A Republican state lawmaker is proposing a bill to require panic buttons in schools, as were used at a high school in Georgia where two students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting last month.
Senate Bil 315, known as Alyssa's Law, would require all public and charter schools to provide staff with wearable silent panic alarms to alert law enforcement and the school system of trouble, from a medical emergency to an active shooter situation.
Sen. Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) said the bill would set aside $25 million for the next fiscal year for the buttons, so she said it’s not an unfunded mandate.
“We require schools to have fire alarms, sprinkler systems and locked doors. In an era where the threat of violence looms over our classrooms, this is a logical step in creating comprehensive safety equipment," Reynolds said. “We're not creating new bureaucracies or infringing on constitutional rights. We're giving our educators the tools that they need to protect themselves and our children.”
Mobile panic buttons were credited with saving lives in the Apalachee High School incident in Winder, Georgia on Sept. 4.
The bill is named for Alyssa Alhadeff, who was a 14-year-old freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida when she and 16 others were killed on Feb. 14, 2018.
"The principle of Alyssa's Law is simple. Time equals life. We need to get our kids and teachers to safety as quickly as possible, and reduce the response time for our first responders," said Alyssa's mother Lori Alhadeff, who founded an organization called Make Our Schools Safe to set up clubs in schools to encourage safety and alertness. "We have to focus on creating layers of safety, protection and help to make our schools safe."
Seven states - New Jersey, New York, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Oklahoma and Florida - have passed the law. There's no law requiring the devices in Georgia, but the district had implemented it a few weeks before the shooting.
A group of students who survived the Parkland shooting launched the March for Our Lives campaign, which advocates for universal background checks, storage requirements and other gun control measures.
The bill may not pass because of the busy end-of-session calendar, as lawmakers aren’t expected back till after the election.
*Note: this story corrects an earlier misspelling of Lori Alhadeff's name.
