In wake of tragedies, campus safety bill unanimously passes Senate

OLYMPIA – After the murder of Rebecca Griego at the University of Washington in April 2007, the largest mass shooting in U.S. history at Virginia Tech leaving 33 dead just two weeks later, the deaths of three in a murder-suicide tragedy at a technical college in Louisiana last week, and now the tragic shooting deaths of five students and the gunman, and wounding of 16 others at Northern Illinois University this afternoon, the Washington State Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 6328, at the request of Governor Chris Gregoire and sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Wells, D-Seattle.

“Today’s tragedy in Illinois underscores the tragic need to address safety on our campuses. Passing this bill today will guide our universities to not only improving responses to tragedies like NIU and Virginia Tech, but hopefully preventing them in the future,” said Kohl-Welles.

SB 6328 will establish campus safety plans for Washington’s colleges and universities by requiring defined response plans, enhanced access for mental health and counseling services for students and faculty, and procedures for communicating with the entire campus community, law enforcement, the media, and the public in responses to natural disasters and emergencies.

In remarks to the Senate, Kohl-Welles said “We’re finding these campus incidents are not so isolated. Passing this bill will help with prevention, intervention and rapid response. We must do this. We must pass this bill.”

In his remarks, Sen. Paull Shin, chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee said “We can’t be hasty enough about the safety of our campuses. We must do the right thing.”

Another of Kohl-Welles’ bills passed the Senate unanimously this week. SB 6357, written in response to the murder-suicide involving Griego, an employee at the University of Washington last April, refines domestic violence protection order laws.

Both bills now move to the House, where they must be passed before the March 7 cut-off deadline.

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