House Education Committee adopts amendment, advances Senate Bill 246 requiring expanded school incident notifications

The House Education Committee on Wednesday adopted Amendment A01322 and reported Senate Bill 246 as amended, advancing legislation that would require school entities, nonpublic schools and private schools to notify parents, guardians and school employees about specified incidents occurring on school property.

The amendment, offered by Chairman Schweier and read into the record by a staff member identified as Kate, adds that second and each subsequent violation of a school’s bullying policy must be reported, sets a notification threshold for intentional and significant property damage at more than $1,000 and adds a statutory definition of “weapon.”

Why it matters: The bill, as described to the committee, would expand notification duties for schools so parents, guardians and employees are informed when incidents involve a weapon, a violation of a bullying policy, serious bodily injury, damage to school property or conduct that constitutes harassment.

Chairman Schweier read the bill summary and the amendment into the record. Kate, identified in the transcript as a staff member, summarized Senate Bill 246 as follows: “Senate bill 246 by Senator Coleman amends the public school code to require school entity, non public school, or private school to notify parents, guardians, and school employees of incidents involving the possession of a weapon on any school property, a violation of a school's bullying policy, an incident that involves serious bodily injury, an incident that involves damage to school property, or an incident that constitutes harassment.”

Representative Patrick Keller urged members to support the amendment and characterized it as a negotiated product. “I would urge our members to please support the amendment,” Representative Keller said, adding that he had communicated with Senator Coleman about the change.

During discussion, Representative Clyne asked whether the amendment affects required uploads to PIMS. “Under your amendment, the school's bullying policy or the is the school district still required to upload the incident into PIMS?” Clyne asked. Chairman Schweier replied, “Yes. It doesn't make any changes to that, ma'am.”

The committee recorded no negative votes on Amendment A01322 and on Senate Bill 246 as amended; the chair stated both were adopted and the bill would be reported as amended. The transcript does not record roll-call tallies or individual yea/nay votes.

What the committee did not decide: The committee’s action advances the bill out of committee; the transcript does not show final legislative passage by the full legislative chamber, nor does it show the bill’s assignment to a floor calendar, governor action, or an effective date for any statutory changes.

Next steps noted on the record: The chair closed the meeting after reporting the bill as amended and indicated no further committee action on other business during that session.