HOUSE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SB-0374, As Passed Senate, December 11, 2013

SENATE BILL NO. 374

A bill to create the student safety act; to provide for

confidential reports of potential harm or criminal activities

directed at school students, school employees, and schools; to

establish a hotline for filing those reports; to create the student

safety fund and to provide for contributions to and expenditures

from that fund; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state

officials and departments; to provide for procedures for the

release of certain confidential information; to prescribe

penalties; and to repeal acts and parts or acts.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the

"student safety act".

Sec. 2. As used in this act:

(a) "Department" means the department of the attorney general.

(b) "Fund" means the student safety fund created in section 7.

other means of communication, or a combination of a toll-free

telephone number and another means of communication, that transmits

voice, text, photographic, and other messages and information to a

vendor described in section 3(3), including information forwarded

to that vendor through the departmental website described in

section 3(2).

(d) "School" means a public, private, denominational, or

parochial school offering developmental kindergarten, kindergarten,

or any grade from 1 through 12, regardless of whether school is in

session. School includes all school property.

(e) "School employee" means a full-time or part-time employee

of a school, school district, or intermediate school district,

including a school administrator, a volunteer with a school, school

district, or intermediate school district, or any other person who

provides services to a school, school district, or intermediate

school district while he or she is on school property. A person

described in this subdivision is considered a school employee

regardless of whether school is in session.

(f) "School property" means a building, playing field, or

property used for school purposes to impart instruction to school

students or used for school purposes, functions, and events,

regardless of whether school is in session. School property

includes a school bus as that term is defined in section 57 of the

Michigan vehicle code, 1949 PA 300, MCL 257.57.

(g) "School student" means a person who is enrolled as a

student in a school regardless of whether school is in session.

Sec. 3. (1) The department, in consultation with the

department of state police, the department of community health, and

the department of education shall, to the extent that funds are

appropriated for the purpose, establish a program for receiving

reports and other information from the public regarding potential

self-harm and potential harm or criminal acts directed at school

students, school employees, or schools in this state. The department

shall establish the program within the guidelines of this act. The

department shall have access to the information needed to meet the

reporting requirements of section 8.

(2) The program described in subsection (1) shall include a

hotline for receiving reports and information described in

subsection (1). The hotline shall be available for use 24 hours a

day, 365 days a year. The department may provide promotional

information regarding the program on its departmental website.

(3) Prior to operation of the hotline, the department of

technology, management, and budget shall issue a request for

proposals to enter into a contract for operation of the hotline.

The department of technology, management, and budget shall have

sole authority over the request for proposals process and the

decision over which entity is awarded the contract. This subsection

does not prohibit the department of state police from submitting a

proposal. Any contract shall require the vendor to be bound by the

requirements of this act, including its confidentiality provisions.

Beginning on the date that the hotline established under this act

is operational, all calls received by any existing state-run school

violence hotline in operation prior to the establishment of this

act shall be directed to the hotline established under this act.

Any existing state-run school violence hotline in operation prior

to the effective date of this act shall be disconnected within 6

months after the hotline established under this act is operational.

(4) The department shall be responsible for the continued

operational and administrative oversight of the program. The

program shall provide for a means to review all information

submitted through the hotline and to direct those reports and that

information, including any analysis of the potential threat as

determined appropriate by the department or a vendor under contract

with the department to local law enforcement officials and school

officials. The program shall include a means by which responses at

the local level are determined and evaluated for effectiveness. The

department shall ensure that appropriate training is provided to

program personnel in all of the following areas:

(a) Crisis management, including recognizing mental illness

and emotional disturbance.

(b) The resources that are available in the community for

providing mental health treatment and other human services.

to the administration and operation of the program.

(5) A report or other information submitted to the hotline is

considered to be a report to a law enforcement agency and shall be

maintained as a record by the vendor described in section 3(3) for

at least 1 year, subject to the confidentiality requirements of

this act.

(6) The department shall ensure that any hotline information

that suggests that a psychiatric emergency is taking place within a

county is immediately referred to the community mental health

services program psychiatric crisis line for that county.

(7) The department shall develop a source of information on

available community mental health resources and contacts, including

mental health services. The department shall notify schools and law

enforcement of this information source. The notice shall include

the departmental recommendation that school and law enforcement,

upon investigating a case and determining that mental illness or

emotional disturbance is or may be involved, utilize this

information in aiding subjects and their parents or guardians.

Sec. 4. (1) Any report or information submitted to the hotline

under section 3 is confidential, shall not be released except as

otherwise provided in this act, and is not subject to disclosure

under the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to

15.246.

(2) Any report or information submitted to the hotline and

forwarded by the vendor described in section 3(3) under this act to

a law enforcement official or to a school official is confidential,

shall not be released except as otherwise provided in this act, and

is not subject to disclosure under the freedom of information act,

1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.

(3) A person who intentionally discloses information to

another person in violation of subsection (1) or (2) is guilty of a

misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 90 days or

a fine of not more than $500.00, or both.

(4) If a report to the hotline does not result in a referral,

or the investigation of a subject results in a determination that

no action regarding that subject is warranted, the subject's name

shall be expunged from the records of all entities involved in the

hotline program except as otherwise provided by law.

Sec. 5. Information regarding a report or information

submitted to the hotline under section 3, including any identifying

information, may be disclosed as follows:

(a) By either of the following as necessary for purposes of

this act and as necessary to address reports and information

received under this act:

(i) A vendor described under section 3(3) and its employees

acting in the course of their duties.

(ii) By the department, law enforcement agencies, schools, and

community mental health service programs, and their employees

acting in the course of their duties. However, this subparagraph

does not allow the disclosure of information that would identify

the person who submitted the report or information to the hotline

under section 3.

(b) With the permission of the person or, if the person is a

minor, with the permission of the minor and his or her parents or

guardians.

Sec. 6. (1) A person who is charged with a criminal offense as

a result of a report or information filed under section 3 may

petition the court for disclosure of the report or information,

including any identifying information, as provided in this

subsection. The prosecuting attorney for the local unit of

government having jurisdiction and the attorney general shall be

notified of the petition not less than 7 days before the hearing on

the petition, or as otherwise provided by the court, and have the

right to appear in the proceedings to oppose the petition. If a

petition is filed under this subsection, the court may conduct a

hearing on the petition. If a hearing is conducted, it shall be

conducted in chambers outside of the presence of the petitioner. If

the court determines that the report or information, including any

identifying information, is relevant to the criminal proceedings

and is essential to the fair trial of the person, the court may

order the disclosure of that report or information, including any

identifying information, as determined appropriate by the court.

The court may place restrictions on the release and use of the

report or information, including any identifying information,

obtained under this subsection or may redact material as it

considers appropriate. Material reviewed by the court that is not

ordered released or that is redacted shall be maintained by the

court under seal for purposes of appeal only.

(2) If the prosecuting attorney for a local unit of government

has reason to believe that a report or other information provided

under section 3 was falsely provided to the vendor described in

section 3(3) through the hotline operated by that vendor under

section 3, that prosecuting attorney may petition the court to

disclose the report or information, including any identifying

information. The attorney general shall be notified of the petition

not less than 7 days before the hearing on the petition, or as

otherwise provided by the court, and has the right to appear in the

proceedings to oppose the petition. If the court determines that

there is reason to believe that the report or information may have

been falsely provided, the court may order the disclosure of the

report or information, including any identifying information, as

determined appropriate by the court. The court may place

restrictions on the release and use of the report or information,

including any identifying information, obtained under this

subsection or may redact material as it considers appropriate.

Material reviewed by the court that is not ordered released or that

is redacted shall be maintained by the court under seal for

purposes of appeal only.

(3) The attorney general may also appear in any other action

to oppose the release of any report or information obtained under

section 3, including any identifying information.

Sec. 7. (1) The student safety fund is created within the

state treasury.

(2) The state treasurer may receive money or other assets from

any source for deposit into the fund. The state treasurer shall

credit to the fund interest and earnings from fund investments.

(3) Money in the fund at the close of the fiscal year shall

remain in the fund and shall not lapse to the general fund.

(4) The department shall be the administrator of the fund for

auditing purposes.

(5) The department may expend money from the fund, upon

appropriation, only for 1 or more of the following purposes:

(a) To pay the costs of the department for administering this

act.

(b) To pay the costs of the vendor described in section 3(3)

for operating the hotline under that section.

availability of the hotline and the website operated by the

department.

(6) Money shall not be expended for any promotion program that

includes a reference to, or the image or voice of, an elected

official, appointed state employee, state employee governed by a

senior executive service limited term employment agreement, or a

candidate for elective office, that is targeted to a media market

in this state.

Sec. 8. The department, in consultation with the department of

community health, the department of education, and the vendor

described in section 3(3), shall prepare an annual report under

this act. The report shall be filed not later than July 31 of the

year in which the report is due. Copies of the report shall be

filed with the governor, the secretary of the senate, the clerk of

the house of representatives, the clerk of the senate standing

committee on appropriations, and the clerk of the house standing

committee on appropriations. The report shall also be maintained on

the department's website. The report shall contain all of the

following information:

(a) The number of reports and other information reported to

the hotline under this act.

(b) The number of reports and information reported to the

hotline that are forwarded to local law enforcement officials and

school officials.

mental health services.

(d) The nature of the reports and information reported to the

hotline in categories established by the department.

(e) The responses to the reports and information reported to

the hotline at the local level in categories established by the

department.

(f) The source of all funds deposited in the student safety

fund.

(g) The itemized costs and expenditures incurred by the

department in implementing this act.

(h) The itemized costs and expenditures incurred by the

department of state police in implementing this act.

(i) The contributions of, and the costs and expenditures

incurred by, the vendor with whom the department enters into a

contract under section 3(3).

(j) An analysis of the overall effectiveness of the program in

addressing potential self-harm and potential harm or criminal acts

directed at schools, school employees, and school students.

Enacting section 1. This act is repealed effective October 1,

2017.