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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 30, 2023 02:24 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Michele Brooks |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | New Felony Criminal Penalties for False Reports of Emergency Threats towards Educational Facilities |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation creating new, felony criminal penalties for falsely reporting emergency threats directed towards any educational facility in the Commonwealth. In the tragic wake of the recent Nashville school shooting that took the lives of three children and three staff, hoax callers falsely alerted law enforcement agencies of active school shooter situations in multiple counties across our state. These calls triggered a massive emergency response, creating perilous conditions for students, teachers and public safety agencies alike. Several schools in my district were on the receiving end of these cruel and extremely depraved hoax calls. The added stress on our schools, communities, emergency responders and law enforcement officers to respond to these specific and dangerous false reports require a commensurate response in our criminal statute. We already have enhanced criminal penalties for a multitude of offenses that endanger our school facilities in the Commonwealth, it only makes sense to add the perpetrators of these abhorrent hoax calls to that list. I hope you will join me in cosponsoring this important legislation. |
Introduced as SB975