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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2025 - 2026
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 1, 2024 01:37 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Michele Brooks |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | New Felony Criminal Penalties for Reporting Emergency Threats towards School Entities |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation creating new, felony criminal penalties for reporting emergency threats directed towards any school entity or institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. In the tragic wake of the Nashville school shooting that took the lives of three children and three staff, hoax callers falsely alerted law enforcement agencies of active school shooter situations in multiple counties across our state. These calls triggered a massive emergency response, creating perilous conditions for students, teachers and public safety agencies alike. Several schools in my district were on the receiving end of these cruel and extremely depraved hoax calls. The added stress on our schools, communities, emergency responders, and law enforcement officers to respond to these specific and dangerous false reports require a commensurate response in our criminal statute. Additionally, the legislation provides for reimbursement to affected entities for costs of an evacuation or other response resulting from the threat. This legislation will be introduced as SB 975 PN 1518 of the 2023-2024 legislative session, which passed the Senate 40-10 and was cosponsored by Senators Brown, Costa, Dush, Schwank and Stefano. We already have enhanced criminal penalties for a multitude of offenses that endanger our school entities in the Commonwealth, it only makes sense to add the perpetrators of these abhorrent threats to that list. I hope you will join me in cosponsoring this important legislation. |
Memo Updated: December 1, 2024 01:38 PM