BILL REQ. #:  H-0660.1 

Read first time 02/08/11.   Referred to Committee on Education.

     AN ACT Relating to school safety; amending RCW 28A.600.230; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The purpose of this act is to promote a safe learning environment and to protect the safety and welfare of all students and school personnel as well as maintain order and discipline in the schools.

Sec. 2   RCW 28A.600.230 and 1999 c 167 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A school resource officer, school principal, vice principal, or principal's designee may search a student, the student's possessions and personal effects, ((and)) the student's locker and desk, and the student's motor vehicle, in school facilities or on school grounds, or at any school-sponsored or school-associated activity, if the school resource officer, principal, vice principal, or principal's designee has reasonable grounds to suspect that the search will yield evidence of the student's violation of the law or school rules. A search is mandatory if there are reasonable grounds to suspect a student has illegally possessed a firearm in violation of RCW 9.41.280.
     (2) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, the scope of the search is proper if the search is conducted as follows:
     (a) The methods used are reasonably related to the objectives of the search; and
     (b) Is not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the suspected infraction.
     (3) A school resource officer, principal, or vice principal, or anyone acting under ((their)) the principal's or vice principal's direction, may not subject a student to a strip search or body cavity search as those terms are defined in RCW 10.79.070.
     (4) Authorized school resource officers may confiscate any contraband discovered in a search under this section.