Texas Active Shooter Alert System Bill Heads to Greg Abbott’s Desk

The bill will create an active shooter alert system and is named after a victim of the mass shooting in Midland/Odessa on August 31, 2019.

According to NewsWest 9, House Bill 103 is a bill filed by State Representative Brooks Landgraf and named after Leilah Hernandez who was the youngest victim of the mass shooting in Midland/Odessa in 2019.

The bill is headed to Governor Abbott's desk after unanimously passing in the Texas Senate on Wednesday and Rep. Landgraf thanks his colleagues in the Texas Senate for their support.

“I’m thankful to my colleagues in the House and Senate—especially Sen. Judith Zaffirini, who represents Sutherland Springs—for the unwavering support for this necessary policy,” said Landgraf. “HB 103 did not receive a single negative vote at any stage of the legislative process. Texans have spoken: our state needs the active shooter alert system required by the Leilah Hernandez Act.”

Leilah Hernandez was a 15-year-old Odessa High School student and the youngest victim of the local mass shooting.

Joanna Leyva, Leilah's mother, made a powerful statement in support of the bill at the Texas Capitol which helped to get the unanimous vote in the Texas Senate.

“We can never replace the lives we lost over Labor Day weekend in 2019,” said Landgraf. “But we believe that fewer Texans would have perished if this system had been in place at the time, and we are hopeful implementing the alert system now will save lives in the future.”

House Bill 103 would make the Texas Department of Public Safety create a system that would alert people within a certain area of an active shooter situation through SMS text and other available communications in the event of an active shooter attack.

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