LANSING — In the weeks and months after the Feb. 14 shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 students and teachers dead and galvanized the gun control movement, the Michigan Legislature tried to develop legislation with a goal of keeping students safe.
On Tuesday, the legislation received final passage when the Senate approved the bills in 38-0 votes. The bills didn’t include any measures that would limit access to guns or alienate gun rights advocates.
The bills would:
- Create the office of School Safety in the Department of State Police and require the office to develop and offer training to school officials on school safety.
- Require school districts, Intermediate School Districts and public school academies to develop emergency operations plans for every building in the district by Jan. 1, 2020, and then conduct biennial reviews of those plans with local law enforcement.
- Require public and nonpublic school officials to provide emergency contact information to the State Police for at least one school official and consult with law enforcement on school safety issues before the construction or major renovation of school buildings.
- Prohibit and penalize intentionally threatening to commit acts of violence against school students or employees on school property and require districts to report any acts or threats of violence to the Michigan State Police.
- Exempt the school district from the Open Meetings Act when school officials are developing safety plans.
The original package of bills included things like requiring metal detectors and school safety officers in every building, but those provisions weren't included in the final package of bills.
The Legislature also passed spending bills earlier this year that offered $18 million in grants for school districts that wanted to enhance security systems in their schools.
Multiple bills on both sides of the gun issue also have been introduced since the Florida shooting, including allowing teachers to carry weapons in schools or prohibiting certain high risk people from purchasing guns. But none of the gun-related bills have passed in the Legislature.
Staff writer Paul Egan contributed to this report.
Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.
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