Bill Text: HI HB301 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: School Safety; Classroom Doors

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 6-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-01-22 - Referred to EDN, referral sheet 3 [HB301 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-HB301-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	301
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO School safety.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that schools should be a place of safety and security for children of all ages.  However, the tragic 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, highlighted the need to re-evaluate safety procedures currently in place.  Although the doors to the school automatically locked once classes began and identification was demanded of visitors, the perpetrator was able to force his way into the school, where he killed twenty children and six adults.  According to witnesses, school staff attempted to protect students by locking classroom doors, hiding them in closets, or barricading them in other rooms.

The purpose of this Act is to strengthen the level of safety and protection given to schoolchildren in Hawaii by requiring that the department of education install classroom doors that lock and unlock under certain circumstances, and allowing school principals or their designees to lock classroom

doors when doing so is necessary to ensure lives and safety.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 132, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§132-     School doors.  (a)  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, before July 1, 2015, all classroom doors of every school building of the department of education shall have the capacity to be:

     (1)  Locked from the inside of the classroom; provided that the door shall not have the capacity to be locked from the inside without the use of a:

          (A)  Key;

          (B)  Combination code; or

          (C)  Mechanism that is remotely controlled by the school's principal or the principal's designee;

     (2)  Unlocked from the outside of the classroom; provided that the door shall not have the capacity to be unlocked from the outside without the use of one of the mechanisms described in subparagraphs (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (1); and

     (3)  Easily opened from the inside of the classroom without the use of any key or other special unlocking mechanism.

     (b)  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the principal of a school or the principal's designee, in accordance with internal departmental guidelines issued by the superintendent, may, even when a school building is occupied, lock any or all of the school's classroom doors after making a reasonable determination that such action is necessary for the safety of the occupants of the school building; provided that all classroom doors shall still have the capacity to be opened pursuant to paragraph (3) of subsection (a).

     (c)  In the absence of a finding of gross negligence, neither the department of education, nor the superintendent, nor a principal, nor a principal's designee shall be liable in any civil action for injuries suffered as a result of a determination made pursuant to subsection (b) to:

     (1)  Issue relevant departmental guidelines; or

     (2)  Lock or unlock a school building's classroom door.

     (d)  Before July 1, 2015, the state fire council, in consultation with the department of education, shall adopt administrative rules in accordance with chapter 91 to facilitate the administration of this section.

     (e)  The department of education and the state fire council

shall submit a joint annual report to the legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of each of the 2014, 2015, and 2016 regular sessions which, at a minimum, shall:

     (1)  State the status of any pending adoption of or amendments to the administrative rules described in subsection (d);

     (2)  Provide a fair and accurate estimate of the cost of installing doors that comply with subsection (a); and

     (3)  Make recommendations for the amendment of this section, if any amendments are warranted.

     SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are severable.

     SECTION 5.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

 

 

     SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________
	_____________________________

 

Report Title:

School Safety; Classroom Doors

 

Description:

Requires, by July 1, 2015, the department of education to install classroom doors that lock and unlock under certain circumstances.  Allows school principals or their designees to lock classroom doors when doing so is necessary to ensure safety.

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.