Washington State Representative Prefiles School Safety Bills

Washington State Representative Prefiles School Safety Bills

House Bill 1035 focuses on school resource officers while House Bill 1038 aims to authorize certain school employees to carry firearms on campuses.

  • By Jessica Davis
  • December 19, 2018

Rep. Jim Walsh has prefiled two bills focused on school safety in Washington State. House Bill 1035 focuses on school resource officers while House Bill 1038 aims to authorize certain school employees to carry firearms on campuses.

HB 1035 states that recent violence on U.S. campuses has “threatened the safety of children.” In the bill, Walsh proposes the hiring of school resource officers “to promote a safe learning environment and to protect the safety and welfare of all students and school personnel”.

The bill would provide funding to hire a full-time school resource officer at every school in Washington state, with a starting salary of $70,000 adjusted for inflation and regional salary impacts. According to the bill, the salaries are described as part of the funding “deemed necessary by the legislature to support school districts in offering the minimum program of basic education.”

If HB 1035 is brought to the floor and passed, school resource officers would be hired and placed on campuses beginning in the 2019/2020 school year.

HB 1038 would allow public school districts and private schools to authorize permanent employees to carry firearms on school grounds under certain conditions. The bill also cites “recent acts of mass violence across the nation” that have “threatened the safety of children at school”.According to the bill, “school staff can be a further security resource when they receive training that is equivalent to training received by law enforcement”.

HB 1038 would allow districts to create policies for “trained and certified staff to conceal, carry, and further protect our students from harm”. Under the bill, employees would, at minimum, be required to successfully complete firearms training equivalent to the firearms training undergone by commissioned law enforcement.

If HB 1038 is passed, districts would immediately be able to implement the changes.

About the Author

Jessica Davis is the Associate Content Editor for 1105 Media.

Featured

  • 77% of Americans Support Gun Detection Technology in Schools, Workplaces, and Houses of Worship

    More than three-quarters of Americans (77.4%) believe gun detection technology should be deployed in schools, workplaces, and other public spaces, according to new survey data released recently. The national survey shows strong support for incorporating camera-based gun detection into existing video surveillance systems. Read Now

  • Eagle Eye Networks Launches AI Camera Gun Detection

    Eagle Eye Networks, a provider of cloud video surveillance, recently introduced Eagle Eye Gun Detection, a new layer of protection for schools and businesses that works with existing security cameras and infrastructure. Eagle Eye Networks is the first to build gun detection into its platform. Read Now

  • Beyond Containment: Redefining Cybersecurity and the Digital Campus at Washington College

    In the aftermath of a ransomware attack, Washington College stood at a crossroads — its legacy defined by centuries of academic excellence, but its digital infrastructure revealing the fragile underbelly of modern campus operations. Read Now

  • California School District Protects Campuses With Cloud-Managed Access Control

    Established in 1901 in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Mountain View Los Altos High School District (MVLA) serves 4,400 students across the cities of Mountain View, Los Altos, and Los Altos Hills. It houses two award-winning high school campuses commonly ranked in the top 1 percent nationally; it also hosts a continuation high school, an adult education campus, an alternative academy for arts and technology, and a nontraditional high school program held at an innovation center. Read Now

Most   Popular