BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama senators approved last week a bill that would strengthen criminal penalties for school threats and require students charged with making them to be removed from the regular classroom until a hearing is held.
Sen. Matt Woods, R-Jasper, said House Bill 7 is a response to the persistent problem of school threats, which can trigger lockdowns, disrupt instruction and leave families, students and educators on edge.
The bill is designed to create immediate consequences for students accused of making threats while also steering some of them toward needed mental health evaluation and treatment, he said.
Woods presented the bill on the Senate floor and pointed to an amendment offered by Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, as a key revision.
Woods said the amendment strengthens the bill by ensuring it is “legally sound” and aligned with federal law regarding students with disabilities. He said the original bill used a “one size fits all penalty,” while the amendment allows courts and schools to base consequences on the facts of each case.
Under an earlier version of HB7, schools would have been required to suspend students for at least one year if they were charged. It also would have required courts to impose a financial penalty of up to $10,000 to cover law enforcement and school response costs.
Those mandates were removed through Smitherman’s amendment. Woods said that while the bill removes the automatic suspension, it preserves immediate consequences for students accused of making credible threats.
“I want to emphasize that when a student makes a credible threat and they are charged with this crime, they are still removed from the regular classroom setting immediately,” he said. “There is no delay. There is no hesitation.”
Under the amended bill, students charged with making a threat would be removed from the regular classroom and placed in an alternative setting, such as virtual school or alternative school, until a hearing is held. That hearing must take place within 30 days.
The House will have to concur with the Senate changes before it can head to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk.
Woods said the bill is also meant to help students who may be struggling.
He said that while some students making threats may not intend to carry them out, the threats draw resources and attention to the student.
“We are going to put some guardrails in place that help get that child who may just be crying out for the help they need,” he said.
“And that’s one of my favorite parts of this bill,” he continued. “It’s not so much that it’s punitive, but that it’s actually helping a potential mental health issue that could lead to a child committing one of these (threats) that you’d have to be concerned about if it’s a child in your child’s classroom.”
The bill addresses primarily terrorist threats made against schools, but it also applies to threats against churches and other religious institutions. It would also add hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities housing disabled or immobile individuals to the list of protected locations.
The bill would increase the penalty for first-degree terrorist threat from a Class C felony to a Class B felony and would make some repeat second-degree offenses a Class D felony.
Students also would have to complete any court-ordered mental health evaluation or counseling before returning to the classroom with their peers.
Woods originally filed HB7 before being elected to the Senate last year, so Rep. James Lomax, R-Huntsville, carried the bill in the House after Woods moved to the upper chamber.
Even with the multiple provisions the bill offers, Woods acknowledged it is not a complete solution.
“This bill won’t stop it entirely,” Woods said, “But we can put some guardrails in, and we can use it to try to dissuade folks from (making threats).”
“Schools need to be a place that kids feel safe, that teachers feel safe, a place where parents can take their children expecting they’re going to be focused on learning, and not in fear of lockdowns due to a threat of violence.”
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