BILL NUMBER: AB 1587 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 24, 1999
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Scott
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Jackson, Knox, Kuehl, and
Machado)
(Coauthors: Senators Ortiz, Schiff, and Solis)
FEBRUARY 26, 1999
An act to add Article 10.4 (commencing with Section 35294.10) to
Chapter 2 of Part 21 of the Education Code, relating to school
violence, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency
thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1587, as amended, Scott. School violence.
Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that all
California public schools in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12,
inclusive, operated by a school district develop, in cooperation with
law enforcement agencies and others, a comprehensive school safety
plan and authorizes a governing board of a school district to apply
to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for a grant not to exceed
$15,000 per school to implement a plan meeting prescribed criteria.
This bill would establish the School Emergency Response to Violent
Events program to require the State Department of Education to
provide assistance to schools and school districts in responding to a
violent event, including, but not limited to, the establishment of
regional training programs and the development of a crisis response
handbook. The bill would appropriate $2,000,000
$138,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of
Education for these purposes.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately, as
an urgency measure.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) In response to recent homicides on school campuses, there is
need to reduce the aftermath trauma created by violent events and to
restore a safe learning environment for pupil learning.
(b) A single event that results in death can leave a school campus
in crisis and disrupt the school climate sufficiently to interfere
with pupil learning.
(c) Youth between 12 and 17 years of age are crime victims five
times more often than adults over 35 years of age.
(d) Homicides of youth between 12 and 17 years of age have
increased 95 percent between 1980 and 1994.
(e) Mental health practitioners can provide valuable services in
response to the aftermath of violent events on school campuses in
which death has left survivors traumatized and unable to fully
participate in or benefit from school educational and other
activities.
(f) A coordinated response team of school psychologists, school
counselors, other mental health professionals, and law enforcement
representatives who have received specialized training should be
available to schools and districts when a violent event occurs on
campus or in the adjacent school community.
(g) Statewide training and resources are needed to assist schools
and school districts to anticipate specific processes and steps to
follow if and when a violent event, such as a suicide or homicide,
impacts a schoolsite.
SEC. 2. Article 10.4 (commencing with Section 35294.10) is added,
immediately preceding Section 35295, to Chapter 2 of Part 21 of the
Education Code, to read:
Article 10.4. School Emergency Response to Violent Events
35294.10. (a) The School Emergency Response to Violent Events
(SERVE) program is hereby established. Pursuant to this article, the
State Department of Education shall do all of the following:
(1) Establish and operate regional training programs to assist
schools and school districts to develop plans to anticipate their
initial steps in the event of a violent event and to incorporate
those plans within school and school district emergency response
plans.
(2) Establish and train a cadre of mental health professionals and
law enforcement officials to be on call for those school districts
that must address the aftermath of a violent event.
(3) Develop a crisis response handbook for distribution to every
school and school district.
(4) Identify services and resources available to schools and
school districts to help them anticipate and respond to violent,
disruptive situations.
(5) Assist school districts in conducting practice responses, and
in performing periodic reviews and updates of the disaster procedure
policies.
(b) An evaluation of the effectiveness of training shall be
conducted by the State Department of Education and reported to the
Legislature by March 1, 2002.
SEC. 3. The sum of two million dollars ($2,000,000)
one hundred thirty-eight thousand dollars ($138,000)
is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the State
Department of Education for the School Emergency Response to Violent
Events (SERVE) program for the purposes of Article 10.4 (commencing
with Section 35294.10) of Chapter 2 of Part 21 of the Education Code.
SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order for training and assistance to be provided to schools and
school districts, at the earliest possible time, for preparing
crisis response plans, as well as identifying services and resources
available to schools and school districts to held them anticipate and
respond to violent, disruptive situations, it is necessary that this
act take effect immediately.