Governor signs a wide package of bills into law, including student-privacy and housing measures

The governor signed a package of bills into law at a public ceremony that brought together lawmakers, advocates and community members to mark passage of measures on student privacy, public safety, health care, housing and labor.

House Bill 12 96, described by the governor as protecting K–12 students’ safety and privacy, adds ethnicity, homelessness, immigration or citizenship status and neurodivergence to the state’s public-school nondiscrimination provisions and clarifies parent and guardian notice rules for health-care and counseling information. The law also directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a process to investigate complaints and require corrective action when districts fail to comply. "The top priority for our schools must be to ensure a safe learning environment where every student has the chance to thrive," the governor said during remarks introducing the bill.

Representative Liz Berry, the sponsor noted later in the program, stressed the bill’s long arc of advocacy. "This has been a 10 year effort in the making," she said, adding that the measure "will save lives" and that advocates and students in the room helped push it…