Tennessee House Passes Legislation Authorizing Retired Law Enforcement, Veterans As School Resource Officers

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

Tennessee House Representatives passed a measure on Tuesday that will allow public and charter schools to hire retired law enforcement and military personnel as on-campus security in School Resource Officer positions.

House Bill 1899 (HB1899), sponsored by Representative Tim Rudd (R-Murfreesboro-District 34), authorizes LEAs and public charter schools to employ retired law enforcement officers who are retired from a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency and honorably discharged veterans of the United States armed forces to serve as school resource officers on school premises.

As previously reported by The Tennessee Conservative, a shortage of full-time school resource officers has forced some districts to provide overtime pay to officers in order to have that presence on school campuses. Representative Rudd has noted that approximately 500 officers are needed across the state.

This new legislation will allow them to pull from that pool of retired officers to fill those vacant positions and provide those safety measures in schools.

HB1899 was passed with 69 ayes and 21 noes. Representative Bryan Richey (R-Maryville-District 20) was the sole Republican who voted against the legislation.

The Tennessee Conservative has reached out to Representative Richey asking for an explanation of his No vote and will update the article after we receive a response.

The companion Senate Bill 2025 (SB2025), sponsored by Senator Shane Reeves (R-Bedford/Cannon/Moore/Rutherford-District 14), was referred to the Senate Education Committee on January 31 but has not made any progress at this time.