REPORTING ATTEMPTED SCHOOL VIOLENCE S.B. 958:
SUMMARY OF INTRODUCED BILL
IN COMMITTEE
Senate Bill 958 (as introduced 4-19-18)
Sponsor: Senator Darwin L. Booher
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Revised School Code to do the following:
-- Require a school district, intermediate school district (ISD), or public school academy (PSA) to provide a report to the Michigan Department of State Police (MSP) on attempted acts of violence on, or threats of violence on or off, school grounds that were prevented or thwarted.
-- Require the MSP to compile a report on information reported by the school districts, ISDs, and PSAs, and provide it to the School Safety Commission.
Specifically, the bill would require a school district, ISD, or PSA, at least annually, to provide a report to the MSP in a form and manner prescribed by the Department on both of the following types of incidents regarding a school operated by the district or PSA:
-- An attempted act of violence on school grounds that was prevented or thwarted.
-- A threat of violence made on or off school grounds that was directed at a school, school staff, or pupils and that was prevented or thwarted.
The report would have to include a description of the incident and how it was thwarted or prevented, and exclude the name of the school affected by the incident, the name of any individual involved in the incident, and any other information that would identify the school affected or individual or individuals involved in the incident.
At least annually, the MSP would have to compile a report on the information reported by school districts and PSAs and provide it to the School Safety Commission created under the Comprehensive School Safety Plan Act, in a form and manner the MSP prescribed. (House Bill 5828 (H-1) would enact the Comprehensive School Safety Plan Act to establish the School Safety Commission and require the Commission to, among other things, make recommendations to the MSP for rules determining school safety measures and metrics to evaluate school safety.)
A report from a school district or PSA, or from the MSP, would be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
The bill would take effect 90 days after its enactment.
Proposed MCL 380.1308a Legislative Analyst: Jeff Mann
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have a fiscal impact on the MSP and intermediate school districts (ISDs), school districts, and public school academies. The MSP would experience additional costs from processing annual reports from ISDs, school districts, and public school academies.
The MSP currently receives information on incidents related to OK2SAY and passes that information on to the Department of the Attorney General, where it is compiled into an annual report, but the MSP creates no report specific to school violence currently. If a formalized reporting methodology from schools were required, the MSP likely would incur costs for programing that would allow for analysis, synthesis, and deconfliction of data submitted to optimize the quality and usefulness of reports.
Local ISDs, school districts, and public school academies would experience minimal costs associated with providing this information to the MSP. Requiring the report only once a year would keep overall costs down.
Cory Savino
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.