Fairfax County Public Schools, Office of Government Relations

Final Report - School Safety and Security 

This report describes all School Safety and Security-related legislation considered during the 2024 General Assembly Regular and Special Sessions.  Bills are listed as “Passed”, “Failed” or “Continued to 2025”.

Passed legislation will go into effect on July 1, 2024, unless otherwise specified in the legislation itself.

Bills identified as Continued to 2025 are no longer active for the 2024 Session but can be picked back up by the continuing committee where they were left off in the legislative process during the 2025 Session.  While possible, it is rare for a continued bill to be picked back up. Typically, such legislation is simply reintroduced in the next Session.

UPDATED: 06/03/2024

School Safety and Security– Passed

Public schools; fire drills; timing and frequency.  HB 66 (Campbell) requires every public school to hold fire drills during the school session in accordance with the requirements of the Statewide Fire Prevention Code. Current law requires such fire drills to be conducted at least twice during the first 20 school days of each school session and at least twice more during the remainder of the school session.

School building evacuation plans, policies, and protocols; students with mobility impairments . HB 501 (Cohen) requires any divisionwide or public elementary or secondary school-specific school building evacuation plan, policy, or protocol to include provisions that seek to maximize the opportunity for students with mobility impairments to evacuate the school building alongside their non-mobility-impaired peers.

Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety; school safety audits; list of items required to be reviewed.  HB 561 (Askew) requires the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to include specific technology systems in the list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in required annual school safety audits.

Reduction of speed limits; local authority.  HB 1071 (Carr) expands the current authority of any locality to reduce the speed limit to less than 25 miles per hour, but not less than 15 miles per hour, on highways within its boundaries that are located in a business district or residence district to include highways within the state highway system, provided that such reduced speed limit is indicated by lawfully placed signs. The bill authorizes a locality to restore a speed limit that has been reduced pursuant to this authority and requires the locality to notify the Commissioner of Highways of a change in speed limit.  This legislation incorporates  HB 793 (Henson).

School bus video-monitoring system; citations.  HB 1362 (Maldonado) prohibits a contract between a private vendor and a school division for the operation of school bus video-monitoring systems to capture passing stopped school bus violations from requiring a minimum quota of violations captured or citations issued for the video-monitoring system to be deployed.

Photo speed monitoring devices; high-risk intersection segments.  SB 336 (Roem) permits a state or local law-enforcement agency to place and operate a photo speed monitoring device at a high-risk intersection segment, defined in the bill, located within the locality for the purpose of recording violations resulting from the operation of a vehicle in excess of the speed limit, provided that such law-enforcement agency certifies that a traffic fatality has occurred since January 1, 2014, in such segment. The bill provides the same requirements for such devices, information collected from such devices, and any enforcement actions resulting from information collected from such devices as current law applies to the use of such devices in school crossing zones and highway work zones.

School Safety and Security– Continued to 2025 and Failed

Photo speed monitoring devices; location.  HB 20 (Jones) would have authorized the governing body of any county, city, or town to provide by ordinance for the placement and operation of photo speed monitoring devices in any location deemed necessary by the locality for the purposes of recording violations resulting from the operation of a vehicle in excess of the speed limit. The bill provided the same requirements for such devices, information collected from such devices, and any enforcement actions resulting from information collected from such devices as current law applies to the use of such devices in school crossing zones and highway work zones. The bill would have required that two signs, rather than one, be placed warning of such device if the device is placed somewhere other than a school crossing zone or highway work zone. This legislation was Continued to 2025 in House Transportation .

Public schools; threat assessment teams; duties; annual meeting with chief law-enforcement officer of locality or a designee from the local law-enforcement agency.  HB 72 (Green) would have required the threat assessment team established by the division superintendent for each public elementary or secondary school to meet at least annually on school grounds with the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or a designee from the local law-enforcement agency to determine potential safety hazards or points of vulnerability on such grounds or in the school building and to discuss and promote active shooter prevention and natural disaster preparedness.

Reimbursement of expenses incurred in responding to terrorism hoax incident, bomb threat, malicious activation of fire alarm, or false emergency communication to emergency personnel.  HB 147 (Reid)and  SB 656 (Favola) would have allowed a locality that has an ordinance requiring any person over 18 years of age convicted of false emergency communication to emergency personnel to reimburse such locality at the time of sentencing or in a separate civil action to bill a flat fee of $2,500 or a minute-by-minute accounting of actual costs incurred. The bills also would have allowed a locality that has an ordinance requiring any person under 18 years of age convicted of false emergency communication to emergency personnel to reimburse such locality at the time of sentencing or in a separate civil action to bill a flat fee of $2,500 or a minute-by-minute accounting of actual costs incurred, not to exceed $2,500. Current law allows a flat fee of $250 or a minute-by-minute accounting of actual costs incurred, in an amount not to exceed $2,500.

Carrying a concealed handgun with a permit; public parking lots.  HB 289 (Wiley) would have provided that a concealed handgun permit holder may store his firearms or other weapons in a motor vehicle in a publicly or privately owned parking lot, traffic circle, or other means of vehicular ingress or egress to property that is open to the public regardless if such firearms or weapons are prohibited by the owner of such area.

Board of Education; Standards of Quality; Standards of School Safety.  HB 495 (Garrett)would have required the Board of Education, in collaboration with the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety and such other stakeholders as it deems appropriate, to establish pursuant to regulation the Standards of School Safety for the purpose of assessing school safety in each local school division in the Commonwealth and each school building therein based on such objective, quantifiable measures of safety as the Board deems appropriate. The bill would have required the Board to incorporate compliance with the Standards of School Safety as a school and school division accountability measure for the purposes of the Standards of Accreditation.

Transportation projects; highway safety.  HB 532 (Seibold) would have prohibited the initiation of any transportation project in an established school crossing zone unless a pedestrian safety-focused road safety audit is conducted and its recommendations are incorporated into the project plan. The bill would have required the Commonwealth Transportation Board, in administering the Virginia Highway Safety Improvement Program, to prioritize infrastructure projects that address a hazardous road location or feature or address an identified highway safety problem located in a school crossing zone.

Home-based firearms dealers; prohibited near schools; penalties.  HB 585 (Mundon King) would have provided that no home-based firearms dealer, as defined in the bill, shall be engaged in the business of selling, trading, or transferring firearms at wholesale or retail within 1.5 miles of any elementary or middle school, including buildings and grounds. The bill would have provided that any person who willfully violates such prohibition is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor for a first offense and guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor for a second or subsequent offense. Note that HB 585passed the General Assembly but was vetoed by the Governor.

Department of Criminal Justice Services; school resource officers; establishment of minimum employment qualifications prohibited.  HB 676 (Runion)would have prohibited the Department of Criminal Justice Services from establishing minimum qualifications for the employment of school resource officers, including any minimum age or experience requirement, or providing guidance or standards or adopting regulations relating to such minimum qualifications unless expressly authorized by law. This legislation was Continued to 2025 in House Education .

Pneumatic guns; penalties.  HB 791 (Henson) would have made it a Class 6 felony to possess a pneumatic gun upon (i) the property of any child day center or public, private, or religious preschool or elementary, middle, or high school, including buildings and grounds; (ii) that portion of any property open to the public and then exclusively used for school-sponsored functions or extracurricular activities while such functions or activities are taking place; or (iii) any school bus owned or operated by any such school.

Expeditious resolution of complaints relating to certain student transportation safety issues.  HB 977 (Keys-Gamarra)would have required each locality and the Department of Transportation, as applicable, to expeditiously respond to and assist in the resolution of, to the maximum extent practicable, any complaint received by or on behalf of any public elementary or secondary school student relating to such student's safety on the streets, roads, sidewalks, and crosswalks surrounding school property as such student arrives to or departs from school and permits, for the purposes of complying with such requirement, any school board to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the locality or the Department, as applicable, for the establishment of a protocol or the designation of an ombudsman for the resolution of such complaints. This legislation was Continued to 2025 in House Education . 

Discharge plans; copies to public elementary and secondary schools.  HB 1017 (Wilt)would have provided that prior to the discharge of any minor or individual who has been admitted to inpatient treatment and is a student at a public elementary or secondary school, a copy of such minor's or individual's discharge plan shall be provided to the division superintendent and the division safety official in the local school division in which such minor or individual attends such school.

School boards; parental notification of certain threats, behavior, and unlawful acts; panic alarms.  HB 1046 (Batten)would have required, within four hours of receiving notification of (i) a preliminary determination by the threat assessment team that a student poses a threat of violence or physical harm to self or others; (ii) threatening or aberrant behavior that may represent a threat to the school; or (iii) unlawful acts committed on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity that involve the unlawful use or possession of a weapon, homicide, criminal sexual assault, or trespassing, each division superintendent to notify the parent of each student enrolled in the relevant school of such threat, threatening or aberrant behavior, or unlawful act. The bill would have required each school board to equip each public elementary and secondary school building in the local school division with at least one panic alarm that adheres to nationally recognized industry standards, including the standards of the National Fire Protection Association and Underwriters Laboratories, and is installed by a licensed and qualified professional. The bill defined "panic alarm" as a silent security system by which the user manually activates a device that sends a non-audible signal to the local law-enforcement agency that indicates a school security emergency, including a non-fire evacuation, lockdown, or active shooter situation, that requires immediate response and assistance from such agency.

School crossing zones.  HB 1072 (Carr) and SB 535 (Bagby) would have expanded the definition of "school crossing zone" to include areas surrounding schools where the presence of students reasonably requires a special warning to motorists and provides that the term "school" includes public institutions of higher education and nonprofit private institutions of higher education. Currently, the definition of "school crossing zone" includes only areas surrounding schools where the presence of children requires such warning. Existing provisions of law allowing photo speed monitoring devices to be installed in school crossing zones will apply to any location that meets the expanded definition.

School boards; school resource officers; employment; participation in development and review of school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans.  HB 1219 (Higgins)would have required each school board to (i) seek, to the maximum extent practicable, to employ school resource officers in each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division in accordance with the memorandum of understanding entered into with the local law-enforcement agency and (ii) include school resource officers employed in the local school division in the development and annual review of its written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan.

Certain school board employees; possession of firearms on school property.  HB 1230 (Zehr)would have permitted any school board to authorize any school board employee to possess a firearm on school property, in addition to those individuals expressly authorized to possess such a firearm as otherwise provided in statute, provided that any school board employee so authorized by the school board receives advanced firearms training in accordance with criteria established by the Department of Criminal Justice Services. The bill would have required the Department of Criminal Justice Services to develop and distribute to each local school board such criteria no later than August 1, 2024.

Students with individualized education programs or Section 504 Plans; emergency protocol and guide.  HB 1283 (Willett)would have required a protocol for individualized accommodations and supports during emergency situations at school and a step-by-step guide on how to execute such protocol to be included in each individualized education program implemented for a public school student with a disability in accordance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and in each Section 504 Plan implemented for a public school student in accordance with § 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and provided to all of such student's teachers for implementation.

Celeste's Law; school boards; bathroom check policy required.  HB 1528 (Cordoza) would have required each school board to develop and adopt a policy that requires an employee in each public elementary and secondary school, including any school resource officer or any school security officer employed in such school, to check no less frequently than once every 30 minutes during normal school hours each restroom facility in each such building to ensure the safety of each student present in such facility.

Public elementary and secondary schools; cardiac emergency response plans required; grant program established.  SB 181 (Rouse)would have required each public elementary or secondary school to develop a cardiac emergency response plan (CERP) that addresses the appropriate use of school personnel to respond to incidents involving an individual who is experiencing sudden cardiac arrest or a similar life-threatening emergency while on school grounds and, in the event that such school has an athletic department or organized athletic program, while attending or participating in an athletic practice or event. The bill would have required each such CERP to integrate nationally recognized evidence-based core elements such as those recommended by the American Heart Association guidelines and to integrate certain provisions and guidelines, including those relating to establishing a cardiac emergency response team, activating such team in response to a sudden cardiac event, and integrating the CERP into the local community's emergency medical services response protocols. The bill also would have required, with such funds as may be appropriated for such purpose pursuant to the general appropriation act, the Department to establish and administer the CERP Grant Program for the purpose of awarding grants, on a competitive basis, to any public elementary or secondary school to assist such school in the development or implementation of its CERP or in the purchase or funding of activities or equipment that further promotes CERP preparedness, giving priority to certain high-need schools. This legislation was Continued to 2025 in House Appropriations .

Employment of school protection officers in public schools.  SB 440 (Durant)would have permitted any local law-enforcement agency to employ in any public elementary or secondary school in the local school division, pursuant to an agreement with the local school board, a school protection officer, defined in the bill as a retired law-enforcement officer hired by the local law-enforcement agency on a part-time basis to provide limited law-enforcement and security services to public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth. The bill would have required each such school board and local law-enforcement agency to enter into a memorandum of understanding that sets forth the powers and duties of school protection officers. The bill would have required the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish compulsory training standards for school protection officers and requires the collection of certain data relating to the activities of such officers. This legislation was Continued to 2025 in Senate Education and Health .

Virginia Public Safety Communications Infrastructure Fund and Program established.  SB 573 (Obenshain)would have established the Virginia Public Safety Communications Infrastructure Fund and Program, to be administered by the Department of Emergency Management and financially managed by the Virginia Resources Authority, for the purpose of making loans and awarding grants to local governments for the purpose of assisting with improvement projects relating to public safety radio and communications infrastructure.

Discharge plans; copies to public elementary and secondary schools.  SB 575 (Obenshain)would have provided that, prior to the discharge of any minor admitted to inpatient treatment (i) who is a student at a public elementary or secondary school and (ii) for whom the facility deems (a) such discharge poses a threat of violence or physical harm to self and others or (b) additional educational services are needed, such facility is required to provide to the school's mental health professional or school counselor the portions of such discharge plan relevant to the threat of violence or harm or the necessary additional educational services. The bill would have required such facility to, prior to providing any such portions of any minor's discharge plan, provide to the parent of such minor student reasonable notice of the types of information that would be included in any portions of the discharge plan being provided and of the parent's right to, upon written request, refuse the provision of any such information. This legislation was Continued to 2025 in House Education .