[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 189 (Tuesday, December 11, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15130-S15131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           SCHOOL SAFETY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT IMPROVEMENT ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, in the 8 months since the horrific incident 
at Virginia Tech that resulted in the tragic deaths of 32 students, we 
have witnessed a barrage of new incidents involving threatening conduct 
and, too often, deadly acts of violence at our schools and college 
campuses nationwide.
  Just this past Saturday, police arrested a student at Loyola 
Marymount University in Los Angeles on suspicion of posting an 
anonymous online threat to kill people on campus. The threat appeared 
on a blog used primarily by college students. It said: ``I am going to 
shoot and kill as many people as I can until which time I am 
incapacitated or killed by police.'' Fortunately, police got to this 
troubled student before he could make good on his threat. But I urge 
the Senate not to sit back and wait until the next time, when police 
may not be able to stop a deadly event before it occurs. We must act 
now to protect our schools and college campuses.
  Those who perpetrate these terrible crimes know no boundaries. No 
targets are off limits. This past Sunday, a man killed two people in 
Arvada, CO, after being refused lodging at a Christian missionary 
center. Later that day, in Colorado Springs, the same man opened fire 
outside the New Life Church, taking the lives of two teenaged sisters 
and leaving a third victim in critical condition. These recent 
incidents make clear yet again that we must do all we can to ensure 
that law enforcement is prepared and equipped to respond to such 
incidents.
  I urge Congress to take prompt action to help stem this tide of 
violence. The full Senate can begin to address this terrible and 
recurring problem by taking up and passing the School Safety and Law 
Enforcement Improvement Act of 2007, a legislative package that 
responds to the Virginia Tech tragedy and the ongoing problem of 
violence in our schools and in our communities.
  The Judiciary Committee passed this important bill out of committee 
over 4 months ago. In passing the bill out of the Judiciary Committee 
this past September, the committee attempted to show deference to 
Governor Kaine and the task forces at work in Virginia and to 
complement their work and recommendations. Working with several 
Senators, including Senators Boxer, Reed, Specter, Feingold, Schumer, 
and Durbin, the committee originated this bill and reported it before 
the start of the academic year in the hope that the full Senate could 
pass these critical school safety improvements this fall.
  Regrettably, the bill has been stalled on the Senate floor. I urge 
those holding up its passage to consider that this administration has 
spent more than $15 billion to equip, train, and build facilities for 
the Iraqi security forces. Surely Congress can stand up for American 
kids who face unrelenting school violence by authorizing just a 
fraction of this money to reduce deadly violence in our schools and 
communities right here at home.
  I do not think the Senate should continue to stand by and wait for 
the next horrific school tragedy to make the critical changes necessary 
to insure safety in our schools and on our college campuses. The risk 
of school violence will not go away just because Congress may shift its 
focus. Since this bill passed out of committee, we have seen tragedy at 
Delaware State, University of Memphis, SuccessTech Academy in 
Cleveland, OH, as well as incidents in California, New York, 
Pennsylvania, and Oregon, to name just a few. I urge the Senate to move 
aggressively with the comprehensive school safety legislation. It 
includes background check improvements, together with other sensible 
yet effective safety improvement measures supported by law enforcement 
across the country. If we are prohibited by objection from doing so by 
unanimous consent, then let us move to it and let those with objections 
seek to amend those provisions to which they object.
  There are too many incidents at too many colleges and schools 
nationwide. This terrorizes students and their parents. We should be 
doing what we can to help.
  Several weeks ago, a troubled student wearing a Fred Flintstone mask 
and carrying a rifle through campus was arrested at St. John's 
University in Queens, NY, prompting authorities to lock down the campus 
for 3 hours. The day after that incident, an armed 17-year-old on the 
other side of the country in Oroville, CA, held students hostage at Las 
Plumas High School, also resulting in a lock-down. The incidents have 
continued with the arrest a few weeks ago of an armed student suspected 
of plotting a Columbine-style attack on fellow high school students in 
Norristown, PA. More recently, in Happy Valley, OR, police arrested a 
10-year-old student who brought a semi-automatic weapon into his 
elementary school. The students in these situations were lucky and 
escaped without injury.
  University of Memphis student Taylor Bradford was not so lucky. He 
was killed on campus on September 30 in what university officials 
believe was a targeted attack. He was 21 years old. Shalita Middleton 
was not so lucky. She died on October 23 from injuries she sustained 
during the Delaware State incident. She was 17 years old. Nathaniel Pew 
was not so lucky. He was wounded at Delaware State. High school 
teachers Michael Grassie and David Kachadourian and students Michael 
Peek and Darnell Rodgers--all of whom were wounded by a troubled 
student at SuccessTech Academy on October 10--were not so lucky.
  The School Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act responds 
directly to incidents like these by squarely addressing the problem of 
violence in our schools in several ways. The bill enlists the States as 
partners in the dissemination of critical information by making 
significant improvements to the National Instant Background Check 
System, known as the NICS system. The bill also authorizes Federal 
assistance for programs to improve the safety and security of our 
schools and institutions of higher education, provides equitable 
benefits to law enforcement serving those institutions including 
bulletproof vests, and funds pilot programs to develop cutting-edge 
prevention and intervention programs for our schools. The bill also 
clarifies and strengthens two existing statutes--the Terrorist Hoax 
Improvements Act and the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act--which are 
designed to improve public safety.
  Specifically, title I would improve the safety and security of 
students both at the elementary and secondary school level, and on 
college and university campuses. The K-12 improvements are drawn from a 
bill that Senator Boxer introduced in April, and I want to thank 
Senator Boxer for her hard work on this issue. The improvements include 
increased funding for much-needed infrastructure changes to improve 
security as well as the establishment of hotlines and tip-lines, which 
will enable students to report potentially dangerous situations to 
school administrators before they occur.
  These improvements can save lives. After the four students and 
teachers

[[Page S15131]]

were wounded at SuccessTech Academy, the press reported that parents 
had been petitioning to get a metal detector installed and additional 
security personnel added, and that the guard who was previously 
assigned to the school had been removed 3 years ago. In fact, the 
entire city of Cleveland has just 10 metal detectors that are rotated 
throughout the city's more that 100 schools. Title I of the bill would 
enhance the ability of school district to apply for and receive grant 
money to fund the installation of metal detectors and the training and 
hiring of security personnel to keep our kids safe. Over the past 4 
years, this administration has spent over $15 billion to equip, train, 
and build facilities for the Iraqi security forces. Surely, Congress 
can stand up for American kids who face unrelenting school violence by 
supporting just a small fraction of this figure for much-needed school 
safety improvements.
  To address the new realities of campus safety in the wake of Virginia 
Tech and more recent college incidents, title I also creates a matching 
grant program for campus safety and security to be administered out of 
the COPS Office of the Department of Justice. The grant program would 
allow institutions of higher education to apply, for the first time, 
directly for Federal funds to make school safety and security 
improvements. The program is authorized to be appropriated at 
$50,000,000 for the next 2 fiscal years. While this amounts to just $3 
per student each year, it will enable schools to more effectively 
respond to dangerous situations on campus.
  Title II of the bill seeks to improve the NICS system. The senseless 
loss of life at Virginia Tech revealed deep flaws in the transfer of 
information relevant to gun purchases between the States and the 
Federal Government. The defects in the current system permitted the 
perpetrator of this terrible crime to obtain a firearm even though a 
judge had declared him to be a danger to himself and thus ineligible 
under Federal law. Seung-Hui Cho was not eligible to buy a weapon given 
his mental health history, but he was still able to pass a background 
check because data was missing from the system. We are working to close 
gaps in the NICS system. Title II will correct these problems, and for 
the first time will create a legal regime in which disqualifying mental 
health records, both at the State and Federal level, would regularly be 
reported into the NICS system.
  Title III would make sworn law enforcement officers who work for 
private institutions of higher education and rail carriers eligible for 
death and disability benefits, and for funds administered under the 
Byrne grant program and the bulletproof vest partnership grant program. 
Providing this equitable treatment is in the best interest of our 
Nation's educators and students and will serve to place the support of 
the Federal Government behind the dedicated law enforcement officers 
who serve and protect private colleges and universities nationwide. I 
commend Senator Jack Reed for his leadership in this area.
  Title IV of the bill makes improvements to the Law Enforcement 
Officers Safety Act of 2003. These amendments to existing law will 
streamline the system by which qualified retired and active officers 
can be certified under LEOSA. It serves us all when we permit qualified 
officers, with a demonstrated commitment to law enforcement and no 
adverse employment history, to protect themselves, their families, and 
their fellow citizens wherever those officers may be.
  Title V incorporates the PRECAUTION Act, which Senators Feingold and 
Specter asked to have included. This provision authorizes grants to 
develop prevention and intervention programs for our schools.
  Finally, Title VI incorporates the Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act of 
2007, at the request of Senator Kennedy.
  Let us go forward and act now on this important bill. The Virginia 
Tech Review Panel--a body commissioned by Governor Tim Kaine to study 
the Virginia Tech tragedy--recently issued its findings based on a 4-
month long investigation of the incident and its aftermath. This bill 
would adopt a number of recommendations from the review panel aimed at 
improving school safety planning and reporting information to NICS. We 
must not miss this opportunity to implement these initiatives 
nationwide, and to take concrete steps to ensure the safety of our 
kids.
  I recognize that there is no solution to fully end the sad phenomenon 
of school violence. But the recent tragedies should prompt us to 
respond in realistic and meaningful ways when we are presented with 
such challenges. I hope the Senate can promptly move this bill forward 
to invest in the safety of our students and better support law 
enforcement officers across the country.

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