Senator Portantino’s Campus Safety & Safe Storage Education Bill Passes Assembly Floor, Heads to Governor’s Desk

For Immediate Release: June 30, 2022

Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400

Senator Portantino’s Campus Safety & Safe Storage Education Bill Passes Assembly Floor, Heads to Governor’s Desk

Sacramento, CA - Senate Bill 906, a bill authored by State Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – La Cañada Flintridge) that prioritizes student and campus safety, passed the Assembly Floor today with bipartisan support and is headed to the Governor’s desk for signature.  By promoting safe at-home storage of firearms and quick, robust investigations of imminent violent school threats, SB 906 aims to prevent tragic shootings on our campuses.  Recent tragic shootings across the country have highlighted the need for prudent and immediate public safety requirements on campuses.  The bill is part of a slate of gun control measures being fast tracked by the legislature in collaboration with Governor Newsom. 

“California must continue to lead the nation – more boldly and quickly - in adopting common sense gun safety measures to prevent future tragic violence on our schools,” stated Senator Anthony Portantino.  “SB 906 will help prepare educators and parents to identify red flags and heed warning signs of threats and educate parents on the importance of safe gun storage.  A comprehensive safety plans on our campuses are necessary to help save lives.  We need to be diligent with our efforts to keep our communities safe and improve public safety for all Californians. And, that means using every tool available.  We cannot afford to wait another day.”

Since 1970, the United States has had 1,316 school shootings with 164 occurring in California.  As experienced in Michigan & Uvalde, these shootings are fatal and beyond tragic.  With SB 906, Senator Portantino is following up on his safe storage of firearms legislation with a comprehensive school safety plan, which includes a strong and prudent mandate to follow through on threats and a robust effort to educate parents on what safe storage means.

“At a time when it is easy to become discouraged, we are encouraged by California’s efforts to help prevent gun violence.  SB 906 is one of those important, critical pieces of legislation made possible by the efforts of State Senator Anthony Portantino and the California Legislature.  We look forward to Governor Newsom signing this life-saving bill into law,” stated Margot Bennett, Executive Director of Women Against Gun Violence. 

SB 906 would:

·         Require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Justice, to develop model content for public or charter schools on a threat or perceived threat of a mass shooting incident

·         Upon becoming aware of a credible violent threat, schools must immediately report that threat to the law enforcement authorities, and school leaders, in consultation with law enforcement, must search a student’s on campus property for the presence of firearms

·         Schools are required to include information related to the safe storage of firearms in the annual notification provided to the parents or guardians.

“We are very glad to see that SB 906 unanimously passed out of the Assembly today, placing student safety at the forefront of the people's agenda. SB 906 will help keep our schools and our communities safer by being able to better assess and respond to future threats of gun violence,” stated Jeff Freitas, President of the California Federation of Teachers.

Senator Portantino has a long history of advocating for smart and sensible solutions to our nation’s tragic history of gun violence.   During his time in the Assembly, the Senator successfully banned the open carry of handguns and rifles in California and as Senator, he raised the general gun purchase age in California to twenty-one.  In 2019, Governor Newsom also signed Senator Portantino’s SB 172.  The bill enacted a slate of significant provisions related to firearms storage by broadening criminal storage crimes, adding criminal storage offenses to those offenses that can trigger a 10-year firearm ban, and creating an exemption to firearm loan requirements for the purposes of preventing suicide.   The same year, SB 376 was signed into law, which reduces the number of firearms an unlicensed individual is annually able to sell and the frequency with which they are able to sell.  In 2021, Senate Bill 715 was signed into law, which enacts important gun purchase safeguards.  SB 906 continues the Senator’s legacy as one of California’s most ardent gun reform advocates.

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