Latest news with #HB33
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Uvalde Strong Act' passes Texas Senate amid calls for bolder action
A bill that aims to better prepare law enforcement agencies to respond to mass shootings to avoid a repeat of the 2022 massacre at a Uvalde elementary school sailed through the Texas Senate and will likely be on its way to the governor's desk soon — but some fear the measure does not go far enough to prevent future tragedies. House Bill 33, titled the "Uvalde Strong Act," passed the upper chamber unanimously Monday after clearing the House with no opposition April 29. The House is expected to concur with Senate tweaks to the legislation and send it for a gubernatorial signature. On May 24, 2022, three years ago this Saturday, a gunman entered Robb Elementary School and killed 19 children and two teachers, marking the state's deadliest school mass shooting. As the tragedy unfolded, nearly 400 police officers waited more than an hour to confront the shooter. HB 33 introduces a slew of new requirements for schools and first responders. It requires school districts and multiple law enforcement agencies to meet together each year for planning and training, and it mandates annual mass shooting exercises. It requires the Texas Department of Public Safety to make agreements with local agencies detailing how the departments would coordinate with one another during an emergency. The legislation also gives responding officers the ability to override an incident commander and take control of a scene if the officer believes the response is inadequate or the situation is unsafe. It requires responding agencies to prepare a preliminary report by 60 days after an incident. "This tragedy has exposed critical failures in law enforcement preparedness, response coordination and school safety protocols, making it clear that Texas must take action to address our current shortcomings and future readiness for active shooter situations," said Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. More: 'Uvalde Strong Act' passes unanimously out of Texas House Committee: 'One step closer' The bill is the first from freshman state Rep. Don McLaughlin, who was Uvalde's mayor during the 2022 shooting, and was identified as a priority by House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who led the lower chamber's investigation into the botched shooting response. McLaughlin, a Republican who now represents the South Texas town of about 15,000, praised the bill's passage in a statement Monday. "This is about keeping our schools safer and making sure law enforcement and first responders are never set up to fail," McLaughlin wrote. "We owe it to the families to take action that actually matters. HB 33 does that." But San Antonio Democratic Sen. Roland Gutierrez, whose district includes Uvalde, said "more must be done" to heal from from the shooting and prevent future tragedies. "We need to do better on common sense gun safety solutions. We need to do better on how we take care of people after these things happen. We need to do better on victims compensation funds," Gutierrez said on the Senate floor. "I promise you, and sadly, this will happen again, no matter how many pieces of legislation we put up, until we begin to truly look at the root problems that are hurting us in this state on gun violence." Brett Cross, whose 10-year-old son Uziyah was killed in the Robb Elementary shooting, told the American-Statesman on Tuesday at the Capitol that the bill won't stop future tragedies but is instead a "reactionary measure ... just to placate people." "If (McLaughlin) wants to put out a bill that will actually save children's lives, that could have saved Uziyah and all the other ones in Uvalde, it would have been to raise the age (to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21). It would have been red flag laws. It would have been safe storage laws. It would have been universal background checks; to end the gun show loophole," Cross said. "The Republicans, especially in Texas, do not care about the youth. They do not care about our children. They care about the money that they make from the NRA." Staff writer Bayliss Wagner contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Legislature OKs Uvalde Strong Act to bolster shooting response
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Uvalde mayor's police training bill heads to Gov. Abbott's desk
The Brief A bill aimed at improving police training after the Uvalde school shooting has passed the Texas Senate. "The Uvalde Strong Act" would mandate annual active shooter response planning and enhanced school-specific officer training. The bill seeks to address issues identified in the delayed law enforcement response to the 2022 Robb Elementary attack. AUSTIN - A bill intended to fix some issues in police training that may have contributed to the 2022 Uvalde school shooting now awaits Gov. Greg Abbott's approval. HB 33, also called "The Uvalde Strong Act," filed by former Uvalde mayor and freshman Rep. Don McLaughlin Jr. (R-Uvalde), aims to better train officers and enhance agency coordination in hopes of preventing comparable shootings in the future. McLaughlin, who was mayor of Uvalde at the time of the attack and has been actively seeking change to law enforcement policy since, says the bill would correct problems with training that led to police hesitancy in the shooting. The bill would require officers and school officials to meet annually for active shooter response plan development. It also increases officer training specifically for school shooter responses at primary and secondary school campuses. The delayed law enforcement response to the May 24, 2022, shooting has been widely condemned as a massive failure: Nearly 400 officers waited more than 70 minutes before confronting the gunman in a classroom filled with dead and wounded children and teachers in the South Texas city of about 15,000 people, 80 miles west of San Antonio. What they're saying In a statement quoted by the Associated Press, McLaughlin said the following: "The Uvalde Strong Act is aimed at fixing the breakdowns in communication and coordination that were exposed in the Robb Elementary shooting," McLaughlin said. "This is about keeping our schools safer. ... We owe it to the families to take action that really matters." What's next The bill passed the Texas Senate on Monday. Abbott's signature is the last hurdle before the proposal becomes law. Two of the responding officers face multiple criminal charges of abandonment and endangerment. Former Uvalde school Police Chief Pete Arredondo and former school officer Adrian Gonzales have pleaded not guilty. According to the Associated Press, they are due for trial in October. The Source Information in this article came from the Associated Press, Texas Legislature Online, and previous Fox 7 reporting.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Uvalde Strong Act' passes unanimously out of Texas House Committee: 'One step closer'
A bill by state Rep. Don McLaughlin, who was Uvalde's mayor during the 2022 deadly massacre at Robb Elementary School, that aims to better prepare law enforcement agencies to respond to mass shootings received a resounding endorsement from a Texas House panel Wednesday afternoon. House Bill 33, titled the "Uvalde Strong Act," passed unanimously out of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety and Veterans' Affairs. "We're one step closer to making sure the failures made in Uvalde never happen again," McLaughlin, R-Uvalde, wrote on social media after the vote. On May 24, 2022, a gunman entered Robb Elementary and killed 19 children and two teachers, marking the state's deadliest school mass shooting. As the tragedy unfolded, nearly 400 police officers waited more than an hour to confront the shooter. The bill is the freshman representative's first legislative proposal and was identified as a priority by House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who led the House investigation into the botched shooting response. Seventy-nine other House members have signed on as bill co-sponsors, signaling an easy path to advance from the lower chamber to the Senate. "House Bill 33 codifies common active shooter response practices to establish a statewide emergency response protocol for all law enforcement and public information officers, eliminating any confusion across jurisdictions," McLaughlin said during the bill's first hearing March 19. Though a number of school safety bills became law during 2023 legislative session, McLaughlin's proposal seeks to further refine and standardize shooting response protocols to close unaddressed gaps revealed by the Uvalde shooting. HB 33 would require school districts and multiple law enforcement agencies to meet together each year for planning and training, and it mandates annual mass shooting exercises. It would also require the Texas Department of Public Safety to make agreements with local agencies detailing how the agencies would coordinate with one another during an emergency. The bill would also give responding officers the ability to override an incident commander and take control of a scene if the officer believes the response is inadequate or the situation is unsafe. It would require responding agencies to prepare a preliminary report by 60 days after the incident. McLaughlin said the changes would ensure multiple agencies are all working from the same playbook when responding to critical incidents like an active shooting. "I was one of the first to witness the chaos that unfolded. Law enforcement hesitated, communication broke down and innocent children and teachers were left defenseless," said McLaughlin. "We must overhaul our approach to school safety and active shooter situations. We cannot afford to repeat the catastrophic mistakes made during the response at Robb Elementary." The bill now heads to the full House for consideration. Companion legislation in the Senate is working its way through that chamber's Criminal Justice Committee. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 'Uvalde Strong Act' gets initial nod from Texas House Committee panel
