HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/CS/CS/HB 1421 School Safety
SPONSOR(S): Education & Employment Committee, Secondary Education & Career Development
Subcommittee, Early Learning & Elementary Education Subcommittee, Hawkins, Hunschofsky and others
TIED BILLS: None IDEN./SIM. BILLS: SB 802
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY CHIEF
1) Early Learning & Elementary Education 12 Y, 3 N, As CS Wolff Brink
Subcommittee
2) Secondary Education & Career Development 13 Y, 0 N, As CS Wolff Sanchez
Subcommittee
3) Education & Employment Committee 18 Y, 0 N, As CS Wolff Hassell
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
In 2018, the Legislature enacted the “Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act” to address
school safety and security and establish the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Sc hool Public Safety
Commission (MSD Commission). The bill improves transparency around school safety and security and
addresses student mental health by:
 Requiring district school boards and charter school governing boards to adopt a plan that guides family
reunification when K-12 public schools are closed or unexpectedly evacuated due to natural or manmade
disasters.
 Requiring that the State Board of Education adopt rules setting requirements for emergency drills including
timing, frequency, participation, training, notification, and accommodations.
 Requiring that law enforcement responsible for responding to schools in the event of an assailant
emergency be physically present and participate in active assailant drills.
 Requiring that school safety and environmental incident reporting data be published annually in a uniform,
statewide format that is easy to read and understand.
 Requiring safe-school officers that are sworn law enforcement officers to complete mental health crisis
intervention training.
 Requiring safe-school officers that are not sworn law enforcement officers to receive training on incident
response and de-escalation.
 Requiring that school district and local mobile response teams use the same suicide screening tool
approved by the Department of Education.
 Requiring that school districts annually certify, beginning with July 1, 2023, that at least 80 percent of school
personnel received the mandatory youth mental health awareness training.
 Requiring the Office of Safe Schools to provide school districts information on the proper use of the School
Safety Awareness Program, including the consequences of knowingly submitting false information.
The bill provides that the MSD Commission shall continue until July 1, 2026, for the purpose of monitoring
implementation of school safety legislation.
The bill requires the Commissioner of Education to oversee and enforce school safety and security compliance
in the state.
The fiscal impact of the bill is indeterminate. See Fiscal Comments.
Except as otherwise provided, the bill has an effective date of July 1, 2022.
This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives .
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 FULL ANALYSIS
I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Background
In response to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, the
Florida Legislature passed SB 7026, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act
(Act).1 The Act’s provisions addressed school safety and security by creating the Office of Safe Schools
(OSS) within the Florida Department of Education (DOE) and requiring increased coordination among
state and local agencies serving students with or at-risk of mental illness, among other provisions.
The Act created the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission (MSD
Commission), composed of 16 members, to investigate system failures in the Marjory Stonem an
Douglas High School shooting and prior mass violence incidents and develop recommendations for
system-wide improvements. The MSD Commission submitted its initial report on January 2, 2019,
which contained numerous school safety and security recommendations 2 that the Legislature
addressed in SB 7030 (2019), Implementation of Legislative Recommendations of the Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. 3 The MSD Commission’s second report,
submitted on November 1, 2019, provided recommendations related to safe-school officers, threat
assessments, juvenile diversion programs, and mental health, among other recommendations. 4 The
MSD Commission is authorized to issue annual reports and is scheduled to sunset on July 1, 2023. 5
In February 2019, Governor Ron DeSantis requested, and the Florida Supreme Court convened, a
Grand Jury to study systemic school safety failures. The Grand Jury was tasked with investigating
whether specific public entities failed to act or committed fraud that undermined the school safety
activities the Act and subsequent legislation required.6 The Grand Jury’s third and most recent report,
issued in December 2020, included an analysis of the state’s mental health infrastructure and found
that three systemic problems are impacting student mental health:7 the current mental health system is
underfunded, leading to an inability to diagnose and properly treat mental health problems; the system
is too decentralized with national, state, and local entities providing parallel and duplicative resources
with little to no coordination; and the Department of Children and Families (DCF), the state agency
tasked with oversight, is not currently equipped or empowered to exercise the degree of leadership and
control necessary to correct problems in the system. 8
School Safety Oversight and Compliance
1 Chapter 2018-3, L.O.F.
2 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, Initial Report (Jan. 2, 2019), available at
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/MSDHS/CommissionReport.pdf.
3 Chapter 2019-22, L.O.F.
4 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, Second Report (Nov. 1, 2020), available at
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/MSDHS/MSD-Report-2-Public-Version.pdf.
5 Section 943.687(9), F.S.
6 Ron Desantis, Governor of Florida, Petition for Order to Impanel a Statewide Grand Jury, (Feb. 13, 2019), available at
https://efactssc-public.flcourts.org/casedocuments/2019/240/2019-240_petition_72393_e83.pdf; In re Statewide Grand Jury #20, No.
SC19-240, 2019 WL 908518 (Fla. Feb. 25, 2019), available at https://efactssc-public.flcourts.org/casedocuments/2019/240/2019-
240_disposition_145442_d04i.pdf.
7 Statewide Grand Jury # 20, Third Interim Report of the Twentieth Statewide Grand Jury, (Dec. 10, 2020), available at
https://efactssc-public.flcourts.org/casedocuments/2019/240/2019-240_ miscdoc_365089_e20.pdf.
8 Id.
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 Present Situation
Florida’s Commissioner of Education is required by law to oversee compliance with the safety and
security requirements of the Act by school districts, district school superintendents, and public schools,
including charter schools.9 The commissioner must facilitate compliance to the maximum extent
provided under law, identify incidents of noncompliance, and impose or recommend enforcement and
sanctioning actions to the State Board of Education (SBE), the Governor, or the Legislature. 10
The OSS is fully accountable to the commissioner and serves as a central repository for best practices,
training standards, and compliance oversight in all matters regarding school safety and security,
including prevention efforts, intervention efforts, and emergency preparedness planning. 11 The OSS
responsibilities include, among other duties, collecting school environmental safety incident reporting
(SESIR) data, providing a School Safety Specialist Training Program, evaluating usage of the
standardized, statewide behavioral threat assessment instrument, monitoring compliance with
requirements relating to school safety, and reporting incidents of noncompliance to the commissioner
and the SBE.12
District school boards and superintendents each have responsibilities related to school safety and
security. District school superintendents must designate a school safety specialist who is responsible
for the supervision and oversight for all school safety and security personnel, policies, and procedures
in the school district, including conducting and reporting the recommendations from the annual school
security risk assessment at each public school using the Florida Safe Schools Assessment Tool
(FSSAT).13 District school boards must adopt policies that guide many aspects of school safety
including the establishment of threat assessment teams (TAT) and emergency procedures and
emergency preparation drills. The TATs assess and provide intervention recommendations for
individuals whose behavior may pose a threat to the safety of school staff or students. 14 The TAT
members must include individuals with expertise in counseling, instruction, school administration, and
law enforcement.15 To conduct its work, a TAT must use the standardized, statewide behavioral threat
assessment instrument developed by the OSS 16 and may use the Florida Schools Safety Portal
(FSSP).17
Emergency drills and procedures are guided by district school boards policies and procedures, which
are formulated in consultation with the appropriate public safety agencies. These policies apply to all
students and faculty at all K-12 public schools. Emergencies include fires, natural disasters, active
shooter and hostage situations, and bomb threats.18 Drills for active shooter and hostage situations
must be conducted in accordance with developmentally appropriate and age-appropriate procedures at
least as often as other emergency drills.19 The active shooter situation training for each school must
engage the participation of the district school safety specialist, the TAT members, faculty, staff, and
students, and must be conducted by the law enforcement agency or agencies that are designated as
first responders to the school’s campus.20
9 Section 1001.11(9), F.S.
10 Id.
11 Section 1001.212, F.S.
12 Id.
13 Id.
14 Section 1006.07(7), F.S. The OSS is required to develop model policies for the operation of threat assessment teams. Id. See Florida
Department of Education, Model Behavioral Threat Assessment Policies and Best Practices for K -12 Schools, available at
http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/18612/urlt/threat-assessment-model-policies.pdf.
15 Section 1006.07(7)(a), F.S.
16 Id.
17 Section 1006.07(7)(f), F.S.; See also Florida Department of Education, Department of Education Announces the Florida Schools
Safety Portal (Aug. 1, 2019), available at http://www.fldoe.org/newsroom/latest-news/department-of-education-announces-the-
florida-schools-safety-portal.stml.
18 Section 1006.07(4)(a), F.S.
19 Id.
20 Section 1006.07(4)(b)1., F.S.
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 In 2020, the Legislature passed HB 23, requiring all public and charter schools to have a mobile panic
alert system.21 Known as Alyssa’s Law, the bill is named for Alyssa Alhadeff, a Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School student who was one of the 17 people killed during the shooting. The legislation
required the DOE to procure a statewide, mobile panic alert system for school districts to facilitate an
integrated E911 transmission or mobile activation during emergencies on public school campuses. The
DOE completed the procurement and selected 11 vendors from which school districts may choose to
satisfy this requirement.22
In 2021, the Legislature clarified that school districts were required to conduct active assailant drills but
may provide accommodations for emergency drills conducted by exceptional student education
centers.23
Effect of Proposed Changes
The bill extends the MSD Commission until July 1, 2026, for the purpose of monitoring implementation
of school safety legislation. The bill updates the responsibilities of the MSD Commission to include:
 Evaluating the activities of the Office of Safe Schools to provide guidance to school districts,
identifying areas of noncompliance and mechanisms used to achieve compliance.
 Reviewing the findings of the Auditor General regarding school district school safety policies
and procedures that need improvement to ensure and demonstrate compliance with state law.
 Reviewing school hardening grant expenditures and evaluating such expenditures based on the
report of the School Hardening and Harm Mitigation Workgroup, recommendations of law
enforcement agencies pursuant to s. 1006.07(8), and the return on investment analysis required
by s. 1006.1493.
 Evaluating the utilization of the centralized integrated data repository by schools and its
effectiveness in conducting threat assessments.
 Assessing efforts by local governments to improve communication and coordination among
regional emergency communications systems.
 Investigating any failures in incident responses by local law enforcement agencies and school
resource officers.
 Investigating any failures in interactions with perpetrators preceding incidents of violence.
The bill clarifies the commissioner’s existing authority to oversee compliance with requirements relating
to school safety and security by school districts, district school superintendents, and public schools,
including charter schools.
The bill expands the requirement for OSS to provide ongoing professional development opportunities to
school districts to include charter school personnel. The bill requires the OSS to maintain a directory of
public school-based diversion programs and coordinate compliance with the statute governing these
programs with each judicial circuit and the Department of Juvenile Justice. The OSS must also provide
school district with information on the appropriate use of the School Safety Awareness program,
including the consequences of knowingly submitting false information.
The bill requires that the SBE adopt rules governing emergency drills by August 1, 2023. Such rules
must be based on recommendations from the MSD Commission and consultation with state and local
constituencies. The rules must require that all types of emergency drills be conducted at least once per
school year. Additionally, the rules must define “emergency drill,” “active threat,” and “after-action
report” and provide minimum requirements for school district emergency drill policies and procedures
by incident type, school level, school type, and student and school characteristics, including:
 timing;
 frequency;
 participation;
 training;
21 Chapter 2020-145, L.O.F.
22 Florida Department of Education, Alyssa’s Alert, https://www.fldoe.org/safe-schools/alyssas-alert.stml (last visited Feb. 11, 2022).
23 Section 6, ch. 2021-176, L.O.F.
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  notification;
 accommodations; and
 response to threat situations.
The bill requires that law enforcement responsible for responding to schools in the event of an assailant
emergency be physically present and participate in active assailant emergency drills. School districts
must provide notice to the law enforcement officers required to be present at such drills at least 24
hours prior to the drill.
The bill requires that all members of a TAT be involved in the threat assessment process and final
decision regarding an individual whose behavior may pose a threat to school safety. The bill provides
that the members of a TAT should reflect the demographic makeup of the students at the school.
Safe Schools Tools and Resources
Present Situation
In the Florida K-20 Education Code,24 parent is defined as, “either or both parents of a student, any
guardian of a student, any person in a parental relationship to a student, or any person exercising
supervisory authority over a student in place of the parent.” 25 According to s. 1002.20, F.S., the K-12
Student and Parents Rights section of Florida law, “[p]arents of public school students must receive
accurate and timely information regarding their child’s academic progress and must be informed of
ways they can help their child to succeed in school.”26 In furtherance, the code includes numerous
statutory rights of students and their parents. Among other rights, the code establishes that parents
have the right to seek education school choice options including charter schools, private schools that
accept students who participate in a state scholarship program,