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 fol-
lowing 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 consider-
ation 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safer Schools Act of 
2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM FOR GRANTS FOR INDEPENDENT 
FACILITY SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENTS AND 
HARD SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 120 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act the Attorney General 
shall establish a pilot program (hereinafter referred to as 
the ‘‘pilot program’’) to issue grants pursuant to sub-
sections (b) and (c), including releasing guidelines and ap-
plications with respect to such grant programs. 
(b) INDEPENDENT FACILITY SECURITY RISK AS-
SESSMENT GRANTS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 
180 days after the date of enactment of this section, 
the Attorney General shall award grants to public 
schools to have independent facility security risk as-
sessments performed. 
(2) APPLICATION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive 
a grant under this section, a public school shall 
submit to the Attorney General an application 
at such time, in such manner, and containing 
such information as the Attorney General may 
require, including— 
(i) the size of the school; 
(ii) a comprehensive report on the fi-
nancial state of the school, including any 
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meant to address school security related 
vulnerabilities; 
(iv) the specific products and services 
that will be purchased with the grant 
funds and an estimate of such costs and 
services; and 
(v) the results of the school’s most re-
cent independent facility security risk as-
sessment. 
(B) PRIORITY.—The Attorney General, in 
awarding a grant under this section, shall give 
priority to applications of schools that have ex-
perienced an event in which an individual in-
flicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 
harm against multiple individuals. 
(3) INELIGIBILITY.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—A public school shall be 
ineligible to receive a grant under this section 
if— 
(i) a public school received a grant 
under this section in the previous 5 fiscal 
years; or 
(ii) a public school receives a grant 
under this section in the same fiscal year. 
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(B) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding para-
graph (1), in the case that a grant recipient ex-
periences an event in which an individual in-
flicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 
harm against multiple individuals, such grant 
recipient shall be eligible to receive an addi-
tional grant under this section in any fiscal 
year after the date on which the event occurred. 
(4) MATCHING FUNDS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of a 
grant received under this subsection may not 
exceed 50 percent of the hard security improve-
ment costs. 
(B) WAIVER.—The Attorney General may 
waive in whole or in part, the matching require-
ment under paragraph (1) in the case that the 
recipient has a financial need for such waiver. 
(5) GRANT
CONDITIONS.—A recipient of a 
grant under this section shall— 
(A) use the grant to make hard security 
improvements identified as necessary by the 
most recent independent facility security risk 
assessment; 
(B) in the case that a panic alarm is not 
installed or operable according to the inde-
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pendent facility risk assessment, use the grant 
for the installation of at least 1 panic alarm for 
use in a school security emergency, including a 
non-fire evacuation, lockdown, or active shooter 
situation, which alarm— 
(i) shall be directly linked to the local 
law enforcement agency that is closest in 
proximity to the grant recipient; 
(ii) shall immediately transmit a sig-
nal or message to such law enforcement 
agency upon activation; and 
(iii) shall not be audible within the 
public school building; 
(C) before entering into a contract with a 
vendor, obtain written confirmation from the 
law enforcement agency or entity that con-
ducted the independent facility security risk as-
sessment that the improvement will mitigate a 
vulnerability identified in the independent facil-
ity security risk assessment; and 
(D) ensure that hard security improve-
ments comply with local building code require-
ments and standards. 
(d) INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 
disseminate to each local educational agency in the 
United States information about the availability of 
grants under this section. 
(2) EVENT NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days 
after an event in which an individual inflicts deadly 
harm or attempts to inflict deadly harm against 
multiple individuals occurs in a public school, the 
Director shall contact verbally the head of such pub-
lic school to provide notice of priority eligibility for 
grants under this section and to offer technical as-
sistance in navigating the application process. 
(e) REPORTS.— 
(1) GRANT
RECIPIENT
REPORT.—Not later 
than one year after receiving a grant under sub-
section (b) or (c), a recipient shall submit to the At-
torney General— 
(A) a copy of the results of each security 
assessment with how many vulnerabilities were 
found; 
(B) a list of each hard improvement made 
and the percentage of vulnerabilities fixed, in-
cluding the percentage of vulnerabilities out-
standing; 
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(C) a list of the number of events in which 
an individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts 
to inflict deadly harm against multiple individ-
uals, if any, that happened five years before 
hard security vulnerabilities were fixed or one 
year after the hard security vulnerabilities were 
made; and 
(D) a survey assessing how safe students 
and facility members feel on the school’s cam-
pus before hard security improvements were 
made and one year after they were made. 
(2) ATTORNEY GENERAL REPORT.—Not later 
than two years after the date of enactment, and an-
nually thereafter, the Attorney General shall submit 
to appropriate Congressional committees a report on 
the national state of physical security in schools, in-
cluding— 
(A) the contents of grant recipient reports 
under paragraph (1); 
(B) a percentage breakdown of the type of 
hard security fixes; 
(C) the percentage of outstanding vulnera-
bilities remaining; 
(D) a percentage breakdown of each type 
of hard security improvements made; and 
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(E) the average percentage of vulnerabili-
ties fixed and average percentage of vulnerabili-
ties outstanding after the hard security im-
provements were made. 
(f) SUNSET.—The pilot program shall terminate on 
the date that is five years after the date on which the pilot 
program is established. 
(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means the Committee on the Judiciary and 
the Committee on Education and Labor of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on the 
Judiciary and the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 
(2) HARD
SECURITY
IMPROVEMENTS.—The 
term ‘‘hard security improvements’’ means improve-
ments to the infrastructure of school property perim-
eter, parking lot perimeter, building perimeter, en-
trance and exit points of the school building, video 
monitoring equipment, alert notification equipment, 
the interior and perimeter of the classroom, and any 
other physical improvements related to camera sys-
tems and related hardware, alarm and notification 
technology, and visitor management technologies 
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deemed eligible for improvement by the Attorney 
General. 
(3) INDEPENDENT FACILITY SECURITY RISK AS-
SESSMENT.—The term ‘‘independent facility security 
risk assessment’’ means an assessment that— 
(A) identifies active shooter and related se-
curity vulnerabilities of public schools, consid-
ering security factors, including the strength 
and maintenance levels of the property perim-
eter, parking lot perimeter, building perimeter, 
and classroom and interior perimeter, and the 
presence of a silent security system signal gen-
erated by the manual activation of a device in-
tended to signal a life-threatening or emergency 
situation requiring a response from law enforce-
ment; and 
(B) is conducted by a Federal, State, or 
local entity determined to be qualified by the 
Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice As-
sistance. 
(4) 
PUBLIC
SCHOOL.—The 
term 
‘‘public 
school’’ means a public elementary school or a public 
secondary school, including an elementary school or 
a secondary school that is predominately funded by 
an Indian tribal government. 
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(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry about the pilot program— 
(A) $100,000,000 for fiscal year one of the 
pilot program; 
(B) $200,000,000 for fiscal year two of the 
pilot program; and 
(C) $300,000,000 for fiscal years three 
through five of the pilot program. 
(2) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—Any funds au-
thorized under paragraph (1) shall be allocated— 
(A) with 30 percent of any such funds to 
the grant program under section 2(b); and 
(B) with 70 percent of any such funds to 
the grant program under section 2(c). 
Æ 
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