TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Tuesday to implement some of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission’s recommendations to keep schools safer.
HB 1421 authorizes the Commissioner of Education to enforce security compliance and authorizes safe school officers to make arrests on charter school property.
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It also requires school boards to adopt family reunification plans in the event of an evacuation and school districts to certify that at least 80% of school personnel completed student mental health awareness training.
DeSantis’s budget allocated $140 million to address mental health issues and $210 million to improve school safety. According to State Board of Education Member Ryan Petty, this includes de-escalation training for safe-school officers.
DeSantis, who is campaigning for reelection, also recently signed these bills:
- SB 752 allows for educational activities to help reduce probation terms.
- HB 749 increases the cap on penalties for licensed and unlicensed public adjusters from $10,000 to $20,000 during a declared state of emergency.
- SB 968 prevents creditors from filing claims to interest in retirement funds or accounts granted to a divorcee after his or her divorce.
- SB 692 to change the anatomical terms used to define a sexual battery so vaginal penetration isn’t a requirement.
- HB 615 requires the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking to consider the effects of social media.
- SB 444 to increase the lewd or lascivious molestation of a minor charge to a third-degree felony when the perpetrator is 24 years old or older.