Title: School Safety Clearinghouse Act
Policy area: Education

Summary:
School Safety Clearinghouse Act
This bill directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish a School Safety Clearinghouse as a central resource for evidence-based practices and other information on school-safety topics.
DHS shall develop tiers for determining evidence-based practices that demonstrate a significant effect on improving the health, safety, and welfare of persons in school settings.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2530 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2530

  To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a School 
             Safety Clearinghouse, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 23, 2019

   Mr. Perdue (for himself, Mr. Jones, Mr. Tillis, and Mrs. Capito) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
        Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a School 
             Safety Clearinghouse, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``School Safety Clearinghouse Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Incidents of gun violence in schools have severe long-
        term effects on students and teachers, such as--
                    (A) moderate to severe post-traumatic stress 
                disorder;
                    (B) depression;
                    (C) violent behavior; and
                    (D) lower proficiencies in math and reading.
            (2) According to the American Institute of Architects, most 
        of the 132,853 public and private elementary and secondary 
        schools in the United States are not designed to deter these 
        violent acts.
            (3) Following the tragic 2018 school shooting at Marjory 
        Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the Marjory 
        Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission reported 
        that the greatest vulnerabilities of the school existed because 
        of voids in basic safety policies and strategies.
            (4) The final report of the Federal Commission on School 
        Safety found that one of the biggest concerns raised by schools 
        and school districts was the inability to sift through the 
        multitude of safety options, equipment, technologies, and 
        building designs that are available to improve the safety and 
        design of their schools.
            (5) While there is no general approach to school safety, 
        architects and engineers as well as other experts in the school 
        security community have suggested the establishment of a 
        Federal clearinghouse that could assess, identify, and share 
        best practices on school building design and overall safety.

SEC. 3. SCHOOL SAFETY CLEARINGHOUSE.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle A of title XXII of the Homeland Security 
Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 651 et seq.), is amended by inserting after 
section 2214 the following:

``SEC. 2215. SCHOOL SAFETY CLEARINGHOUSE.

    ``(a) Establishment.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a School 
        Safety Clearinghouse (in this section referred to as the 
        `Clearinghouse') within the Department.
            ``(2) Requirements.--The Clearinghouse shall--
                    ``(A) be managed by the Secretary, in coordination 
                with--
                            ``(i) the Secretary of Education;
                            ``(ii) the Attorney General; and
                            ``(iii) the Secretary of Health and Human 
                        Services;
                    ``(B) engage appropriate Federal, State, local, and 
                nongovernmental organizations to identify, cross-
                promote, and disseminate information; and
                    ``(C) be assigned such personnel and resources as 
                the Secretary considers appropriate to carry out this 
                section, including not fewer than 5 full-time 
                equivalent employees.
            ``(3) Evidence-based tiers.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary, in consultation 
                with the Secretary of Education, the Attorney General, 
                and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall 
                develop tiers for determining evidence-based practices 
                that demonstrate a significant effect on improving the 
                health, safety, and welfare of persons in school 
                settings.
                    ``(B) Requirements.--The tiers required to be 
                developed under subparagraph (A) shall--
                            ``(i) prioritize--
                                    ``(I) strong evidence from not less 
                                than 1 well-designed and well-
                                implemented experimental study; and
                                    ``(II) moderate evidence from not 
                                less than 1 well-designed and well-
                                implemented quasi-experimental study; 
                                and
                            ``(ii) consider promising evidence that 
                        demonstrates a rationale based on high-quality 
                        research findings or positive evaluations that 
                        such activity, strategy, or intervention is 
                        likely to improve school climate and promote 
                        school safety.
    ``(b) Functions.--The Clearinghouse shall--
            ``(1) serve as a central resource to identify, catalog, and 
        describe best practices, case studies, and relevant Federal 
        grants related to safe school design and evidence-based 
        practices, for use by local education agencies, local law 
        enforcement agencies, schools, architects, engineers, and 
        others, and any other school safety topics related to school 
        design as determined appropriate by the Secretary;
            ``(2) review and, as appropriate, incorporate finalized 
        school safety recommendations from other related agencies, 
        State and local partners, and appropriate nongovernmental 
        organizations, such as national associations of architects and 
        engineers;
            ``(3) determine a means to solicit input from institutions 
        of higher education and design schools, national associations 
        of architects, engineers, school safety experts, building 
        supervisors, school facilities managers, community-based 
        organizations, and other school safety stakeholders for the 
        purpose of regularly updating the resources and evidence-based 
        recommendations of the Clearinghouse;
            ``(4) make training and technical assistance available to 
        local education agencies seeking Federal grants to improve 
        school safety, including providing a website with up-to-date 
        information on resources, and may partner with nongovernmental 
        organizations, such as national associations of architects and 
        engineers and security experts, to provide the training and 
        technical assistance; and
            ``(5) perform such other functions necessary to carry out 
        the functions described in paragraphs (1) through (4) as the 
        Secretary determines appropriate.
    ``(c) Exemption.--Chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 
(commonly known as the `Paperwork Reduction Act'), shall not apply to 
any rulemaking or information collection required under this section.
    ``(d) Prohibition.--
            ``(1) In general.--In carrying out this section, an officer 
        or employee of the Department may not approve, sponsor, 
        endorse, or take any other action that may be deemed or 
        construed to be an approval, sponsorship, or endorsement of any 
        product of a specific organization (including a nonprofit 
        organization), such as a building material or technology, that 
        provides a financial gain or other benefit to the organization.
            ``(2) Rule of construction.--Paragraph (1) shall not be 
        construed to prevent an officer or employee of the Department 
        from implementing--
                    ``(A) recommendations, training, and other 
                assistance developed under subsection (b), including by 
                broadly identifying building materials and technologies 
                that could uphold health, safety, and welfare on school 
                property; or
                    ``(B) the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering 
                Effective Technologies Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 441 et 
                seq.).''.
    (b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents in 
section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296; 
116 Stat. 2135) is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 2214 the following:

``Sec. 2215. School Safety Clearinghouse.''.
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