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Senate defeats Miranda amendment to school-safety bill, then advances HB 2074
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Summary
Senator Catherine Miranda offered a floor amendment to House Bill 2074 to add school psychologists and narrow the program's permitted uses; the amendment lost 11–14 in a division. The Senate then advanced HB 2074 on a committee "do pass" recommendation.
Senator Catherine Miranda offered a floor amendment to House Bill 2074 on April 17, 2025, proposing to add school psychologists to the school-safety program and to narrow allowable uses of the program's funds so they would be limited to school-safety professionals rather than technology or infrastructure projects. Miranda said the amendment was intended to make the bill reflect the recommendations of Superintendent Horne's School Safety Task Force.
"The goal of my floor amendment is to ensure that the bill accurately reflects recommendations of superintendent Horne's school safety task force," Senator Catherine Miranda said on the floor. "This amendment includes school psychologists in the school safety program. ... This amendment removes the ability for the school safety program to be opened up for purchasing technology and funding infrastructure projects."
The Senate held a division vote on the Miranda amendment; the transcript records 11 ayes and 14 nays, and the amendment failed. The bill sponsor corroborated on the floor that the sponsor and superintendent were willing to accept the amendment as a "soft hostile" amendment, but the senators voted it down. After the failed amendment, the committee report recommending HB 2074 received a "do pass" recommendation and was advanced to the calendar.
Why it matters: the amendment would have changed who and what the school-safety program can fund — expanding inclusion of school psychologists but narrowing the program's authority to purchase technology and to require emergency response plan changes. Supporters argued the task-force recommendations were not reflected in the printed bill; opponents urged rejection because the bill sponsor preferred the measure as printed.
The transcript records debate on the floor about stakeholder vetting and the appropriate role of the school-safety program. The committee-of-the-whole motion to return HB 2074 with a due-pass recommendation was moved by Senator David C. Farnsworth and adopted as recorded in the session transcript.
