Title: School Violence Prevention and Mitigation Act of 2019
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
School Violence Prevention and Mitigation Act of 2019
This bill directs the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services within the Department of Justice to award grants to public elementary and secondary schools to (1) conduct independent facility security risk assessments, and (2) make hard security improvements (e.g., video monitoring and alert notification equipment) that are identified as necessary by the risk assessment.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3665 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3665

     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

                             July 10, 2019

  Mr. Williams (for himself and Mr. Deutch) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``School Violence Prevention and 
Mitigation Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. SCHOOL SECURITY GRANT.

    The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 is amended 
by inserting after part BB the following:

           ``PART CC--RISK ASSESSMENT AND HARD SECURITY GRANT

``SEC. 2901. INDEPENDENT FACILITY SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENTS.

    ``(a) In General.--Beginning not later than 180 days after the date 
of enactment of this part, the Director of the Office of Community 
Oriented Policing Services (referred to in this part as the `COPS 
Director') shall award grants to public schools to have independent 
facility security risk assessments performed.
    ``(b) Application.--
            ``(1) In general.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        this section, a public school shall submit to the COPS Director 
        an application at such time, in such manner, and containing 
        such information as the COPS Director may require, including--
                    ``(A) the size of the school;
                    ``(B) a comprehensive report on the financial state 
                of the school, including any Federal, State, or local 
                funds used in the school's budget; and
                    ``(C) a certification to the Attorney General that 
                the school is unable to cover the cost of an 
                independent facility security risk assessment without 
                the grant awarded under this section.
            ``(2) Priority.--The COPS Director, in awarding a grant 
        under this section, shall give priority to applications of 
        public schools that have experienced an event in which an 
        individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 
        harm against multiple individuals.
    ``(c) Ineligibility.--
            ``(1) In general.--A public school shall be ineligible to 
        receive a grant under this section if it--
                    ``(A) received a grant under this section or 
                section 2902 in the previous 5 fiscal years; or
                    ``(B) receives a grant under section 2902 in the 
                same fiscal year.
            ``(2) Exception.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), in the 
        case that a grant recipient experiences an event in which an 
        individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 
        harm against multiple individuals, such grant recipient shall 
        be eligible to receive an additional grant under this section 
        or section 2902 in the fiscal year after the date of the event.

``SEC. 2902. HARD SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS.

    ``(a) In General.--Beginning not later than 180 days after the date 
of enactment of this part, the COPS Director shall award grants to 
public schools for the purpose of making hard security improvements to 
schools.
    ``(b) Application.--
            ``(1) In general.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        this section, a public school shall submit to the COPS Director 
        an application at such time, in such manner, and containing 
        such information as the COPS Director may require, which 
        application shall include--
                    ``(A) the size of the school;
                    ``(B) a comprehensive report on the financial state 
                of the school, including any Federal, State, or local 
                funds used in the school's budget;
                    ``(C) a comprehensive description of previous 
                improvements made to the school meant to address school 
                security related vulnerabilities;
                    ``(D) the specific products and services that will 
                be purchased with the grant funds and an estimate of 
                such costs and services; and
                    ``(E) the results of the school's most recent 
                independent facility security risk assessment.
            ``(2) Priority.--The COPS Director, in awarding a grant 
        under this section, shall give priority to applications of 
        schools that--
                    ``(A) have experienced an event in which an 
                individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict 
                deadly harm against multiple individuals; or
                    ``(B) have a higher tier of vulnerability score 
                according to a school's most recent independent 
                facility security risk assessment.
    ``(c) Ineligibility.--
            ``(1) In general.--A public school shall be ineligible to 
        receive a grant under this section if--
                    ``(A) a public school received a grant under this 
                section in the previous 5 fiscal years; or
                    ``(B) a public school receives a grant under 
                section 2901 in the same fiscal year.
            ``(2) Exception.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), in the 
        case that a grant recipient experiences an event in which an 
        individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict deadly 
        harm against multiple individuals, such grant recipient shall 
        be eligible to receive an additional grant under this section 
        or section 2901 in any fiscal year after the date on which the 
        event occurred.
    ``(d) Matching Funds.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Federal share of a grant received 
        under this part may not exceed 50 percent of the hard security 
        improvement costs.
            ``(2) Waiver.--The COPS Director may waive in whole or in 
        part, the matching requirement under paragraph (1) in the case 
        that the recipient has a financial need for such waiver.
    ``(e) Grant Conditions.--A recipient of a grant under this section 
shall--
            ``(1) use the grant to make hard security improvements 
        identified as necessary by the most recent independent facility 
        security risk assessment;
            ``(2) in the case that a panic alarm is not installed or 
        operable according to the independent 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--
                    ``(A) shall be directly linked to the local law 
                enforcement agency that is closest in proximity to the 
                grant recipient;
                    ``(B) shall immediately transmit a signal or 
                message to such law enforcement agency upon activation; 
                and
                    ``(C) shall not be audible within the public school 
                building;
            ``(3) before entering into a contract with a vendor, obtain 
        written confirmation from the law enforcement agency or entity 
        that conducted the independent facility security risk 
        assessment that the improvement will mitigate a vulnerability 
        identified in the independent facility security risk 
        assessment; and
            ``(4) ensure that hard security improvements comply with 
        local building code requirements and standards.

``SEC. 2903. INFORMATION DISSEMINATION; REPORTS.

    ``(a) Information Dissemination.--
            ``(1) In general.--The COPS Director shall disseminate to 
        each local educational agency in the United States information 
        about the availability of grants under sections 2901 and 2902.
            ``(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 public school to provide notice of priority eligibility 
        for grants under sections 2901 and 2902 and to offer technical 
        assistance in navigating the application process.
    ``(b) Grant Recipient Report.--Not later than 1 year after 
receiving a grant under section 2901 or 2902, the grant recipient shall 
submit to the COPS Director a copy of the results of each independent 
facility security risk assessment and a list of each hard improvement 
for which the grant funds were used by the recipient.
    ``(c) COPS Director Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date 
of enactment of this part, and annually thereafter, the COPS Director 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on 
the national state of physical security in schools, which shall include 
the contents of any information submitted by a grant recipient under 
subsection (b).

``SEC. 2904. TIERS OF VULNERABILITY.

    ``(a) In General.--The COPS Director, in consultation with school 
safety experts, including school resource officers, shall issue 
guidelines implementing this part. Such guidelines shall include a 4-
tier scale for assessing security vulnerabilities of schools in 
independent facility security risk assessments. In the 4-tier scale 
developed under this subsection, tier 4 shall indicate the highest 
level of vulnerability.
    ``(b) Factors.--The factors to be considered in determining a 
school facility's level of vulnerability include--
            ``(1) the amount of violence occurring on campus involving 
        deadly weapons, including knives longer than 3 inches, 
        firearms, and explosives;
            ``(2) the number of trespassers who have gained access to 
        campus in the last 3 years;
            ``(3) the ability of a school to carry out an active 
        shooter drill; and
            ``(4) the state of existing school security related 
        infrastructure.

``SEC. 2905. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this part:
            ``(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        `appropriate congressional committees' 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 improvements to the infrastructure of 
        school property perimeter, parking lot perimeter, building 
        perimeter, entrance 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 systems and related hardware, 
        alarm and notification technology, and visitor management 
        technologies deemed eligible for improvement by the COPS 
        Director.
            ``(3) Independent facility security risk assessment.--The 
        term `independent facility security risk assessment' means an 
        assessment that--
                    ``(A) identifies active shooter and related 
                security vulnerabilities of public schools, considering 
                security factors, including the strength and 
                maintenance levels of the property perimeter, parking 
                lot perimeter, building perimeter, and classroom and 
                interior perimeter, and the presence of a silent 
                security system signal generated by the manual 
                activation of a device intended to signal a life-
                threatening or emergency situation requiring a response 
                from law enforcement;
                    ``(B) is conducted by--
                            ``(i) an individual or entity qualified 
                        under the Department of Homeland Security 
                        Protective Security Advisor Program; or
                            ``(ii) a State or Federal law enforcement 
                        agency; and
                    ``(C) categorizes the security needs of a facility 
                using the 4 tiers developed by the COPS Director 
                pursuant to section 2904.
            ``(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.

``SEC. 2906. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part 
$200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2030, of which--
            ``(1) $75,000,000 shall be made available for grants for 
        independent facility security risk assessment; and
            ``(2) $125,000,000 shall be made available for grants for 
        hard security improvements.''.
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