I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 899

To amend the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974,

and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1994,

to allow grants received under such Acts to be used to establish and

maintain school safety hotlines.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 6, 2001

Mr. TANCREDO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To amend the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Act of 1974, and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and

Communities Act of 1994, to allow grants received under

such Acts to be used to establish and maintain school

safety hotlines.

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 ‘‘School Safety Hotline

5 Act of 2001’’.

6 SECTION 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) an estimated 255,000 violent incidents oc2 curred in 1999 on school property, at an official

3 school function, or while traveling to and from

4 school;

5 (2) for the complete school year July 1, 1997,

6 through June 30, 1998, there were 58 school-associ7 ated violent deaths that resulted from 46 incidents;

8 46 of these violent deaths were homicides, 11 were

9 suicides, and one teenager was killed by a law en10 forcement officer in the course of duty;

11 (3) although fewer school-associated violent

12 deaths have occurred in recent years, the total num13 ber of multiple victim homicide events has increased;

14 (4) in 1997, 5 percent of all 12th graders re15 ported that they had been purposefully injured, while

16 they were at school, with a weapon such as a knife,

17 gun, or club during the prior 12 months, and 14

18 percent reported that they had been injured on pur19 pose without a weapon;

20 (5) on average, each year from 1993 to 1997,

21 there were 131,400 violent crimes against teachers

22 at schools, as reported by teachers from both public

23 and private schools, which translates into a rate of

24 31 violent crimes for every 1,000 teachers;
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1 (6) tools should be created for, and provided to,

2 students, teachers, parents, and administrators

3 across the country so that they have the ability to

4 provide the information necessary to law enforce5 ment authorities to take action before other trage6 dies occur; and

7 (7) school safety hotlines allow students, par8 ents, and school personnel the opportunity to report

9 threats of school violence to law enforcement au10 thorities, thus reducing incidents of youth violence.

11 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT.

12 Section 223(a)(10) of the Juvenile Justice and Delin13 quency Prevention Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5633(a)(10))

14 is amended—

15 (1) in subparagraph (N) by striking ‘‘and’’ at

16 the end,

17 (2) in subparagraph (O) by striking the period

18 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’, and

19 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (O) the fol20 lowing:

21 ‘‘(P) programs related to the establishment

22 and maintenance of a school violence hotline,

23 based on a public-private partnership, that stu24 dents and parents can use to report suspicious,
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1 violent, or threatening behavior to school and

2 law enforcement authorities;’’.

3 SEC. 4. SCHOOL INVOLVEMENT.

4 (a) STATE PROGRAMS.—Section 4113(b)(1) of the

5 Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of

6 1994 (20 U.S.C. 7113(b)(1)) is amended—

7 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (E)

8 through (G) as (F) through (H), respectively; and

9 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the fol10 lowing:

11 ‘‘(E) establishing and maintaining a school

12 violence hotline, based on a public-private part13 nership, that students and parents can use to

14 report suspicious, violent, or threatening behav15 ior to school and law enforcement authorities;’’.

16 (b) GOVERNOR’S PROGRAMS.—Section 4114(c) of the

17 Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of

18 1994 (20 U.S.C. 7114(c)) is amended—

19 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (6) through

20 (12) as (7) through (13), respectively; and

21 (2) inserting after paragraph (5) the following:

22 ‘‘(6) establishing and maintaining a school vio23 lence hotline, based on a public-private partnership,

24 that students and parents can use to report sus-
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1 picious, violent, or threatening behavior to school

2 and law enforcement authorities;’’.

3 (c) LOCAL PROGRAMS.—Section 4116(b) of the Safe

4 and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1994 (20

5 U.S.C. 7116(a)) is amended—

6 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) through

7 (10) as (8) through (11), respectively; and

8 (3) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol9 lowing:

10 ‘‘(7) establishing and maintaining a school vio11 lence hotline, based on a public-private partnership,

12 that students and parents can use to report sus13 picious, violent, or threatening behavior to school

14 and law enforcement authorities.’’.

15 SEC. 5. NOTIFICATION.

16 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment

17 of this Act, the Secretary of Education shall provide writ18 ten notification to the States and State educational agen19 cies of the ability of States or State educational agencies,

20 as appropriate, to use State administrative funds provided

21 under title IV and title VI of the Elementary and Sec22 ondary Education Act of 1965 to implement programs re23 lated to the establishment and operation of a toll-free tele24 phone hotline that students, parents, and school personnel

25 use to report suspicious, violent, or threatening behavior
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1 related to schools or school functions to law enforcement

2 authorities.

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