Senator Portantino’s Campus Safety Bill Passes Assembly Public Safety Committee
For Immediate Release: June 14, 2022
Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400
Senator Portantino’s Campus Safety Bill Passes Assembly Public Safety Committee
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 Public Safety Committee today. 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.
“California must continue to lead the nation – more boldly and quickly - in adopting common sense safety measures to prevent future gun violence at our schools,” stated Senator Anthony Portantino. “SB 906 can help prepare educators and parents to identify red flags and heed warning signs. There can sometimes be hesitancy in acting on these warning signs – as we saw in Michigan - and a comprehensive safety plan for campuses is necessary to help save lives. We must end the gun violence epidemic in our country – 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.
“The passing of SB 906 has taken on even more urgency since the shooting massacre in Uvalde took the lives of 19 young children and two educators. While we wait for our federal government to take action, the California legislature can step up today and become a leader in the nation,” 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.
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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