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House education committee introduces RS 32361 to clarify school safety code
Summary
On Feb. 12 the House Committee on Education introduced RS 32361, a replacement for House Bill 43 sponsored by Rep. Chris Mathias, to untangle three requirements in the current code — background checks, emergency operations plans and staff training — and to rely on an existing statutory exemption for emergency-response plans.
Representative Chris Mathias, sponsor of RS 32361, told the House Committee on Education on Feb. 12 that the draft replaces confusing language in the current code by separating three provisions: background checks for people with unsupervised contact with students, a requirement that each school maintain an emergency operations plan, and an obligation for school-district staff to receive initial and annual emergency-operations training.
Mathias said the proposed replacement clarifies those separate duties and removes a paragraph that had attempted to exempt the training and plan from public disclosure because current law already exempts emergency-response plans from public records when disclosure would jeopardize safety. Mathias quoted the operative language, saying the statute "excludes" records related to critical infrastructure and "such records may include emergency response plans." He asked the committee to send RS 32361 to the second-reading calendar.
Committee members offered brief remarks of support. Representative Harris thanked Mathias for reworking the language, and Representative Garner moved the motion to introduce RS 32361 and send it directly to the second-reading calendar "with a due pass recommendation." The chair called for the voice vote; members responded "aye" and the motion passed.
The introduction means RS 32361 will receive a bill number and be scheduled for the committee’s next hearing and any further amendments. No changes to the underlying substance of districts’ responsibilities were adopted at this meeting; the committee’s action was to introduce the replacement and advance it to the floor process.
