House Bill 1982: MS ROSS Act

April 5, 2024April 22, 2024 Bill Tracker

Latest Action

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The Senate Finance Committee failed to take action on HB 1982 by the April 16 deadline, causing this bill to die in committee.

Explanation of the Bill

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House Bill 1982 would establish the Mississippi School Resource Officers School Safety (MS ROSS) Act, creating the MS ROSS Program within the Department of Public Safety. The stated purpose of this program is to create a source of funding “to assist local law enforcement agencies in providing school resource officers” to public and private schools. 

Structure of Program

Under the MS ROSS Program, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS) would provide funds to subsidize the employment of one school resource officer (SRO) for each school. The SRO would be employed by the local law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction over the area where the school is located. Public and private schools would be eligible for this program.

The amount of funds provided by the DPS would be equal to a percentage of the total costs of employing an SRO. This percentage would be 30% in 2024, and increase to 40% in 2025, 50% in 2026, 60% in 2027, and 70% in 2028. It would remain at 70% in the years following 2028. The remainder of costs would be paid for by the local law enforcement agency, the school district, or both.  If the total costs of employing an SRO exceeded $55,000, the percentage of funds from the DPS would be calculated assuming a total cost of $55,000. 

Application Process

To apply to receive funds, a local law enforcement agency and school governing body would submit a joint application to the DPS. The school governing body may be a local school board, charter school governing board, or private school governing board. The application would be required to include:

• The local law enforcement agency that would be providing school resource officers and the name of its chief law enforcement officer;
• The school governing body to be served by the local law enforcement agency, the names of the president of the governing body, and the superintendent or school leaders under its authority;
• The total number of schools, the total number of school campuses, and the names of all schools;
• The names of the principals of each school;
• The name, address and phone number of each school campus;
• The proposed salary of each SRO; and
• The approximate number of SROs who would be employed.
  

Partnership Between Schools and Law Enforcement Agencies

Local law enforcement agencies and school governing bodies participating in the program would be required to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or interlocal agreement, signed by the chief law enforcement officer and the appropriate school leaders. This document would include:

• Description of the roles and responsibilities of each partner;
• A section noting that SROs will be official employees of the local law enforcement agency;
• The party who is responsible for funding the match of the cost associated with the employment of each SRO. If the parties will share the responsibility, the agreement should specify the amount each party will provide for each SRO employed; and
• An addendum to note that school resource officers (SROs) will be assigned to work in and around public and private elementary or secondary school campuses, and to provide documentation in the following areas:
  • Problem identification and justification;
  • Community policing strategies to be used by the SROs;
  • Quality and level of commitment to the effort; and
  • The link to community policing.
    

Within 60 days of an SRO’s employment, the employing school district and SROs should develop or enhance a comprehensive school safety plan for each school campus.  These plans should be submitted to the local law enforcement agencies and the DPS. 

Role of SRO

School resource officers (SROs) would be allowed to serve in a variety of roles within a school, including that of a law enforcement officer, safety specialist, law-related educator, problem-solver and community liaison. SROs could teach programs such as crime prevention, substance abuse prevention and gang resistance, as well as mentor troubled students. The SROs may also identify physical changes in the environment that may reduce crime in and around school campuses, as well as assist in developing school policies that address school safety.

All agencies receiving funds through the MS ROSS program would be required to send their SROs to the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers’ Training Academy, or another DPS-approved law enforcement training academy, where SROs would be required to participate in training through the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Program.

Administration of Program

The DPS would create rules and regulations for the application, expenditure requirements and the administration of the MS ROSS program. It would make a report on the implementation of the MS ROSS program with any recommendations to the 2025 Regular Session of the Legislature.

Special Fund

HB 1982 would create a special fund in the State Treasury to implement the MS ROSS Program. The fund would be maintained by the State Treasurer. Money in the fund would be disbursed at the discretion of the Department of Public Safety. The department could use up to 1% of money in the fund to cover costs of administering the program.

The Act would authorize the issuance of state general obligation bonds to generate funding for the program. The total amount of bonds issued would be capped at $107 million. Bonds could be issued through June 30, 2029; the bill does not specify how the program will be funded after this date