NH House Bill 123: Relative to “the emergency response plans in schools.” (NH House) [January 2019]

AN ACT relative to emergency response plans in schools.

SPONSORS: Rep. Ladd, Graf. 4; Rep. Cordelli, Carr. 4; Rep. Shaw, Hills. 16

COMMITTEE: Education

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ANALYSIS

This bill requires each school’s emergency response plan to include at least one drill to test emergency response to an armed assailant.

20:1 Emergency Response Plans. Amend RSA 189:64, I to read as follows:

I. Every public, chartered public, and nonpublic school shall develop a site-specific school emergency response plan which is based on and conforms to the Incident Command System and the National Incident Management System and submit such plan to the department of education by September 1 of each year. Upon receiving a school’s emergency management plan, the department shall provide a copy of such plan to the director of homeland security and emergency management, department of safety. The plan should be documented at the time of school approval review. The plan shall provide that at least 4 of the currently required number of fire evacuation drills shall be emergency, all-hazard response drills of which at least one shall test emergency response to an armed assailant. The armed assailant drill may be discussion based. The types of all-hazard drills and exercises and the manner and time in which these activities take place shall be determined by the school in collaboration with local public safety, emergency management, and public health officials. The school may include students and first responders in all-hazard response drills or activities, as appropriate. The plan shall address hazards including but not limited to acts of violence, threats, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, structural fire, wildfire, internal and external hazardous materials releases, medical emergencies, and any other hazard deemed necessary by school officials and local emergency authorities. The first emergency response drill shall be conducted within one year of the completion of the plan. If the school has a building schematic floor plan diagram, the school may, with the approval of the local school board, submit the diagram to the division of homeland security and emergency management, department of safety, in a commonly used digital format. Submission of the diagram will enable the state to better prepare, respond, and mitigate potentially dangerous conditions should the need arise.

20:2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

UPDATE: as of 7/14/2019