A new bill introduced in the Senate this Valentine’s Day is known as Alyssa’s Law. It was originally introduced last year in the statehouse, but never made it out of committee. 

What You Need To Know

  • It’s been seven years since 17 students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida

  • To mark the day, advocates in Ohio are joining others in nearly 20 states across the country in declaring it “Make Our Schools Safer Day”

  • A new piece of legislation aims to make our schools safer 

  • Senate Bill 105, introduced by State Sen. Michele Reynolds, R-District 3, would require all public and charter schools in Ohio to have panic alert systems for staff

State Senator Michele Reynolds, R-District 3, is trying again, hoping this time it makes it to the governor’s desk for his signature.

The bill, known as Senate Bill 105, would require all public and charter school staff to have wearable panic devices that would provide a direct connection to first responders and give them a GPS location to respond quickly. 

Lori Alhadeff is the mother of Alyssa Alhadeff who the bill is named after. She's also the CEO of the national nonprofit Make Our Schools Safe. Alyssa was one of the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day in 2018. She was 14 years old at the time.

Lori told Spectrum News this proposed law is truly a matter of life or death. The panic button would alert authorities of a medical emergency if pressed three times or of an active shooter situation if pressed eight times. 

“We all can agree that when we send our kids to school, that they need to be safe and come home alive,” Alhadeff said. “So this is just a commonsense safety measure. We all can agree on to help to protect our children and our schools, and whether it's medical emergencies, which we have predominantly all the time in our schools, or the worst, an active shooter situation. We want to be able to save lives and get help on the scene as quickly as possible.”

The goal of the law is to improve emergency response times and school safety. Lori said time equals life. She hopes no family ever has to experience the pain she’s experienced since losing her daughter. 

“I want to honor Alyssa and the 16 others and other shooting victims in school shootings around the country,” Alhadeff said. “And just to say that we remember them and we continue to help keep their legacies alive.”

Alyssa’s Law has been adopted in Florida, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. We'll see if Ohio follows suit. If you want to get involved, you can visit here.