STOP School Violence Act of 2018 - H.R.4909
The House passed (407-10) H.R.4909 that would authorize $75 million a year through fiscal 2028 for the Secure Our Schools grant program and would revise it to more explicitly focus the program on preventing student violence. The move comes nearly four weeks after a gunman killed 17 at a high school in Florida and the subsequent mobilization of students across the country calling for more stringent gun control.
The legislation, sponsored by Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., would amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 in order to focus on "training to prevent student violence against others and self, including training for local law enforcement officers, school personnel, and students," as well as "the development and operation of anonymous reporting systems for threats of school violence," which would include mobile apps, hotlines, and websites." It would also reauthorize the Community Oriented Policing Services Secure Our Schools grant program through fiscal 2028 and increase the grant amount to $50,000 from $30,000.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is facing pressure to schedule a vote on gun-related legislation backed by President Donald Trump and enough senators to clear the Senate. The bill (S 2135) from Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., that would enforce existing law related to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System had 60 additional co-sponsors as of Friday, an aide confirmed.
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“You all know Sheriff Rutherford, the former sheriff of Jacksonville. He has a bill, the STOP School Violence Act. This is Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing School Violence Act. We will have that bill up on the floor next week. That will add to the FIX NICS bill sitting over in the Senate.” - House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy
Rutherford’s Bill Supported by 16 Florida Representatives
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman John Rutherford (R-FL), along with Reps. Ted Deutch (D-FL), Derek Kilmer (D-WA), and Hal Rogers (R-KY), held a news conference to discuss their bipartisan bill, H.R. 4909, the Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act of 2018. The STOP School Violence Act would create a grant program to train students, teachers, school officials, and local law enforcement how to identify and intervene early when signs of violence arise, create a coordinated reporting system, and implement FBI & Secret Service-based school threat assessment protocols to prevent school shootings before they happen. This bill, which was introduced on January 30 and now has more than 25 bipartisan cosponsors, would boost school efforts to develop violence prevention programs and coordinate with law enforcement to improve school.
During the news conference, Congressman Rutherford gave the following statement:
“As a career police officer and sheriff for 12 years in my hometown of Jacksonville, I know first-hand the importance of communities working together with their law enforcement agencies to keep people safe. This bill invests in early intervention and prevention programs in our local schools, so that our communities and law enforcement can be partners in preventing violent events from happening. We need to give students, teachers, and law enforcement the tools and training they need to identify warning signs and to know who to contact when they see something that is not right.
“I know from my law enforcement experience that security requires a multi-layered approach. Our bill supports one very important layer of security for our schools. The best way to keep our students and teachers safe is to prevent violence from ever entering school grounds.
“As I used to tell my community in Northeast Florida when I was sheriff: I don’t want to be the best first responder to a mass casualty event. I want to stop these horrific events before they ever occur.”
Background: The STOP School Violence Act reauthorizes and amends the bipartisan 2001 Secure Our Schools (P.L. 106-386) program through the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, providing local law enforcement, school personnel and students with the tools they need to proactively prevent a threat. The legislation authorizes $50 million annually for state and local schools to make evidence-based investments in the development and operation of FBI & Secret Service-based school threat assessment teams to help schools to intake and triage threats before tragedy strikes; implement anonymous reporting systems for students in coordination with local law enforcement; administer training and technical assistance for students, school personnel and law enforcement to identify signs of violence and intervene early to prevent students from hurting themselves and others; facilitate coordination between schools and local law enforcement; and provide significant improvement in school security.
Additionally, 16 Florida Representatives have cosponsored this bill: Gus Bilirakis [R-12], Vern Buchanan [FL-16], Carlos Curbelo [FL-26], Ted Deutch [FL-22], Mario Diaz-Balart [R-25], Lois Frankel [D-21], Matt Gaetz [R-1], Al Lawson [D-5], Brian Mast [R-18], Bill Posey [R-8], Thomas Rooney [R-17], Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R-27], Dennis Ross [R-15], Darren Soto [D-9], Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D-23], and Frederica Wilson [D-24].
Read the full bill text: Here.
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Fact Sheet: The Stop School Violence Act
The STOP School Violence Act is a bill to help schools and communities stop violence before it happens by providing resources focused on early intervention and school safety infrastructure.
The STOP School Violence Act will fund four initiatives.
- First, it will provide grant funding for evidence-based training to prevent student violence against others and self, including training for local law enforcement officers, school personnel, and students. This is not just active shooter training but training designed to give students and teachers the ability to recognize and respond quickly to warning signs of school violence.
- Second, the bill will fund evidence-based technology and equipment to improve school security and prevent violent attacks. This includes the development and operation of anonymous reporting systems like the Safe Utah app, as well as improvements to school security infrastructure to deter and respond to threats of violence. And when prevention efforts fall short—as they unfortunately will in some cases—locks on classroom doors, reinforced entryways, and other commonsense security infrastructure improvements will help limit the violence.
- Third, the bill will provide funding for the development and operation of evidence-based school threat assessment and crisis intervention teams, which may include evidence-based training for school officials in responding to mental health crises. Again, school personnel need the tools to assess and respond to threats before they materialize, including those threats that originate from individuals struggling with mental health issues.
- Finally, the bill will provide funding for continued coordination with local law enforcement. Law enforcement alone cannot prevent school violence—just as no amount of prevention training, security infrastructure improvements, or mental health resources would be able to singularly prevent tragedies like that in Parkland. But law enforcement, and in particular, those officers who already staff schools, have an important role to play in any comprehensive solution to prevent school violence.
