(a) There is established a School Safety Infrastructure Council. The council shall consist of: (1) The Commissioner of Administrative Services, or the commissioner's designee; (2) the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection, or the commissioner's designee; (3) the Commissioner of Education, or the commissioner's designee; (4) one appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, who shall be a person with expertise in building security, preferably school building security; (5) one appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be a licensed professional engineer who is a structural engineer; (6) one appointed by the majority leader of the Senate, who shall be a public school administrator certified by the State Board of Education; (7) one appointed by the majority leader of the House of Representatives, who shall be a firefighter, emergency medical technician or a paramedic; (8) one appointed by the minority leader of the Senate, who shall be a school resource officer; (9) one appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives, who shall be a public school teacher certified by the State Board of Education; and (10) two appointed by the Governor, one of whom shall be a licensed building official and one of whom shall be a licensed architect. The Commissioner of Administrative Services shall serve as the chairperson of the council. The administrative staff of the Department of Administrative Services shall serve as staff for the council and assist with all ministerial duties.

(b) The School Safety Infrastructure Council shall develop school safety infrastructure criteria for school building projects awarded grants pursuant to this chapter and the school security infrastructure competitive grant program, pursuant to section 84 of public act 13-3*. Such school safety infrastructure criteria shall conform to industry standards for school building safety infrastructure and shall address areas including, but not be limited to, (1) entryways to school buildings and classrooms, such as, reinforcement of entryways, ballistic glass, solid core doors, double door access, computer-controlled electronic locks, remote locks on all entrance and exits and buzzer systems, (2) the use of cameras throughout the school building and at all entrances and exits, including the use of closed-circuit television monitoring, (3) penetration resistant vestibules, and (4) other security infrastructure improvements and devices as they become industry standards. The council shall meet at least annually to review and update, if necessary, the school safety infrastructure criteria and make such criteria available to local and regional boards of education.

(c) Not later than January 1, 2014, and annually thereafter, the School Safety Infrastructure Council shall submit the school safety infrastructure criteria to the Commissioners of Emergency Services and Public Protection and Education, the School Building Projects Advisory Council, established pursuant to section 10-292q, and the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to public safety and education, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a.

(P.A. 13-3, S. 80; 13-247, S. 200; P.A. 14-90, S. 2; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-3, S. 5.)

*Note: Section 84 of public act 13-3 is special in nature and therefore has not been codified but remains in full force and effect according to its terms.

History: P.A. 13-3 effective April 4, 2013; pursuant to P.A. 13-247, “Commissioner of Construction Services” and “Department of Construction Services” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Administrative Services” and “Department of Administrative Services”, respectively, effective July 1, 2013; P.A. 14-90 amended Subsec. (a) by adding Subdiv. (10) re Governor's appointee who shall be a licensed building official, effective June 6, 2014; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 15-3 replaced “standards” with “criteria” throughout, amended Subsec. (a) by adding additional appointment re licensed architect in Subdiv. (10) and amended Subsec. (b) by replacing “under” with “awarded grants pursuant to” and “include” with “address areas including” and deleting “projects receiving reimbursement as part of” and “standards regarding”, effective July 1, 2015.