SACRAMENTO, CA – Senator Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) introduced Senate Bill 19, The Safe Schools and Places of Worship Act on the first day of the new legislative session.

Schools and places of worship across the United States and in California have seen an increase in the number of threats of violence and education facilities are now the most-targeted sites for bomb threats. 

These threats of mass shootings, bombs, and other attacks disrupt student learning, create community-wide anxiety about school safety, and cause school attendance rates to decrease because worried parents keep their children home.

“We are unfortunately living in an era where schools and places of worship threats of violent attacks are increasingly common, said Senator Rubio. “When a school or place of worship is threatened, it can and does cause reasonable and immediate fear for everyone.  We need to do more to protect students and families and hold criminals accountable.”

State leaders have taken this problem seriously by allocating millions of dollars to the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program, but threats continue to occur.

“There are few threats that law enforcement takes as serious as those made against our schools and places of worship, but unfortunately our laws continue to fail in treating them with adequate severity,” said Chief Tracy Avelar, President of the CA Police Chiefs Association. “Our laws need to evolve as we see more and more threats being made in various forms, and it is past time we consider threats made against our most vulnerable places the same as threats made against an individual. SB 19 is a critical step towards addressing this very real and pressing issue.”

Prosecutors across California have found it difficult to hold people accountable for making criminal threats against schools and places of worship unless they identify a specific person in their threat.  SB 19 would address this ambiguity and make it easier to successfully prosecute wrongdoers who threaten to commit death or great bodily injury to any person on the grounds of a school or place of worship.

“This bill will help keep our community safe by serving as a deterrent, and will hold those that target a place of worship accountable for the fear and intimidation they cause based on their actions of hate,” said Jason Moss, Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys.

For more information, visit the website of Senator Susan Rubio at https://sd22.senate.ca.gov/

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