[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to emergency management and school violence plans for schools; adding new sections to chapter 28A.330 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.195 RCW; 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 encourage each school district to prepare a district-wide emergency management plan, and to encourage public and private schools to prepare an emergency management plan, to respond to and recover from emergencies and disasters. These plans should include provisions for periodic testing to maintain emergency preparedness. An emergency management plan for a school district should be consistent and coordinated throughout the entire school district.

This act may be known and cited as the school violence reduction and emergency preparedness act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 28A.330 RCW to read as follows:

School districts and public schools are encouraged to develop and adopt an emergency management plan limited in scope to the preparation for, response to, and recovery from human-caused emergencies stemming from acts or threats of violence or an all-hazard emergency management plan that details how it will prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural, technological, and human-caused emergencies and disasters, including acts of violence. This emergency management plan should: (1) Identify potential hazards that may pose a threat to the school or to the staff and students of that school; (2) describe measures to be taken to protect students, staff, volunteers, and parents, and to reduce the impacts of each of these potential events, including plans that describe the protection of people, capital facilities, and equipment; and (3) describe steps to be taken in the event of an emergency to ensure all primary emergency functions are fulfilled. Primary emergency functions may include transportation strategies; methods of communication; and the roles and responsibilities for staff, students, and volunteers in carrying out primary emergency functions. Additional elements may be included in an all-hazard emergency management plan. The emergency management division of the military department, in cooperation with local emergency management agencies, shall develop and provide to school districts an "all-hazard planning guide" for school districts and schools.

These district and school emergency management plans should encourage each school within the school district to develop an education program to inform students, staff, volunteers, and parents about its emergency management plan. An emergency management plan should be exercised annually during the school year. These exercises may address different types of potential hazards, such as armed intruders and earthquakes, in addition to periodic fire drills.

School districts are encouraged to develop their emergency management plans and programs in collaboration with the emergency management plan and program established by the local emergency management agency under chapter 38.52 RCW and their local law enforcement and fire agencies. School districts are also encouraged to submit their draft plans to their local emergency management agency for review before formal adoption by the school board. School districts are encouraged to develop or update their plans within three years of the effective date of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 28A.195 RCW to read as follows:

Private schools are encouraged to develop and adopt an emergency management plan limited in scope to the preparation for, response to, and recovery from human-caused emergencies stemming from acts or threats of violence or an all-hazard emergency management plan that details how it will prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural, technological, and human-caused emergencies and disasters, including acts of violence. This emergency management plan should: (1) Identify potential hazards that may pose a threat to the school or to the staff and students of that school; (2) describe measures to be taken to protect students, staff, volunteers, and parents and to reduce the impacts of each of these potential events, including plans that describe the protection of people, capital facilities, and equipment; and (3) describe steps to be taken in the event of an emergency to ensure all primary emergency functions are fulfilled. Primary emergency functions may include transportation strategies; methods of communication; and the roles and responsibilities for staff, students, and volunteers in carrying out primary emergency functions. Additional elements may be included in an all-hazard emergency management plan. The emergency management division of the military department, in cooperation with local emergency management agencies, shall develop and provide to private schools an "all-hazard planning guide" for schools.

These school emergency management plans should encourage each private school to develop an education program to inform students, staff, volunteers, and parents about its emergency management plan. An emergency management plan should be exercised annually during the school year. These exercises may address different types of potential hazards, such as armed intruders and earthquakes, in addition to periodic fire drills.

Private schools are encouraged to develop their emergency management plans and programs in collaboration with the emergency management plan and program established by the local emergency management agency under chapter 38.52 RCW and their local law enforcement and fire agencies. Private schools are encouraged to develop or update their plans within three years of the effective date of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 28A.330 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Funding for sections 2 and 3 of this act shall be provided to local emergency management agencies through the emergency management division of the military department. Funds shall be distributed on the basis of per capita full-time equivalent student enrollment in school districts, as follows:

(a) Emergency management agencies for counties with kindergarten through twelfth grade public school enrollment of more than one hundred thousand full-time equivalent students shall receive funding sufficient to employ one full-time equivalent employee for purposes of implementing sections 2 and 3 of this act;

(b) Emergency management agencies for counties with kindergarten through twelfth grade public school enrollment of more than two hundred thousand full-time equivalent students shall receive funding sufficient to employ two full-time equivalent employees for purposes of implementing sections 2 and 3 of this act; and

(c) The emergency management division of the military department shall be allocated funding sufficient to employ six full-time equivalent employees for purposes of implementing sections 2 and 3 of this act in regions not served through funding made available pursuant to (a) and (b) of this subsection.

(2) School districts that have adopted an emergency management plan or are in the process of developing an emergency management plan shall report to the emergency management division of the military department whether the school district's plan has been adopted or is under development, and shall further report whether the plan adopted or under development is an emergency management plan limited in scope to the preparation for, response to, and recovery from human-caused emergencies stemming from acts or threats of violence or an all-hazard emergency management plan. They shall submit these reports to the emergency management division of the military department by December 31, 2001, and December 31st of every third year thereafter. The emergency management division of the military department shall report to the education committees of the house of representatives and senate on school and school district emergency management planning activities by February 15, 2002, and by February 15th of every third year thereafter.