Texas Representative Introduces Armed School Security Immunity Bill
- By Matt Jones
- March 25, 2021
On Wednesday, March 24, a member of the Texas House of Representatives introduced a bill to the House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence that would grant a level of immunity from liability to armed school security personnel in the event of a public safety incident.
Rep. Cole Hefner authored and introduced House Bill 1788. It would protect paid or volunteer security personnel at both public and private schools, as well as the schools themselves, from legal liability for certain actions of those security staff members. Immunity would be granted when “reasonable action (is) taken by the security personnel to maintain the safety of the school campus, including action relating to possession or use of a firearm.”
“This is just to give the schools and the security personnel some protections from civil liabilities when they’re using reasonable actions to protect their students,” Hefner told East Texas Now.
In order for the immunity to take effect, though, the employee must have received written permission from school authorities—either the board of trustees of a public school district or the governing body of a private school or open-enrollment charter school.
Austin news station KLTV reports that the bill had no other speakers for or against it, and that it is pending a future vote.