Collins offers bicameral, bipartisan school violence prevention bill

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) joined a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers to reintroduce the EAGLES Act, which would reauthorize and expand the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC).

Sen. Collins on Feb. 23 signed on as an original cosponsor of the bipartisan EAGLES Act of 2021, S. 391, with bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and cosponsors including U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) to scale up NTAC’s threat assessment operations, with a particular focus on school safety. 

“No child should feel unsafe in the classroom, and it is imperative that we take action to ensure that schools are a safe learning environment for students, teachers and staff,” Sen. Collins said on Monday.

The NTAC was created in 1998 to develop evidence-based indicators for targeted violence, including school violence, as well as best practices and training to prevent future acts of violence. The NTAC would be expanded under the EAGLES Act, which is named after the mascot for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where a gunman in February 2018 opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others.

Specifically, the measure would establish a national program on targeted school violence prevention and provide more federal resources to bolster nationwide research and training, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Collins’ office.

“This legislation would improve research and training to prevent targeted violence, including threats to schools,” said Sen. Collins. “This is one of many commonsense steps we can take to protect school communities so that students can focus on their studies.”

Through the bill’s school safety initiative, the NTAC would coordinate with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education on training and plans, while the U.S. Secret Service would be tasked with providing periodic progress reports to Congress, the summary says.

U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balert (R-FL) and Ted Deutch (D-FL) also on Feb. 23 introduced H.R. 1229, the House of Representatives version of the bill. 

Previously, Sen. Collins and her Senate colleagues introduced the EAGLES Act of 2019, S. 495, which stalled in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.