Lawmakers pass bill allowing barricade locks on classroom doors

February 18, 2018 Utah Channel 3

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Legislature has passed a bill that would allow school districts to install barricade locks on classroom doors, a vote that came after a school shooting killed 17 people in Florida.

Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, said Thursday he sponsored the bill after a man who wanted to donate the locks to an elementary school was told they weren’t allowed under fire codes.

Weiler says his bill would create an exception to those codes to allow the locks designed to prevent a school shooter from entering classrooms. It does not give schools funding for the locks or require schools to install them.

The timing of the vote was coincidental, but came a day after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz gunned down students and staff at his former school in Parkland, Florida.

The legislation received unanimous approval in the House and Senate, including affirmative votes from all of Southern Utah’s legislators who were present for the vote.

Resources

Read the bill: Utah 2018 SB 87 – School Security Locks
Contact legislators
- Bill sponsor: Todd Weiler
- Southern Utah Sens. Evan Vickers, Don Ipson, David Hinkins and Ralph Okerlund | Listing of all senators.
- Southern Utah Reps. Bradley Last, V. Lowry Snow, Walt Brooks, John Westwood, Merrill Nelson and Michael Noel | Listing of all members of the House of Representatives.

Read more: See all St. George News reports on Utah Legislature 2018 issues