AUSTIN, Texas – A bill aimed at establishing a statewide framework for responding to active shooters has passed unanimously in the Texas House.
House Bill 33, known as the Uvalde Strong Act, was filed in March of this year by former Uvalde mayor and current state representative Don McLaughlin.
Nearly three years ago, a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary.
If passed, HB 33 would mandate law enforcement agencies across the state to create crisis response policies, a provision that takes aim at the nearly 400 law enforcement officers who waited more than an hour before confronting the shooter who had barricaded himself in a classroom – a decision that went against nationwide active shooter protocols.
“House Bill 33 ensures that confusion and hesitation will never again be an excuse,” McLaughlin said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. “It demands clear command, real-time coordination, and immediate action when lives are on the line. We can’t undo the past, but today we made sure Texas is ready for the future.”
The bill would require school districts and law enforcement to meet once a year to plan their response to an active shooter situation. It would also mandate annual multi-agency exercise drills on how to respond to an active shooter.
Texas already requires individual officers to undergo training for active shooter incidents, but it does not require annual exercise drills for law enforcement agencies.
The bill would also provide grants for officers to receive training on how to respond to active shooter incidents.
“What happened that day was a failure of duty, leadership, and preparedness,” McLaughlin said. “Law enforcement hesitated, communication broke down, and innocent children and teachers were left defenseless. We must do what we can to ensure these mistakes are never repeated. The Uvalde Strong Act is about guaranteeing that when a crisis strikes, there is no confusion and no delay—only immediate, decisive action to save lives.”
McLaughlin’s bill also would require the Department of Public Safety to enter into mutual aid agreements with local law enforcement agencies, which would dictate how the agencies share resources during a critical incident and how to coordinate the response.
As mayor, McLaughlin blasted DPS in the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting for not taking control of the shooting incident, in which federal, state and local police deferred to a local school police chief who was without a radio during the incident.
During a regular session of the 89th Texas Legislature on Monday, the House unanimously voted to pass the bill.
“The bill fixes what was broken,” McLaughlin continued. “We owe it to the families in Uvalde- and to every family in Texas-to make sure no child, no teacher, no community ever faces that kind of failure again.”
The bill will now head to the Senate Committee.
Related Stories: