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HB 33
Became law
Effective 9/1/2025
- Requires school district multihazard emergency operations plans to address the prompt recovery of services provided by the school district
- Requires school district multihazard emergency operations plans to include measures to ensure the use of standardized response protocol terminology developed in coordination with the Texas School Safety Center to facilitate communication between law enforcement, emergency services, district employees and the public
- Requires districts that construct, acquire, renovate, or improve a district facility to conduct a security review to determine if the facility meets school safety requirements and identify security vulnerabilities in the event of an active shooter event and strategies to mitigate the vulnerabilities
- Requires school districts to have at least one breaching tool and one ballistic shield available for use at each campus in an active shooter incident
- Requires the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center to create a template for evaluating and reporting the response of a law enforcement agency or emergency medical service provider to an active shooter incident at a school facility and sets requirements for the template
- Requires the Center to develop a required training program for peace officers and emergency medical services personnel for responding to active shooter incidents at schools
- Requires school districts and school district police departments to employ a public information officer who is responsible for communicating with the public during a disaster regarding the disaster and requires the person to achieve certification from the Texas Division of Emergency Management
- Requires the Texas Division of Emergency Management to create and post a guide on preparing for and responding to active shooter incidents at schools for civic, volunteer, and community organizations
- Requires the guide to include information on understanding mass violence, incident command structure, coordination of and access to resources, long-term recovery, communication coordination, training and planning resources, and preserving and restoring community cohesion
- Requires law enforcement agencies and emergency medical services providers that respond to an active shooter incident at a school to initiate an evaluation of the agency's or provider's response within 45 days of the incident and finalize a report on the response by the 90th day after the incident
- Creates a grant program for first responders and telecommunicators to attend an active attack integrated response training course through the Center
- Requires the Department of Public Safety to consult with the sheriff of each county to determine which governmental entities are likely to respond to an active shooter incident at a school in the county and requires DPS, the sheriff, and each identified governmental entity to participate in a multiagency tabletop exercise each odd-numbered year and an in-person drill every even-numbered year
- Requires DPS and the governmental entities to enter into a mutual aid agreement that establishes the procedures for the provision of resources, personnel, facilities, equipment, and supplies in response to critical incidents
- Requires the agreement to address establishing interoperability of communications equipment among the parties, establish procedures for interagency coordination, set jurisdictional boundaries, and determine the capabilities, processes, and expectations among the parties
- Requires every sheriff to hold annual meetings to discuss school safety, coordinated response, law enforcement capabilities, available resources, emergency radio interoperability, chain of command planning, each district's multihazard emergency operations plan, and other related subjects
- Requires a representative of the Texas Division of Emergency Management to attend the meetings in counties with less than 350,000 people
- For counties with a population of 350,000 or more, requires either the police chief of the district's police department, if applicable, or the chief administrative officer of the law enforcement agency providing law enforcement services to the district, and the superintendent to attend the meeting
- Requires the Texas Division of Emergency Management to develop a mental health resources plan for first responders involved in an active shooter incident
- Requires law enforcement agencies to have access to at least one breaching tool and one ballistic shield and to have detailed written policies on the current best practices for responding to an active shooter incident at a school facility and a recommendation for the frequency at which simulated emergency drills should be conducted
- Requires peace officers to complete Introduction to the Incident Command System and National Incident Management System, An Introduction courses
- Requires peace officers who supervise officers in an incident response to complete an advanced incident response and command course as part of continuing education
- Requires trainings that need to be created by December 1, 2025
- Requires public information officers to complete training by September 1, 2026
- Requires mutual aid agreements to be entered into by January 1, 2026
HB 121
Became law
Effective for the 2025-2026 school year
- Requires school district employees hired as armed security officers under a good cause exception who are not school marshals to complete active shooter response training provided by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center, school safety and emergency management training, crisis intervention, incident command, first aid administration, mental health and qualifications related to carrying or using a firearm within 90 days of the first date of beginning duties as a security officer
- Requires a board that claimed a good cause exception to the armed security officer requirements to renew the exception and alternative standard each year
- Allows TEA to employ inspectors to assist in monitoring school district compliance with safety and security requirements and coordinating with local, state, and federal law enforcement during an emergency response
- Requires school district multihazard emergency operations plans to address reunification, and provisions, as determined by the TEA, for ensuring the safety of students, staff, and spectators during extracurricular activities
- Requires the Texas School Safety Center to provide notice of applicable requirements
- Requires TEA to monitor the response and use of emergency operations procedures by school districts during an emergency response
- Requires the TEA to provide an annual report to the legislature with deidentified results of district vulnerability assessments and intruder detection audits and the report must include recommendations and possible corrective actions for specific deficiencies identified at multiple districts
- Requires threat assessment teams assessing a student who receives special education services to include one of the following who has specific knowledge of the student's disability: a special education teacher who provides instruction to the student, a licensed behavior analyst, a licensed clinical or master social worker, or a school psychologist
- Requires threat assessment teams, instead of the superintendent, to notify the parents of a student who the team determines poses a serious risk of violence to themselves or others
- Requires school districts to provide maps of school buildings to each emergency services district in the district
- Requires districts to provide information on safe firearm storage to parents three times per year
- Requires a district to renew its good cause exception and alternative performance standard related to school safety facility standards every five years
- Allows school safety allotment funds to be used for interior door safety, behavioral interventionists, and discipline management practices
HB 1458
Became law
Effective 9/1/2025
- Makes reserve police officers appointed by a school district police department a peace officer
- Makes reserve deputy sheriffs, reserve police officers appointed by a school district police department, and an honorably retired peace officer who has kept their commission active and fulfilled training requirements security officers for the purpose of the armed security officer requirement for all school campuses
- Allows school boards to authorize the chief of police of the school district police department to appoint reserve police officers
- Allows chiefs of school district police departments with reserve police officers to either limit when they carry a weapon or not
- Makes reserve school district police officers ineligible for any full-time employment or pension benefits
HB 1851
Became law
Effective 9/1/2025
- Allows the Department of Public Safety to donate or sell surplus motor vehicles or other law enforcement equipment to school districts located in an economically disadvantaged area of the state if it would benefit the state's efforts to secure the border and combat transnational crime
- Requires a school district that receives surplus property to use the property only for law enforcement duties
SB 57
Became law
Effective immediately
- Requires the Commissioner to establish recommendations regarding accommodations for students with IEPs or Section 504 plans during mandatory school drills and guidelines for documentation of such accommodations
- Requires the Commissioner to establish guidelines for required communications between campus administrators and staff regarding such accommodations, and required communications between campus administrators and the safety and security committee regarding students with disabilities for the purpose of updating the district's multihazard emergency operations plan
- Requires school district safety and security committees to include at least one administrator of special education in the district
- Requires school district multihazard emergency operations plans to include recommended accommodations for a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan
- Requires the Commissioner to adopt the required rules, recommendations, and guidelines by June 1, 2026
SB 260
Became law
Effective 9/1/2025
- Increases the school safety allotment to $20 per student in ADA, up from $10, and $33,540 per campus
SB 870
Became law
Effective for the 2025-2026 school year
- Allows uniformed school marshals to openly carry a handgun
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