SENATE PASSES $40 MILLION SCHOOL SAFETY BILL TO PREVENT SCHOOL SHOOTINGS, PUSHED BY SEN. GEORGE MUNOZ
(Santa Fe, NM) – Legislation to make the state’s public school classrooms safer by funding security measures to prevent shootings and armed attacks on students today was passed by the New Mexico Senate. Democratic Senator George Muñoz (D-4-Cibola, McKinley and San Juan) successfully pressed for passage of SB 239 by unanimous vote, appropriating $40 million over four years through the public school capital outlay process for a wide array of protective steps to improve school safety, including card-swipe systems for doors, security cameras, metal detectors, and bullet-proof protective coatings for windows on school premises. Muñoz said implementing the security measures would help to prevent school shooting incidents from happening in the future.
“This morning on the Senate floor, we passed a memorial to honor the two heroes in the Aztec, New Mexico school whose actions saved the lives of many children. In the afternoon, we passed my bill to actually implement better school safety measures in the future, and to prevent these tragedies. I am proud of the Senate today, because we know by now that our children need real protection when they leave the house to go to school. It is critical that we give our state’s schools the authority and the funding to put protections in place to protect our kids. School shootings have become all too common,” said Senator Muñoz.
As of January 24, there have been 11 school shootings in the U.S. so far in 2018. Since 2013, 277 school shootings have occurred, including two incidents in New Mexico. In 2014, a12-year-old boy shot and injured two students at Berrendo Middle School in Roswell. In December 2017, a 21-year-old male opened fire at Aztec High School, killing two students before fatally shooting himself.
“We hope we will never see the day when a shooter invades another school in New Mexico and opens fire on students. But if that does happen, our schools must be prepared. We cannot take school safety for granted any longer,” added Muñoz.
SB 239 now goes to the NM House of Representatives for consideration.
The Senate also passed SM 84, THOMAS HILL & KATHLEEN POTTER, IN HONOR. They jumped into action to keep students safe during Aztec school shooting.
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