SPONSOR:

Rep. Miro

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

147th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE AMENDMENT NO. 2

TO

HOUSE BILL NO. 33

WHEREAS, the Office of the Controller General has noted that the Fiscal Year 2014 budget, as written by the Joint Finance Committee, includes $700,000 for school safety plans that could be used as a source of funding to cover the initial costs of installing silent alarm systems in public schools; and

WHEREAS, the safety of Delaware children while in our public schools is of the utmost importance; and

WHEREAS, adequate funds may be utilized from the budgeted amount for school safety plans, or other available funds in FY 2014, for silent alarm systems to protect our children.

NOW, THEREFORE:

AMEND House Bill No. 33 by striking lines 6 through 9 and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

(b) Every public school shall be equipped with a silent alarm system capable of notifying local law enforcement of an emergency that may be manually activated from at least one location within the public school.

FURTHER AMEND House Bill No. 33 by inserting the following after line 17:

Section 2. This Act shall become effective upon the availability of funds in the Annual Appropriations Act to cover the initial costs of installing the alarm systems required under this Act.

SYNOPSIS

This Amendment affords individual schools and school districts greater flexibility in selecting the particular alarm system appropriate to accomplish the important objective of efficiently and effectively notifying law enforcement of an emergency within a public school by eliminating the requirement that such alarm system be linked directly to local law enforcement authorities.

This Amendment further makes the requirement that every public school be equipped with a silent alarm system contingent upon an appropriation sufficient to cover the initial costs of installing such systems.