SALEM – On the day the nation mourned the death of twenty-six people in a rampage by a gunman in a Connecticut grade school, a group of Democratic legislators introduced a bill aimed at increasing security in Oregon schools.
Rep. Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland), chief sponsor of HB2337 said “I visited several schools and found most of them shockingly unsafe.”
He reported that when he visited with security staff they told him the major barrier to improving the security infrastructure was a shortage of available funds designated for that purpose.
The bill authorizes the State Treasurer to issue bonds to provide funds to create a grant program, which would offer matching funds for specific improvements in the security infrastructure of Oregon’s K-12 schools. Improvements may include access controls, video monitoring systems, communications enhancements, lighting upgrades, and installation of alarm systems, or perimeter fencing.
Greenlick was joined by sixteen Democratic legislators who co-sponsored the bill, which was introduced for early consideration when the 2013 Legislature convenes in February