Senate passes Act 67 fixes for school police officer arrest and training deadline
This summer, Governor Tom Wolf signed into law Act 67 of 2019 that makes numerous changes concerning school security personnel, establishes training requirements and sets provisions on who is authorized to carry firearms. Inadvertently, Act 67 eliminated arrest authority from fully trained police officers employed by school districts. This week the Senate passed House Bill 49 (Rep. Brown, R-Monroe) with amendments to reinstate school police officers’ arrest power, while retaining the bill’s intention that private third-party vendors who serve as school police officers do not have the same authority. House Bill 49 also extends the deadline for school police officers, school resource officers and school security guards to receive training required by the National Association of School Resource Officers or an equivalent course from September 2, 2019, until the beginning of the 2020-21 school year. House Bill 49 will now be returned to the House for concurrence.