This bill enacts the "School Safety Protection Order Act of 2023" to do the following:
(1) Requires that, if a person who is receiving service, has applied for service, or for whom someone has applied for or proposed service because the person has mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, or a developmental disability (a "service recipient") communicates a threat of violence or potential violence against a student, teacher, or school to a qualified health professional, and the professional, using the reasonable skill, knowledge, and care ordinarily possessed and exercised by such professionals under similar circumstances, has determined, or reasonably should have determined, that the service recipient has the apparent ability to carry out the school safety threat unless prevented from doing so, the professional must take reasonable care to predict, warn, or take other precautions to protect students, teachers, or schools from violent conduct by the service recipient. This bill requires the professional to, when warranted in the professional's opinion, report the school safety threat to the appropriate LEA's threat assessment team, or to an equivalent threat assessment team if the school safety threat concerns a charter school or private school. Any such report will be confidential to the same extent as other confidential information that is provided to a threat assessment team under present law;
(2) Authorizes private schools and public charter schools to adopt policies governing their participation in LEA threat assessment teams and authorizes safety officials for such institutions to work in conjunction with an LEA's threat assessment team. Any such officials are subject to the statutory requirements for participation in a threat assessment team and applicable LEA policies;
(3) Creates a process for school safety protection orders whereby an LEA threat assessment team that determines that a person is engaged in threatening or dangerous behavior that constitutes a significant threat to the safety of students within the LEA will be required to report the threat to local law enforcement so that a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency petition in circuit or juvenile court, as applicable, for an order of protection for a duration of up to 12 months, order must be based on clear and convincing evidence that the respondent poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to the respondent or others by having in the respondent's custody or control, or by purchasing, possessing, or receiving, a firearm or any ammunition. The full text of this bill specifies various procedural requirements for a hearing on a petition for a school safety protection order;
(4) Authorizes courts to issue a temporary ex parte school safety protection order pending the hearing for an order authorized under (3) and without notice to the respondent by including in the petition detailed allegations based on personal knowledge that the respondent poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to the respondent's self or others in the near future by having in the respondent's custody or control, or by purchasing, possessing, or receiving, a firearm or ammunition. The standard for issuance of an ex parte school safety protection order will be reasonable cause to believe that the respondent poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to the respondent's self or others in the near future by having in the respondent's custody or control, or by purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm or ammunition, then the court shall issue a temporary ex parte school safety protection order;
(5) Upon issuance of an order under (3) or (4), the respondent will be required to surrender any firearm or ammunition that the person owns to law enforcement and will be prohibited from purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm or ammunition until the order is vacated or expires. The full text of this bill specifies how the dispossession process will operate and the processes for vacating or renewing an order and the process for returning a respondent's firearms upon vacation or renewal of an order;
(6) Extend immunity from criminal or civil liability on any person or entity for acts or omissions related to obtaining a school safety protection order or temporary ex parte school safety protection order, including, but not limited to, providing notice to the petitioner, a family or household member of the respondent, and any known third party who may be at risk of violence or failure to provide such notice, or reporting, declining to report, investigating, declining to investigate, filing, or declining to file, a petition for an order; and
(7) Authorizes LEA threat assessment teams to report certain otherwise confidential information related to an adult to law enforcement for purposes of seeking a school safety protection order; provided, that such disclosure must comply with all relevant privacy laws.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 49-6-2701, 49-6-2702