CAMPUS Safety Act of 2008

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill.

I would like to associate myself with the remarks made by the gentlewoman from California, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, and I will include my entire statement as part of the Record.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, teachers and students at Virginia Tech gathered to mark the 1-year anniversary of the campus shooting that killed 27 students and 5 faculty members. We now know that the shooter was a mentally-disturbed young man who was able to purchase two handguns. He brought those handguns to the campus and began a shooting spree that spanned several hours and occurred in both dorms and classrooms across campus.

Sadly, in February of this year, a gunman stormed a classroom at Northern Illinois University and opened fire, killing 5 students and wounding 16 others before killing himself.

In the wake of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University and a recent rash of violence in public schools across the country, it is appropriate for Congress to act to provide resources to schools and law enforcement officials to help protect our schools.

School and college campuses should be safe environments for students to learn. Today, campus security requires much more than ever before, including campus police, emergency alert systems, and emergency response plans.

H.R. 6838, the CAMPUS Safety Act, authorizes the Department of Justice to establish a National Center for Campus Public Safety to award grants to colleges and universities and other nonprofit organizations, provide education and training for campus public safety agencies, and promote research to improve the security of colleges and universities.

The center may coordinate with other Federal agencies to prevent and respond to natural disasters, incidents of campus violence, or other emergencies. The center may also promote the development of an effective behavioral health threat assessment to prevent campus violence.

It is my hope that through this legislation and other programs across the country, we can do our best to prevent violence on our college and university campuses.

I urge my colleagues to support the passage of H.R. 6838.

I yield back my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6838) to establish and operate a National Center for Campus Public Safety.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, over the past few years, we have seen a number of tragic incidents of violence at colleges and universities, including the disastrous incidents at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University.

This bill will help schools to more effectively prevent such incidents and to more effectively respond if such incidents do occur. It creates a national center for campus public safety administered through the Department of Justice. The center will train campus safety agencies, promote research into improving campus safety, and be a clearinghouse for campus safety information. The director at the center will have the authority to award grants to institutions of higher learning to help them meet their enhanced public safety goals.

I would like to thank and publicly acknowledge Crime Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Scott of Virginia, as well as ranking member of that subcommittee, Louie Gohmert of Texas, as well as Senator Leahy for their bipartisan leadership on this initiative.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I simply urge adoption of this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6838, ``Center to Advance, Monitor, and Preserve University Security Safety Act of 2008'', introduced by my colleague Congressman Bobby Scott of Virginia.

Sadly, this legislation is in reaction to the numerous tragedies occurring at colleges and universities, including the disastrous events that occurred at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. The Virginia Tech shooting resulted in the slaying of over 30 members of the Virginia Tech family and many others being wounded.

The shooting that occurred on the campus of Northern Illinois University on February 14, 2008 also killed and injured several individuals on the campus. Unfortunately, because these events were the first of their kind for the schools, they were not fully knowledgeable on how to respond.