Relating to active shooter incidents at primary and secondary school facilities and other emergencies.
HB 33, known as the Uvalde Strong Act, is a broad school and emergency-response bill focused on preparing Texas schools, law enforcement, and emergency personnel for active shooter incidents and other emergencies. It expands and standardizes emergency operations planning requirements for school districts, public junior colleges, and institutions of higher education, including mandatory training, drills, communications readiness, safety audits, and post-construction security reviews. It also requires each school district and open-enrollment charter school to keep at least one breaching tool and one ballistic shield available at each campus for use during an active shooter incident.
The bill also creates new statewide reporting, training, and coordination systems for first responders and public safety agencies. It directs the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University to create a template for evaluating responses to school active shooter incidents and to develop related training programs. It requires local law enforcement agencies and emergency medical services providers to evaluate and report on their responses after such incidents, and it mandates active-shooter response training for peace officers and EMS personnel. In addition, it establishes emergency communications certification and continuing education requirements for certain public information officers, and it creates a grant program to help first responders and telecommunicators attend active attack integrated response training.
HB 33 also revises several provisions governing school safety coordination and law enforcement preparedness. It expands county-level school safety meetings, requires mutual aid agreements between the Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement agencies, and directs the Texas Division of Emergency Management to develop a public guide for civic and community organizations on preparing for and responding to school active shooter incidents. The bill further requires a mental health resources plan for first responders involved in critical incidents and updates minimum standards and training requirements for law enforcement agencies, including policies on active shooter response and access to protective equipment.
The overall sentiment reflected in the bill’s passage was strongly supportive and noncontroversial. It passed the House and Senate overwhelmingly, with no recorded opposition votes in the final passage votes and only a single present-not-voting member in the House on third reading. The lack of committee transcript material limits insight into debate, but the voting history suggests broad bipartisan agreement that the bill addresses urgent school safety and emergency response concerns.
The main points of contention, based on the bill text itself, are not reflected in the recorded votes but would likely center on implementation burden, cost, and operational requirements for schools and local agencies. Potential concerns include the expense of acquiring and maintaining breaching tools and ballistic shields, the administrative load of new reporting and certification mandates, confidentiality and open-meetings exceptions for incident reviews, and the feasibility of meeting new training and mutual-aid obligations by the bill’s deadlines. The bill also shifts responsibilities across multiple agencies, which may raise questions about coordination and compliance, even though no formal opposition appears in the available legislative record.
HB 33 amends the Education Code, Government Code, Local Government Code, and Occupations Code to create new school-safety, emergency-response, training, reporting, and coordination requirements. It adds duties for school districts, charter schools, public junior colleges, higher education institutions, law enforcement agencies, EMS providers, public information officers, DPS, TDEM, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, and regional councils of governments, while also repealing an existing county sheriff meeting provision and replacing it with expanded school-safety coordination rules.
The bill appears to have enjoyed very strong support throughout the legislative process. It passed the House 148-0 on third reading, the Senate 31-0, and the House later concurred in Senate amendments 135-0. With no recorded dissent in the final votes and no committee transcript material showing controversy, the general sentiment was favorable and aligned around improving school safety and emergency preparedness after active shooter incidents.
No formal opposition is reflected in the available votes, but the bill’s likely areas of concern are practical and fiscal rather than ideological. Schools and local governments may face new costs and administrative duties tied to emergency plans, security reviews, equipment requirements, certification, and reporting. Law enforcement and EMS agencies may also object to the added training and reporting mandates, while confidentiality provisions and exceptions from open-meeting requirements could draw transparency concerns. The bill’s broad coordination requirements across multiple agencies may also be challenging to implement consistently.