1     
SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS AMENDMENTS

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2021 GENERAL SESSION

3     
STATE OF UTAH

4     
Chief Sponsor: Sandra Hollins

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Senate Sponsor: Daniel W. Thatcher

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7     LONG TITLE
8     General Description:
9          This bill amends provisions relating to a local education agency's ability to contract
10     with a law enforcement agency for school resource officer services.
11     Highlighted Provisions:
12          This bill:
13          ▸     amends provisions related to a training that statute requires the State Board of
14     Education to prepare and make available, including:
15               •     broadening the intended audience; and
16               •     adding certain additional content; and
17          ▸     makes technical and conforming changes.
18     Money Appropriated in this Bill:
19          None
20     Other Special Clauses:
21          None
22     Utah Code Sections Affected:
23     AMENDS:
24          53G-8-702, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2020, Chapter 408
25     

26     Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
27          Section 1. Section 53G-8-702 is amended to read:
28          53G-8-702. School resource officer training -- Curriculum.

29          (1) In accordance with Title 63G, Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act, the
30     state board shall make rules that prepare and make available a training program for school
31     principals, school personnel, and school resource officers to attend.
32          (2) To create the curriculum and materials for the training program described in
33     Subsection (1), the state board shall:
34          (a) work in conjunction with the State Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice
35     created in Section 63M-7-201;
36          (b) solicit input from local school boards, charter school governing boards, and the
37     Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind;
38          (c) solicit input from local law enforcement and other interested community
39     stakeholders; and
40          (d) consider the current United States Department of Education recommendations on
41     school discipline and the role of a school resource officer.
42          (3) The training program described in Subsection (1) may include training on the
43     following:
44          (a) childhood and adolescent development;
45          (b) responding age-appropriately to students;
46          (c) working with disabled students;
47          (d) techniques to de-escalate and resolve conflict;
48          (e) cultural awareness;
49          (f) restorative justice practices;
50          (g) identifying a student exposed to violence or trauma and referring the student to
51     appropriate resources;
52          (h) student privacy rights;
53          (i) negative consequences associated with youth involvement in the juvenile and
54     criminal justice systems;
55          (j) strategies to reduce juvenile justice involvement; [and]

56          (k) roles of and distinctions between a school resource officer and other school staff
57     who help keep a school secure[.];
58          (l) developing and supporting successful relationships with students; and
59          (m) legal parameters of searching and questioning students on school property.
60          (4) The state board shall work together with the Department of Public Safety, the State
61     Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, and state and local law enforcement to establish
62     policies and procedures that govern [student] school resource officers.