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AB-2133 School safety: confidential crisis help systems.(2019-2020)

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Date Published: 05/01/2020 09:00 PM
AB2133:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  May 04, 2020

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2133

Introduced by Assembly Member Irwin

February 10, 2020

An act to amend Section 32280 add Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 32278) to Chapter 2.5 of Part 19 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, relating to school safety.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2133, as amended, Irwin. Comprehensive school safety plans. School safety: confidential crisis help systems.
The Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985 requires school districts and county offices of education to be responsible for the overall development of all comprehensive school safety plans for their schools operating kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive.
This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2023, the Office of Emergency Services, in collaboration with the Coordinated School Health and Safety Office of the State Department of Education, to implement and maintain a statewide confidential crisis help system for purposes of the identification and early intervention of individuals who may be experiencing crisis or whose behavior may indicate a threat to the health and safety of themselves, pupils, school staff, or other community members. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2022, the Office of Emergency Services, in collaboration with the Coordinated School Health and Safety Office, to develop standards and guidelines for the operation and use of the statewide confidential crisis help system. The bill would require, on or before August 1, 2023, a county office of education to adopt policies for the use of, and have in place, either the statewide confidential crisis help system or another platform that meets the standards and guidelines developed for the statewide confidential crisis help system. By imposing additional duties on county offices of education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that all public schools, in kindergarten, and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, operated by school districts, in cooperation with specified entities and individuals, develop a comprehensive school safety plan, as provided.

This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to a provision related to that declaration of legislative intent.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NOYES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Article 4.5 (commencing with Section 32278) is added to Chapter 2.5 of Part 19 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, to read:
Article  4.5. Confidential Crisis Help Systems

32278.
 (a) On or before January 1, 2023, the Office of Emergency Services, in collaboration with the Coordinated School Health and Safety Office, shall implement and maintain a statewide confidential crisis help system for purposes of the identification and early intervention of individuals who may be experiencing crisis or whose behavior may indicate a threat to the health and safety of themselves, pupils, school staff, or other community members.
(b) On or before January 1, 2022, the Office of Emergency Services, in collaboration with the Coordinated School Health and Safety Office, shall develop standards and guidelines for the operation and use of the statewide confidential crisis help system.
(c) The statewide confidential crisis help system shall include, at a minimum, all of the following functionalities:
(1) Real-time report management capabilities to inventory critical events submitted from system users through a mobile phone application or an online form, and to allow multidisciplinary teams to access an administrative interface to manage tips in real time.
(2) The ability for reporters to select from within the application the school district that is impacted by the critical event and engage in two-way dialogue with reporting parties from locations within and outside the geographic boundaries of the school district to acquire more information to report and further describe the issue.
(3) Support for two-way communication via text message, phone call, online form, and mobile phone application.
(4) The ability for reporting parties to attach screenshots, videos, and photos to their reports.
(d) The Office of Emergency Services and the Coordinated School Health and Safety Office shall ensure that the statewide confidential crisis help system integrates with and supports existing data and platforms that support school risk planning, exercises, monitoring, and emergency responses.

32278.1.
 (a) On or before August 1, 2023, a county office of education shall, in coordination with local social services agencies and law enforcement, adopt policies for the use of, and have in place, a confidential crisis help system.
(b) A county office of education may comply with subdivision (a) through the statewide confidential crisis help system established pursuant to Section 32278 or through another platform that meets the standards and guidelines developed pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 32278.
(c) A county office of education may comply with subdivision (a) collectively with other county offices of education through a designated lead county office of education’s confidential crisis help system.
(d) A county office of education’s confidential crisis help system shall augment, rather than replace, existing multitiered systems of support and shall facilitate referrals to appropriate services.

32278.2.
 (a) All data and information acquired and stored by the statewide confidential crisis help system or a county office of education’s confidential crisis help system are not public records for purposes of the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code) and shall not be open to public inspection and examination.
(b) All data and information acquired and stored by the statewide confidential crisis help system or a county office of education’s confidential crisis help system is subject to privacy protections under existing law, including, but not limited to, the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g).
(c) The Coordinated School Health and Safety Office shall collect the annual aggregate number and type of tips sent to the statewide confidential crisis help system. The collection of this aggregate data shall exclude any identifying information related to the reporter of the tip, including, but not limited to, the school where the incident was reported or the date the tip was reported.

32278.3.
 For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Coordinated School Health and Safety Office” means the Coordinated School Health and Safety Office of the State Department of Education.
(b) “Real time” means within 15 seconds.

SEC. 2.

 The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which adds Section 32278.2 to the Education Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:
In order to protect against threats to the health and safety of pupils, school staff, and other community members, and to protect against retaliation for reporting threats, it is necessary that all data and information acquired and stored by the statewide confidential crisis help system or a county office of education’s confidential crisis help system be kept confidential.

SEC. 3.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
SECTION 1.Section 32280 of the Education Code is amended to read:
32280.

It is the intent of the Legislature that all California public schools, in kindergarten, and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, operated by school districts, in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, community leaders, parents, pupils, teachers, administrators, classified employees, and other persons who may be interested in the prevention of campus crime and violence, develop a comprehensive school safety plan that addresses the safety concerns identified through a systematic planning process. It is also the intent of the Legislature that all school staff be trained on the comprehensive school safety plan. For purposes of this section, law enforcement agencies include local police departments, county sheriffs’ offices, school district police or security departments, probation departments, and district attorneys’ offices. For purposes of this section, a “safety plan” means a plan to develop strategies aimed at the prevention of, and education about, potential incidents involving crime and violence on the school campus.