Key Points
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School safety program faces bipartisan criticism
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House members failed to pass a reform bill on April 20
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Opponents says bill is intended to help one contractor
A GOP bill attempting to resolve issues with a school safety program facing bipartisan criticism has attracted new opposition from Republicans during its run through the House.
On April 20, House members failed to pass Senate Bill 1315, a school safety measure intended to better help law enforcement respond to emergencies at school campuses. The bill failed 25-25 with eight Democrats and two Republicans not present on the floor to vote.
Republicans motioned to reconsider the measure, meaning it may come back for another vote in the chamber.
The bill would direct the Arizona Department of Education to assist school districts and charter schools with meeting interoperable communication system requirements, which are secure systems between law enforcement and schools for emergency situations.
Democrats have broadly opposed the bill, with some even calling it a “vendor bill” designed specifically to funnel money to one company offering the communications systems.
Since the school safety interoperability fund was created in 2019, $26 million has been put into the program and three companies have worked with law enforcement agencies across the state to set up school interoperability systems: Mutualink, Motorola Solutions and Navigate360. The majority of county law enforcement agencies have contracted with Mutualink for their systems.
“Special legislation is bad for Arizona because it reduces the state’s options and prevents us from getting the best price for high quality services,” Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, D-Tucson, said during the House’s vote on the measure. “Senate Bill 1315 compels all local law enforcement agencies to apply for the money from that fund so that it is available for their schools for interoperable communications, thus generating even more business for this specific vendor.”
Sen. Kevin Payne, R-Peoria, helped create the interoperability fund and said during an April 16 Joint Legislative Audit Committee meeting that he wanted to have a better system for law enforcement following the 2018 Parkland high school shooting which killed 17 people. He said law enforcement in that area were overwhelmed with 911 calls during the shooting, and he wanted Arizona schools to have a panic button with an interoperability system that could notify all surrounding law enforcement of an emergency with access to school cameras and floor plans to better help them prepare for the situation.
Payne also said during the audit hearing that he was only aware of one company, Mutualink, which satisfied all requirements of statute to be an interoperability provider, but he still denied the accusations that he’s sponsoring a vendor bill.
“I didn’t even know Mutualink even existed when this started,” Payne said. “There were three companies, not just one, so this was never a vendor bill.”
Some Republicans have grown frustrated with how law enforcement agencies have used the interoperability fund. Sheriff offices from Pinal County, La Paz County and Mohave County were scheduled to attend the April 16 audit committee hearing over their interoperable systems, but those offices did not have anyone speak for them at the hearing.
Committee co-chairman Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, said during the hearing that he supported SB 1315 because it would give the education department the ability to audit the use of interoperability funds and systems.
“The fact that we don’t have sheriff offices here who were invited to talk about the progress they’ve made is concerning to me and brings home the point that we need additional state oversight,” Gress said.
But other Republicans opposed SB 1315, saying they want to keep charter schools out of the measure. Rep. Alex Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, said during the House vote that the bill continues a “disturbing trend” of trying to regulate charter schools similarly to public schools. He noted the Charter Schools Association is opposing the bill and six other Republicans in the House voted against the bill.
“I’m not willing to do anything that would impair the ability of Arizona’s children to receive the world-class education that our charter system provides,” Kolodin said.
The Charter Schools Association didn’t return a request for comment about its stance on SB 1315 before the Arizona Capitol Times’ deadline.
Democrats have other issues with the measure as well. House Assistant Minority Leader Nancy Gutierrez, D-Tucson, told the Arizona Capitol Times that she and other members of her caucus have taken issue with the ability for law enforcement agencies to pick which schools have interoperable communications systems when they can’t cover each school with the funding available to them. She also wants to see more input from schools on the issue and said school officials have been largely ignored.
“(We need) to ask the schools what would help you? That hasn’t been done,” Gutierrez said.
