Illinois Senate Bill SB1946

Illinois 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/6/25
• Refer: 2/6/25

Caption

SCH SAFETY DRILL-MAPPING DATA

Summary

SB1946 amends the Illinois School Safety Drill Act to expand and clarify the state’s crisis response mapping data grant program. The bill requires the State Board of Education, or its designee, to make crisis response mapping data available to a broad set of eligible public education entities, including school districts, charter schools, special education cooperatives, area career centers, regional offices of education, early childhood programs, and certain state schools and programs. It also requires applicants to include mapping data for all schools under their jurisdiction, including charter schools authorized by a district. The bill further requires any entity that receives crisis response mapping data to provide copies to appropriate local, county, state, and federal first responders for emergency response use. It specifies that the data must be stored and shared in electronic or digital format and sets minimum eligibility standards for the data, including compatibility with existing security software, printable format, on-site verification, true-north orientation, aerial imagery overlays, and site-specific labeling of rooms, hallways, exits, hazards, utilities, and other critical features.

Impact

If enacted, SB1946 would amend Section 50 of the School Safety Drill Act (105 ILCS 128/50) by tightening the rules for how crisis response mapping data is distributed, formatted, and shared with emergency responders. It would affect public school entities and related educational institutions that seek state grant support for mapping data, while also imposing operational requirements on the State Board of Education’s administration of the program. The bill appears intended to improve emergency preparedness and interoperability between schools and first responders, and it would likely require schools and vendors to meet specific technical and mapping standards.

Sentiment

There is no recorded committee transcript or vote history in the provided materials, so no formal legislative sentiment can be measured from debate or roll call. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears safety-oriented and administrative in nature, with an emphasis on improving emergency response readiness in schools. The overall framing suggests a generally supportive public-safety rationale rather than a controversial policy shift.

Contention

No specific points of contention are documented in the provided record. Potential areas of concern implied by the text include the cost and administrative burden of producing compliant mapping data, the requirement that data be compatible with existing security platforms without additional software purchases, and the need to verify and maintain highly detailed school-site information. Another possible issue is the bill’s funding structure, since the program is subject to appropriations and grants are to be awarded until funds are exhausted, which could limit access or create uneven distribution among eligible entities.