An Act To Align the Duties of School Boards Concerning Student Safety with the Requirements of the Federal Gun-Free Schools Act and To Prohibit the Discharge of Firearms within 500 Feet of Public and Private School Properties
Maine Legislature, Session 124, LD 1705
Committee: Education and Cultural Affairs
Sponsors: MARTIN, BICKFORD, LOVEJOY, WAGNER, DAVIS, JACKSON, NASS
Amends: 20-A MRSA §6552

Legislative Document 
No. 1705 
H.P.1206 
House of Representatives, January 6,2010 
An Act To Align the Duties of School Boards Concerning Student 
Safety with the Requirements of the Federal Gun-Free Schools Act 
and To Prohibit the Discharge of Firearms within 500 Feet of Public 
and Private School Properties 
Submitted by the Department of Education pursuant to Joint Rule 204: 
Reference to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs suggested and ordered 
printed. 
Presented by Representative MARTIN of Eagle Lake. 
IY/~ 
1/1. 7ll1!£~{ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Cosponsored by Representatives: BICKFORD of Auburn, LOVEJOY of Portland, 
McFADDEN of Dennysville, PIEH ofBr'emen, WAGNER of Lewiston, Senators: DAVIS of 
Cumberland, JACKSON of Aroostook, NASS of York. 
PrifHE:U LIn rccydt!d p,lpt:r 
Be it enacted by the People ofthe State of Maine as follows: 
. Sec. 1. 20-A MRS A §1001, sub-§9-A, as enacted by PL 1995; c. 322, §5, is 
amended to read: 
9-A. Students expelled or suspended under the requirements of the federal Gun-
S 
Free Schools Act. The school boards shall adopt a policy for expelling a student who is 
determined to have brought a firearin, as defined in 18 United States Code, Section 921, 
to school or to have possessed a firearm at school· and for referring the matter to the 
appropriate local law enforcement agency. 
A. 
A student who is determined to have brought a firearm to school or to have 
possessed a firearm at school under this subsection must be expelled from school for. 
a p~riod of not less than one year, except that the school board· may authorize the 
' superintendent to modify the requirement for expulsion of a student on a case-by-case 
basis. A decision to change the placement of a student with a disability must be made 
in accordance with the federal Indiyiduals With Disabilities Education Act, 20 United 
States Code, Section 1400 et seq. 
_ B. 
Nothing in this subsection prevents a school board from: 
(1) 
Offering instructional activities related to fireanTIs or from allowing a 
firearm to be brought' to school for instructional activities sanctioned by the 
district; or 
(2) Providing educational services in an alternative setting to a student who has 
been expelled. 
C. 
In accordance with the proper investigation and due process provisions required 
in subsection 9, a principal may suspend immediately for good cause a student who is 
.. determined to· have brought a firearm to school or to have possessed a firearm at 
school under this subsection. 
Sec. 2. 20-A MRSA §6552, sub-§l, as amended by PL 2007, c. 67, §1, is further 
amended to read: 
1. Prohibition. A person may not possess a firearm on public school property or 
discharge a firearm within 500 feet of public or private school property. For purposes 'of 
this subsection, public school property includes property of a community college that 
adopts a policy imposing such a prohibition. 
SUMMARY 
This bill requires school boards to adopt policies consistent with federal legislation 
ori gun-free schools. 
This billalso clarifies that the prohibition of the discharge of firearms within 500 feet 
of school property ~pplies to both public school property and private school p~operty. 
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