SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah lawmaker has proposed a bill that would create a program incentivizing teachers to "secure or carry a firearm on school grounds."

Sponsored by Rep. Tim Jimenez, R-Tooele, HB119, labeled the "Educator-Protector Program," would incentivize teachers to carry or possess firearms in schools by providing a $500 reimbursement to install a biometric gun safe and protecting them from civil damages or penalties.

To participate in the program, educators would have to go through an annual classroom response training, an annual firearms training and have a valid concealed carry permit six months before joining the program.

Specifics of the training would include:

• Familiarity with the building or buildings of the school, including where emergency supplies and security infrastructure are located.
• Hands-on training regarding the safe loading, unloading, storage and carrying of firearms in a school setting.
• Participation in a live-action practice plan in responding to active threats at the school with an emphasis on the classroom that the teacher is assigned.

Additionally, the bill stipulates that the annual firearms training session must be at least four hours long and include the educator "practicing and demonstrating firearms proficiency at a firearms range using the firearm the teacher carries for self-defense and defense of others," according to the bill.

These trainings would be administered by a county sheriff, the Utah Department of Public Safety, a local law enforcement agency, a national, state, or local firearms training organization that is approved by the Bureau of Criminal Identification to provide firearms training or an individual who has been certified by the bureau to provide firearms training, including a law enforcement officer, a military firearms instructor, a civilian firearms instructor, or a hunter safety instructor.

As far as the liability aspect of the bill, it reads: "A teacher in the program when carrying or using a firearm is not liable for any civil damages or penalties if the teacher has active status in the program, is acting in good faith and is not grossly negligent."

Providing the $500 incentive to educators for the biometric safe could cost the Utah State Board of Education $1.6 million in one-time costs, according to the bill's fiscal note.

HB119 is the latest bill in a recent push aimed at improving school safety by getting more firearms into schools. Jimenez did not immediately respond to requests for comment from KSL.com on Monday.

Last year, the Utah Legislature passed HB61, which established requirements for every public, charter and private school in Utah to have at least one armed security personnel at the school whenever class is in session.

This can include a uniformed school resource officer, a school safety and security officer provided by local law enforcement and hired by the school district, or a contracted security guard who would be allowed to conceal or open carry a firearm on school grounds. It can also include school employees.

The law requires a school employee who isn't a principal, teacher, or someone who primarily works with students to be trained as a school guardian, which would be a "volunteer, armed school employee who has received 84 hours of firearms, deescalation, basic trauma, first aid and school security training."

Related:

Bill would allow some Utah school employees to be trained as armed 'guardians'

A task force on Wednesday recommended a bill that would require every school in Utah to have an armed school employee present on campus whenever school is in session.

HB61 also created the position of state security chief — who is responsible for state-level oversight of school safety and security issues. In January, the Utah Department of Public Safety announced that Matt Pennington would fill the newly created position.

Some lawmakers still raised questions regarding the bill.

Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, said she's someone "that doesn't always feel like bringing more guns to a school is a good idea."

"I personally just have concerns with having security guards in our schools and making our schools more, from my perception, like prisons because somebody has access to a gun that shouldn't have access to a gun," Romero said.

Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, contended the point of the legislation isn't to just bring more guns into schools.

"This is to bring more trained people. This isn't just random guns. This isn't just, 'Hey, anybody with a concealed carry does this,'" Wilcox said. "This is next level. This is preparation (and) planning."

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