A proposal to expand Florida’s “school guardian” program to colleges and universities received support from the Republican-controlled House Wednesday evening.
The bill (HB 757) passed on an 83-25 vote, and now heads to the Senate.
The measure builds on changes made in the public school system after the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The bill gained traction this year as lawmakers recalled a shooting during the 2025 legislative session, where a student killed two people and wounded five others at Florida State University.
“We were all here that day a year ago, either in our committee rooms or in our offices,” said bill sponsor Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola. “We all saw the news. We all got the alerts. It was a scary time.”
Under the proposal, each school would have to establish an “active assailant response plan,” and the president of each college or university could designate employees and faculty who would be trained and able to receive a concealed-weapons license to carry guns on campus.
In voting against the measure, Jacksonville Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon questioned the amount of training individuals would receive.
“I have seen what folks that are part ICE have done with training, or lack thereof,” Nixon said.
The bill also promotes the use by post-secondary schools of the mobile suspicious activity reporting tool, FortifyFL, and calls for student psychological evaluations to be transferred when the individual moves from high school to a state college or university.
Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, a Democrat who was the mayor of Parkland at the time of the shooting, expressed concern that state colleges don’t have the level of funding for law enforcement as found at the state universities.
“Our universities are able to stand up a police force. They can afford to do that,” Hunschofsky said. “Thank goodness. FSU had that police force a year ago. They did a wonderful job responding, and the University did a fantastic job in the aftermath. But our colleges don't have that same funding.”