17, bears to the number of such 

20 individuals residing in all States. 

21 (ii) SMALL STATE MINIMUM.—No 

22 State receiving an allotment under this 

23 subparagraph for a fiscal year shall receive 

24 less than 0.75 percent of the total amount 


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1 allotted under this subparagraph for the 

2 fiscal year. 

3 (iii) PUERTO RICO.—The amount al4 lotted under this subparagraph to the 

5 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for a fiscal 

6 year may not exceed 0.75 percent of the 

7 total amount allotted under this subpara8 graph for the fiscal year. 

9 (B) REALLOTMENT.—If a State does not 

10 receive an allotment under this paragraph for a 

11 fiscal year, the Attorney General shall reallot 

12 the amount of the State’s allotment to the re13 maining States for the fiscal year in accordance 

14 with this paragraph. 

15 (3) USE OF ALLOTMENT.—Each State that re16 ceives an allotment under paragraph (2) for a fiscal 

17 year shall— 

18 (A) reserve not less than 95 percent of the 

19 allotment to make subgrants to eligible entities 

20 under paragraph (4); 

21 (B) reserve not more than 1 percent of the 

22 allotment for the administrative costs of car23 rying out its responsibilities under this section, 

24 including public reporting on how funds made 


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1 available under this section are being expended 

2 by eligible entities; and 

3 (C) use the amount made available to the 

4 State and not reserved under subparagraphs 

5 (A) and (B) for activities designed to support 

6 eligible entities in identifying, planning, and im7 plementing school security improvements. 

8 (4) SUBGRANTS TO ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each State that re10 ceives an allotment under paragraph (2) shall 

11 award subgrants to eligible entities to support 

12 the eligible entities in identifying, planning, and 

13 implementing school security improvements. 

14 (B) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity 

15 that desires to receive a subgrant grant under 

16 this paragraph shall submit an application to 

17 the State at such time, in such manner, and ac18 companied by such information as the State 

19 may require. 

20 (C) USE OF SUBGRANT FUNDS.—An eligi21 ble entity that receives a subgrant under this 

22 paragraph shall use the subgrant funds, subject 

23 to any rules established by the State, for the 

24 purpose of planning and designing school build25 ings and facilities, installing infrastructure, and 


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1 implementing technology or other measures, 

2 that strengthen security on school premises, 

3 which may include— 

4 (i) controlling access to school prem5 ises or facilities, through the use of metal 

6 detectors, or other measures, or tech7 nology, with evidence-based effectiveness 

8 (to the extent the State involved deter9 mines that such evidence is reasonably 

10 available), in accordance with the needs of 

11 the school; 

12 (ii) implementing any technology or 

13 measure, or installing any infrastructure, 

14 to cover and conceal students within the 

15 school during crisis situations; 

16 (iii) implementing technology to pro17 vide notification to relevant law enforce18 ment and first responders during crisis sit19 uations; 

20 (iv) implementing any technology or 

21 measure, including hiring school security 

22 officers, or installing any infrastructure, 

23 with evidence-based effectiveness (to the 

24 extent the State involved determines that 

25 such evidence is reasonably available) to 


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1 increase the safety of school students and 

2 staff; 

3 (v) implementing any digital content 

4 monitoring technology to assist in the mon5 itoring of communication on school-pro6 vided platforms, as long as the system does 

7 not transmit data outside of the United 

8 States and uses human review instead of 

9 automated alerts to increase safety of 

10 school students and staff; 

11 (vi) implementing any technology or 

12 measure, or installing any infrastructure, 

13 for school safety reinforcement, including 

14 bullet-resistant doors and windows; and 

15 (vii) implementing any technology or 

16 system that would reduce the time needed 

17 to disseminate official information to par18 ents regarding the safety of their children 

19 during and immediately following a crisis. 

20 (D) RESTRICTION ON DOJ.—The Attorney 

21 General may not promulgate a rule that re22 stricts a State’s ability to determine the eligible 

23 uses of subgrant funds awarded under this 

24 paragraph. 

25 (5) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 (A) STATE MATCH.—Each State that re2 ceives a grant under this section shall provide 

3 non-Federal matching funds equal to 20 per4 cent of the amount of the grant toward the cost 

5 of carrying out the activities described in this 

6 section. 

7 (B) ELIGIBLE ENTITY MATCH.— 

8 (i) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible entity 

9 that receives a subgrant under this section 

10 shall provide matching funds, in cash or 

11 through in-kind contributions, from Fed12 eral, State, local, or private sources in an 

13 amount equal to 5 percent of the amount 

14 of the subgrant toward the cost of carrying 

15 out the activities described in this section. 

16 (ii) WAIVER.— 

17 (I) IN GENERAL.—A State may 

18 waive the matching funds requirement 

19 under clause (i), on a case-by-case 

20 basis, upon a showing of exceptional 

21 circumstances, such as— 

22 (aa) the difficulty of raising 

23 matching funds for a program to 

24 serve a rural area; 


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1 (bb) the difficulty of raising 

2 matching funds in areas with a 

3 concentration of local educational 

4 agencies or schools with a high 

5 percentage of students aged 5 

6 through 17— 

7 (AA) who are in pov8 erty, as counted in the most 

9 recent census data approved 

10 by the Attorney General; 

11 (BB) who are eligible 

12 for a free or reduced price 

13 lunch under the Richard B. 

14 Russell National School 

15 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 

16 et seq.); 

17 (CC) whose families re18 ceive assistance under the 

19 State program funded under 

20 part A of title IV of the So21 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

22 601 et seq.); or 

23 (DD) who are eligible 

24 to receive medical assistance 


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1 under the Medicaid pro2 gram; and 

3 (cc) the difficulty of raising 

4 funds on tribal land. 

5 (II) STATE TO COVER ELIGIBLE

6 ENTITY MATCH.—A State that waives 

7 the matching funds requirement 

8 under clause (i), shall provide the 

9 amount waived in addition to the 

10 State match required under subpara11 graph (A). 

12 (iii) CONSIDERATION.—A State shall 

13 not consider an eligible entity’s ability to 

14 match funds when determining which eligi15 ble entity will receive subgrants under this 

16 section. 

Æ 


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