H.R. 1335 — MSD Act

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Measures for Safer School Districts Act” or the “MSD Act.”

This section establishes, as a condition of receiving funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, new emergency response and parental notification procedures for each local educational agency. It requires each agency to develop and implement procedures covering all students, faculty, and staff at public elementary and secondary schools under its jurisdiction and to ensure that parents and guardians receive timely notification of covered threats and emergencies occurring on school grounds, during school transportation, or during school-sponsored activities. This section also requires the procedures to be developed in consultation with appropriate public safety agencies, to use commonly used alarm system responses for specific types of emergencies, and to identify both the primary emergency response agency responsible for each covered threat or emergency and the school personnel responsible for contacting that agency. As background, local educational agencies are the school districts and other public education entities that administer elementary and secondary schools and receive federal education funds. This section defines covered threats and emergencies to include: (1) weapons possession or use when there is intended harm toward another person; (2) active shooter or hostage situations; (3) bomb threats; (4) murder, homicide, or manslaughter; (5) sex offenses, including rape, sexual assault, or sexual misconduct involving a student and school personnel; (6) trespassing; (7) fires; (8) natural weather emergencies, including hurricanes, tornadoes, and severe storms; (9) natural disasters; (10) exposure to harmful substances or conditions as a result of a manmade emergency; and (11) other threats and emergencies that a local educational agency determines appropriate to address through the required procedures.

This section directs the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, within 90 days after enactment, to convene a rulemaking advisory committee to develop findings and recommendations for a final rule requiring the installation or modification of interior and exterior doors in elementary and secondary schools that receive Federal funding. The committee must be chaired by the Director and include the Secretary of Education (or designee) and representatives of State and local law enforcement, school safety personnel or school resource officers, school safety advocates, teachers or administrators, ballistic shielding experts, school construction experts, and other stakeholders the Director determines appropriate. This section requires the advisory committee to consider door reinforcement requirements, performance standards, development and certification, testing, manufacturing, installation, training, the service life of reinforced doors, and how to protect against threats without impeding law enforcement or emergency evacuation. It also requires the Director to submit a report to the House and Senate homeland security and education committees within 1 year after the committee is convened and, within 6 months after that report is submitted, to issue a final rule requiring reinforced interior and exterior doors in elementary and secondary schools. (Thus, the rulemaking process must be completed before the mandate takes effect.) This section administers the requirement under the State Homeland Security Grant Program under 6 U.S.C. § 605 and authorizes an additional $100 million for each fiscal year beginning with the fiscal year in which the final rule is issued and continuing for the next 9 fiscal years, for a total of 10 fiscal years. The additional amounts may be used only to carry out this section.