Safer Schools Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6683 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6683

     To establish a grant program to encourage schools to conduct
 independent facility security risk assessments and make hard security
                 improvements, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 11, 2025

 Mr. Williams of Texas (for himself and Mr. Moskowitz) introduced the
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and
  Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

     To establish a grant program to encourage schools to conduct
 independent facility security risk assessments and make hard security
                 improvements, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Safer Schools Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAM FOR GRANTS FOR INDEPENDENT FACILITY SECURITY RISK
              ASSESSMENTS AND HARD SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act the Attorney General shall establish a pilot
program (hereinafter referred to as the ``pilot program'') to issue
grants pursuant to subsections (b) and (c), including releasing
guidelines and applications with respect to such grant programs.
    (b) Independent Facility Security Risk Assessment Grants.--
            (1) In general.--Beginning not later than 180 days after
        the date of enactment of this section, the Attorney General
        shall award grants to public schools to have independent
        facility security risk assessments performed.
            (2) Application.--
                    (A) In general.--To be eligible to receive a grant
                under this section, a public school shall submit to the
                Attorney General an application at such time, in such
                manner, and containing such information as the Attorney
                General may require, including--
                            (i) the size of the school;
                            (ii) a comprehensive report on the
                        financial state of the school, including any
                        Federal, State, or local funds used in the
                        school's budget; and
                            (iii) a certification to the Attorney
                        General that the school is unable to cover the
                        cost of an independent facility security risk
                        assessment without the grant awarded under this
                        section.
                    (B) Priority.--The Attorney General, in awarding a
                grant under this section, shall give priority to
                applications of public schools that have experienced an
                event in which an individual inflicts deadly harm or
                attempts to inflict deadly harm against multiple
                individuals.
            (3) Ineligibility.--
                    (A) In general.--A public school shall be
                ineligible to receive a grant under this section if
                it--
                            (i) received a grant under this section in
                        the previous 5 fiscal years; or
                            (ii) receives a grant under this section in
                        the same fiscal year.
                    (B) Exception.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), in
                the case that a grant recipient experiences an event in
                which an individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts to
                inflict deadly harm against multiple individuals, such
                grant recipient shall be eligible to receive an
                additional grant under this section in the fiscal year
                after the date of the event.
    (c) Hard Security Improvement Grants.--
            (1) In general.--Beginning not later than 180 days after
        the date of enactment of this section, the Attorney General
        shall award grants to public schools for the purpose of making
        hard security improvements to schools.
            (2) Application.--
                    (A) In general.--To be eligible to receive a grant
                under this section, a public school shall submit to the
                Attorney General an application at such time, in such
                manner, and containing such information as the Attorney
                General may require, which application shall include--
                            (i) the size of the school;
                            (ii) a comprehensive report on the
                        financial state of the school, including any
                        Federal, State, or local funds used in the
                        school's budget;
                            (iii) a comprehensive description of
                        previous improvements made to the school meant
                        to address school security related
                        vulnerabilities;
                            (iv) the specific products and services
                        that will be purchased with the grant funds and
                        an estimate of such costs and services; and
                            (v) the results of the school's most recent
                        independent facility security risk assessment.
                    (B) Priority.--The Attorney General, in awarding a
                grant under this section, shall give priority to
                applications of schools that have experienced an event
                in which an individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts
                to inflict deadly harm against multiple individuals.
            (3) Ineligibility.--
                    (A) In general.--A public school shall be
                ineligible to receive a grant under this section if--
                            (i) a public school received a grant under
                        this section in the previous 5 fiscal years; or
                            (ii) a public school receives a grant under
                        this section in the same fiscal year.
                    (B) Exception.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), in
                the case that a grant recipient experiences an event in
                which an individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts to
                inflict deadly harm against multiple individuals, such
                grant recipient shall be eligible to receive an
                additional grant under this section in any fiscal year
                after the date on which the event occurred.
            (4) Matching funds.--
                    (A) In general.--The Federal share of a grant
                received under this subsection may not exceed 50
                percent of the hard security improvement costs.
                    (B) Waiver.--The Attorney General may waive in
                whole or in part, the matching requirement under
                paragraph (1) in the case that the recipient has a
                financial need for such waiver.
            (5) Grant conditions.--A recipient of a grant under this
        section shall--
                    (A) use the grant to make hard security
                improvements identified as necessary by the most recent
                independent facility security risk assessment;
                    (B) in the case that a panic alarm is not installed
                or operable according to the independent facility risk
                assessment, use the grant for the installation of at
                least 1 panic alarm for use in a school security
                emergency, including a non-fire evacuation, lockdown,
                or active shooter situation, which alarm--
                            (i) shall be directly linked to the local
                        law enforcement agency that is closest in
                        proximity to the grant recipient;
                            (ii) shall immediately transmit a signal or
                        message to such law enforcement agency upon
                        activation; and
                            (iii) shall not be audible within the
                        public school building;
                    (C) before entering into a contract with a vendor,
                obtain written confirmation from the law enforcement
                agency or entity that conducted the independent
                facility security risk assessment that the improvement
                will mitigate a vulnerability identified in the
                independent facility security risk assessment; and
                    (D) ensure that hard security improvements comply
                with local building code requirements and standards.
    (d) Information Dissemination.--
            (1) In general.--The Attorney General shall disseminate to
        each local educational agency in the United States information
        about the availability of grants under this section.
            (2) Event notice.--Not later than 30 days after an event in
        which an individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict
        deadly harm against multiple individuals occurs in a public
        school, the Director shall contact verbally the head of such
        public school to provide notice of priority eligibility for
        grants under this section and to offer technical assistance in
        navigating the application process.
    (e) Reports.--
            (1) Grant recipient report.--Not later than one year after
        receiving a grant under subsection (b) or (c), a recipient
        shall submit to the Attorney General--
                    (A) a copy of the results of each security
                assessment with how many vulnerabilities were found;
                    (B) a list of each hard improvement made and the
                percentage of vulnerabilities fixed, including the
                percentage of vulnerabilities outstanding;
                    (C) a list of the number of events in which an
                individual inflicts deadly harm or attempts to inflict
                deadly harm against multiple individuals, if any, that
                happened five years before hard security
                vulnerabilities were fixed or one year after the hard
                security vulnerabilities were made; and
                    (D) a survey assessing how safe students and
                facility members feel on the school's campus before
                hard security improvements were made and one year after
                they were made.
            (2) Attorney general report.--Not later than two years
        after the date of enactment, and annually thereafter, the
        Attorney General shall submit to appropriate Congressional
        committees a report on the national state of physical security
        in schools, including--
                    (A) the contents of grant recipient reports under
                paragraph (1);
                    (B) a percentage breakdown of the type of hard
                security fixes;
                    (C) the percentage of outstanding vulnerabilities
                remaining;
                    (D) a percentage breakdown of each type of hard
                security improvements made; and
                    (E) the average percentage of vulnerabilities fixed
                and average percentage of vulnerabilities outstanding
                after the hard security improvements were made.
    (f) Sunset.--The pilot program shall terminate on the date that is
five years after the date on which the pilot program is established.
    (g) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on
        the Judiciary and the Committee on Education and Workforce of
        the House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary
        and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of
        the Senate.
            (2) Hard security improvements.--The term ``hard security
        improvements'' means improvements to the infrastructure of
        school property perimeter, parking lot perimeter, building
        perimeter, entrance and exit points of the school building,
        video monitoring equipment, alert notification equipment, the
        interior and perimeter of the classroom, and any other physical
        improvements related to camera systems and related hardware,
        alarm and notification technology, and visitor management
        technologies deemed eligible for improvement by the Attorney
        General.
            (3) Independent facility security risk assessment.--The
        term ``independent facility security risk assessment'' means an
        assessment that--
                    (A) identifies active shooter and related security
                vulnerabilities of public schools, considering security
                factors, including the strength and maintenance levels
                of the property perimeter, parking lot perimeter,
                building perimeter, and classroom and interior
                perimeter, and the presence of a silent security system
                signal generated by the manual activation of a device
                intended to signal a life-threatening or emergency
                situation requiring a response from law enforcement;
                and
                    (B) is conducted by a Federal, State, or local
                entity determined to be qualified by the Department of
                Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance.
            (4) Public school.--The term ``public school'' means a
        public elementary school or a public secondary school,
        including an elementary school or a secondary school that is
        predominately funded by an Indian tribal government.
    (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to
        carry out the pilot program--
                    (A) $100,000,000 for fiscal year one of the pilot
                program;
                    (B) $200,000,000 for fiscal year two of the pilot
                program; and
                    (C) $300,000,000 for fiscal years three through
                five of the pilot program.
            (2) Allocation of funds.--Any funds authorized under
        paragraph (1) shall be allocated--
                    (A) with 30 percent of any such funds to the grant
                program under section 2(b); and
                    (B) with 70 percent of any such funds to the grant
                program under section 2(c).
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