Establishes a competitive emergency mapping grant program

• Democratic2

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Shelley Mayer says this is needed

New York has taken steps to enhance school safety through community outreach programs, social workers and school resource officers, improv- ing the safety infrastructure of our school buildings, and by passing common sense legislation to protect all of our communities from the tragic violence we have seen across the country. Under current law, schools are already required to establish building- level emergency response plans, including site mapping information. However, many districts-particularly high-need districts-lack the resources to create, modernize, and maintain accurate and usable digital maps of their school buildings and grounds. This legislation builds on existing school safety requirements by estab- lishing a competitive grant program to help school districts and boards of cooperative educational services upgrade their floor plans, blue- prints, schematics, and related maps used for emergency response. By supporting the creation and maintenance of accurate, digitized maps of school facilities and surrounding areas, this program will enable law enforcement and first responders to act more quickly and collaborate more efficiently in emergencies. By prioritizing high-need districts, this program directs state resources to the communities least able to bear these costs on their own, while strengthening school safety and emergency preparedness across the state.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.