MICHIGAN STUDENT SAFETY ACT S.B. 374 (S-3):
FLOOR SUMMARY
Senate Bill 374 (Substitute S-3 as reported)
Sponsor: Senator Judy K. Emmons
CONTENT
The bill would create the "Michigan Student Safety Act" to provide for the development and implementation of a program that would allow for confidential reports of unsafe, potentially harmful, dangerous, violent, or criminal activities to a toll-free hotline. Specifically, the bill would do the following:
-- Allow the Attorney General to develop the program in cooperation with any existing programs, including nonprofit entity programs.
-- Require the Michigan Department of State Police (MSP), with the cooperation of the Attorney General and the Department of Education (DOE), to establish, operate, and staff a program meeting specific requirements with regard to maintenance, confidentiality, and notification of law enforcement and school districts.
-- Prohibit the disclosure of a confidential identity except in certain circumstances involving criminal charges or false or misleading reports, as determined by the court.
-- Require an annual report of information reported to the hotline to be sent to the Governor, Senate Majority Leader, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, and posted on "the ok-2-say" website.
-- Require the Attorney General to develop, maintain, and manage the program webpage, and develop a plan to promote the hotline.
-- Create the "Student Safety and Consumer Protection Enforcement Fund" to carry out the purposes of the Act.
-- Authorize the Attorney General to create a nonprofit corporation to maintain, improve, and promote community safety by supporting the program.
-- Authorize the Attorney General, MSP, and DOE to contract with third parties to administer the program, and require a contract to bind third party vendors to the Act's requirements.
-- Subject the Act's requirements to establish, operate, or staff a program to legislative appropriations.
Legislative Analyst: Glenn Steffens
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would make establishment of a confidential hotline program subject to legislative appropriation. If funds were appropriated and the program were created, the Department of Attorney General and the Department of State Police would have increased costs of an unknown amount to establish a confidential hotline to receive and monitor reports of threats or unsafe activities. This would include costs for telecommunications, information technology, and staff. In addition, these Departments would incur costs to analyze the
types of incidents and prepare a report. The Michigan Department of Education would be involved as a cooperating agency. The bill does not make an appropriation for these costs.
The bill would create the Student Safety and Consumer Protection Enforcement Fund within the State Treasury. The Department of Attorney General would administer the Fund, and would be authorized to spend money from the Fund to establish a nonprofit corporation to implement the Act. The State Treasurer would be responsible for the investment of the Fund. The Fund could receive contributions from any source. It would retain interest earnings on the Fund balance, which would carry forward from year-to-year and not lapse to the General Fund.
The Department of State Police is currently evaluating its costs of converting from a simple phone school violence hotline which it currently operates, to a more sophisticated multi-media reporting system, with primary costs coming from the need to add 6.0 to 8.0 new FTEs, along with training needs and considerable technology costs for the program.
Date Completed: 6-13-13 Fiscal Analyst: Bruce Baker
Elizabeth Pratt
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.