SENATE BILL REPORT
SHB 1941
As of February 16, 2022
Title: An act relating to prohibiting active shooter scenarios for school safety-related drills.
Brief Description: Prohibiting active shooter scenarios for school safety-related drills.
Sponsors: House Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representative Walen).
Brief History: Passed House: 2/9/22, 69-27.
Committee Activity: Early Learning & K-12 Education: 2/18/22.
Brief Summary of Bill
  • Prohibits school lockdown drills from including live simulations of or reenactments of active shooter scenarios that are not trauma-informed and age and developmentally appropriate.
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EARLY LEARNING & K-12 EDUCATION
Staff: Ailey Kato (786-7434)
Background:

Current state law requires schools to conduct at least one safety-related drill per month, including summer months when school is in session with students.  These drills must teach students three basic functional drill responses:

  • shelter-in-place is used to limit the exposure of students and staff to hazardous materials, such as chemical, biological, or radiological contaminants, released into the environment by isolating the inside environment from the outside;
  • lockdown is used to isolate students and staff from threats of violence, such as suspicious trespassers or armed intruders, that may occur in a school or in the vicinity of a school; and
  • evacuation is used to move students and staff away from threats, such as fires, oil train spills, lahars, or tsunamis. 

 

Schools must document the date, time, and type of each drill and maintain the documentation in the school office.
Summary of Bill:

Lockdown drills may not include live simulations of, or reenactments of, active shooter scenarios that are not trauma-informed and age and developmentally appropriate.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Creates Committee/Commission/Task Force that includes Legislative members: No.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.