I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2717 

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 

APRIL 21, 2021 

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas (for himself and Mr. DEUTCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 

Labor, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

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. 

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 ‘‘Safer Schools Act of 

5 2021’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 2717 IH

1 SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM FOR GRANTS FOR INDEPENDENT 

2 FACILITY SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENTS AND 

3 HARD SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 120 days after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act the Attorney General 

6 shall establish a pilot program (hereinafter referred to as 

7 the ‘‘pilot program’’) to issue grants pursuant to sub8 sections (b) and (c), including releasing guidelines and ap9 plications with respect to such grant programs. 

10 (b) INDEPENDENT FACILITY SECURITY RISK AS11 SESSMENT GRANTS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 

13 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

14 the Attorney General shall award grants to public 

15 schools to have independent facility security risk as16 sessments performed. 

17 (2) APPLICATION.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive 

19 a grant under this section, a public school shall 

20 submit to the Attorney General an application 

21 at such time, in such manner, and containing 

22 such information as the Attorney General may 

23 require, including— 

24 (i) the size of the school; 

25 (ii) a comprehensive report on the fi26 nancial state of the school, including any 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 2717 IH

1 Federal, State, or local funds used in the 

2 school’s budget; and 

3 (iii) a certification to the Attorney 

4 General that the school is unable to cover 

5 the cost of an independent facility security 

6 risk assessment without the grant awarded 

7 under this section. 

8 (B) PRIORITY.—The Attorney General, in 

9 awarding a grant under this section, shall give 

10 priority to applications of public schools that 

11 have experienced an event in which an indi12 vidual inflicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict 

13 deadly harm against multiple individuals. 

14 (3) INELIGIBILITY.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—A public school shall be 

16 ineligible to receive a grant under this section 

17 if it— 

18 (i) received a grant under this section 

19 in the previous 5 fiscal years; or 

20 (ii) receives a grant under this section 

21 in the same fiscal year. 

22 (B) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding para23 graph (1), in the case that a grant recipient ex24 periences an event in which an individual in25 flicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 2717 IH

1 harm against multiple individuals, such grant 

2 recipient shall be eligible to receive an addi3 tional grant under this section in the fiscal year 

4 after the date of the event. 

5 (c) HARD SECURITY IMPROVEMENT GRANTS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 

7 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

8 the Attorney General shall award grants to public 

9 schools for the purpose of making hard security im10 provements to schools. 

11 (2) APPLICATION.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive 

13 a grant under this section, a public school shall 

14 submit to the Attorney General an application 

15 at such time, in such manner, and containing 

16 such information as the Attorney General may 

17 require, which application shall include— 

18 (i) the size of the school; 

19 (ii) a comprehensive report on the fi20 nancial state of the school, including any 

21 Federal, State, or local funds used in the 

22 school’s budget; 

23 (iii) a comprehensive description of 

24 previous improvements made to the school 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 2717 IH

1 meant to address school security related 

2 vulnerabilities; 

3 (iv) the specific products and services 

4 that will be purchased with the grant 

5 funds and an estimate of such costs and 

6 services; and 

7 (v) the results of the school’s most re8 cent independent facility security risk as9 sessment. 

10 (B) PRIORITY.—The Attorney General, in 

11 awarding a grant under this section, shall give 

12 priority to applications of schools that have ex13 perienced an event in which an individual in14 flicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 

15 harm against multiple individuals. 

16 (3) INELIGIBILITY.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—A public school shall be 

18 ineligible to receive a grant under this section 

19 if— 

20 (i) a public school received a grant 

21 under this section in the previous 5 fiscal 

22 years; or 

23 (ii) a public school receives a grant 

24 under this section in the same fiscal year. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 2717 IH

1 (B) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding para2 graph (1), in the case that a grant recipient ex3 periences an event in which an individual in4 flicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 

5 harm against multiple individuals, such grant 

6 recipient shall be eligible to receive an addi7 tional grant under this section in any fiscal 

8 year after the date on which the event occurred. 

9 (4) MATCHING FUNDS.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of a 

11 grant received under this subsection may not 

12 exceed 50 percent of the hard security improve13 ment costs. 

14 (B) WAIVER.—The Attorney General may 

15 waive in whole or in part, the matching require16 ment under paragraph (1) in the case that the 

17 recipient has a financial need for such waiver. 

18 (5) GRANT CONDITIONS.—A recipient of a 

19 grant under this section shall— 

20 (A) use the grant to make hard security 

21 improvements identified as necessary by the 

22 most recent independent facility security risk 

23 assessment; 

24 (B) in the case that a panic alarm is not 

25 installed or operable according to the indeVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:39 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2717.IH H2717

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 2717 IH

1 pendent facility risk assessment, use the grant 

2 for the installation of at least 1 panic alarm for 

3 use in a school security emergency, including a 

4 non-fire evacuation, lockdown, or active shooter 

5 situation, which alarm— 

6 (i) shall be directly linked to the local 

7 law enforcement agency that is closest in 

8 proximity to the grant recipient; 

9 (ii) shall immediately transmit a sig10 nal or message to such law enforcement 

11 agency upon activation; and 

12 (iii) shall not be audible within the 

13 public school building; 

14 (C) before entering into a contract with a 

15 vendor, obtain written confirmation from the 

16 law enforcement agency or entity that con17 ducted the independent facility security risk as18 sessment that the improvement will mitigate a 

19 vulnerability identified in the independent facil20 ity security risk assessment; and 

21 (D) ensure that hard security improve22 ments comply with local building code require23 ments and standards. 

24 (d) INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 2717 IH

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

2 disseminate to each local educational agency in the 

3 United States information about the availability of 

4 grants under this section. 

5 (2) EVENT NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days 

6 after an event in which an individual inflicts deadly 

7 harm or attempts to inflict deadly harm against 

8 multiple individuals occurs in a public school, the 

9 Director shall contact verbally the head of such pub10 lic school to provide notice of priority eligibility for 

11 grants under this section and to offer technical as12 sistance in navigating the application process. 

13 (e) REPORTS.— 

14 (1) GRANT RECIPIENT REPORT.—Not later 

15 than one year after receiving a grant under sub16 section (b) or (c), a recipient shall submit to the At17 torney General— 

18 (A) a copy of the results of each security 

19 assessment with how many vulnerabilities were 

20 found; 

21 (B) a list of each hard improvement made 

22 and the percentage of vulnerabilities fixed, in23 cluding the percentage of vulnerabilities out24 standing; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 2717 IH

1 (C) a list of the number of events in which 

2 an individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts 

3 to inflict deadly harm against multiple individ4 uals, if any, that happened five years before 

5 hard security vulnerabilities were fixed or one 

6 year after the hard security vulnerabilities were 

7 made; and 

8 (D) a survey assessing how safe students 

9 and facility members feel on the school’s cam10 pus before hard security improvements were 

11 made and one year after they were made. 

12 (2) ATTORNEY GENERAL REPORT.—Not later 

13 than two years after the date of enactment, and an14 nually thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit 

15 to appropriate Congressional committees a report on 

16 the national state of physical security in schools, in17 cluding— 

18 (A) the contents of grant recipient reports 

19 under paragraph (1); 

20 (B) a percentage breakdown of the type of 

21 hard security fixes; 

22 (C) the percentage of outstanding vulnera23 bilities remaining; 

24 (D) a percentage breakdown of each type 

25 of hard security improvements made; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 2717 IH

1 (E) the average percentage of vulnerabili2 ties fixed and average percentage of vulnerabili3 ties outstanding after the hard security im4 provements were made. 

5 (f) SUNSET.—The pilot program shall terminate on 

6 the date that is five years after the date on which the pilot 

7 program is established. 

8 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT10 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com11 mittees’’ means the Committee on the Judiciary and 

12 the Committee on Education and Labor of the 

13 House of Representatives and the Committee on the 

14 Judiciary and the Committee on Health, Education, 

15 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 

16 (2) HARD SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS.—The 

17 term ‘‘hard security improvements’’ means improve18 ments to the infrastructure of school property perim19 eter, parking lot perimeter, building perimeter, en20 trance and exit points of the school building, video 

21 monitoring equipment, alert notification equipment, 

22 the interior and perimeter of the classroom, and any 

23 other physical improvements related to camera sys24 tems and related hardware, alarm and notification 

25 technology, and visitor management technologies 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 2717 IH

1 deemed eligible for improvement by the Attorney 

2 General. 

3 (3) INDEPENDENT FACILITY SECURITY RISK AS4 SESSMENT.—The term ‘‘independent facility security 

5 risk assessment’’ means an assessment that— 

6 (A) identifies active shooter and related se7 curity vulnerabilities of public schools, consid8 ering security factors, including the strength 

9 and maintenance levels of the property perim10 eter, parking lot perimeter, building perimeter, 

11 and classroom and interior perimeter, and the 

12 presence of a silent security system signal gen13 erated by the manual activation of a device in14 tended to signal a life-threatening or emergency 

15 situation requiring a response from law enforce16 ment; and 

17 (B) is conducted by a Federal, State, or 

18 local entity determined to be qualified by the 

19 Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice As20 sistance. 

21 (4) PUBLIC SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘public 

22 school’’ means a public elementary school or a public 

23 secondary school, including an elementary school or 

24 a secondary school that is predominately funded by 

25 an Indian tribal government. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 2717 IH

1 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

3 appropriated to carry about the pilot program— 

4 (A) $100,000,000 for fiscal year one of the 

5 pilot program; 

6 (B) $200,000,000 for fiscal year two of the 

7 pilot program; and 

8 (C) $300,000,000 for fiscal years three 

9 through five of the pilot program. 

10 (2) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—Any funds au11 thorized under paragraph (1) shall be allocated— 

12 (A) with 30 percent of any such funds to 

13 the grant program under section 2(b); and 

14 (B) with 70 percent of any such funds to 

15 the grant program under section 2(c). 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS