House Communications & Technology Committee holds public hearing on school panic alarms legislation
Rep. Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz November 17, 2025 | 2:55 PM
HARRISBURG, Nov. 17 – In a step to increase school safety for students and teachers, the PA House Communications & Technology Committee held a public hearing Monday on legislation (H.B. 634) introduced by state Rep. Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz, D-Berks, that would require schools to consider implementing silent panic alarm buttons in classrooms during the annual review of their safety and security practices.
The alarms would be linked directly with law enforcement responders and could be used to signal a life-threatening emergency.
The legislation is modeled after “Alyssa’s Law,” named for 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, who was murdered along with 17 others in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018. In the wake of the shooting, Alyssa’s parents and fellow advocates have fought for the passage of laws to require or permit schools to install silent panic alarm buttons in classrooms.
“At today’s hearing, Alyssa Alahadeff’s mother, Lori, movingly advocated for the implementation of silent panic alarms in our schools as a necessary step to prevent the unthinkable—the murder of a child in a school shooting,” said state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery, who chairs the House Communications & Technology Committee. “At a time when it seems like there is a school shooting every day in our country, we must take concrete steps to make our schools as safe as possible.
“When seconds matter, silent panic alarms would offer direct connection with first responders, saving the lives of our children and teachers. The silent panic alarm would be an additional level of security, working in coordination with other safety measures and security features in our schools to streamline communication and ensure the fastest response possible when it matters the mos,” he said.
“We have already seen how panic alarm buttons have helped protect classrooms in other states,” said Cepeda-Freytiz. “It is time we take greater action to ensure our students and teachers are safe in the case of an emergency, and I commend Lori for stepping up to advocate in her daughter’s memory.”
Testifiers at the public hearing included Lori Alhadeff, CEO of Make Our Schools Safe; Heather Masshardt, Deputy Director for Public Safety at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD); Crawford Gingrich, Director of School Safety at the Pennsylvania School Safety Institute (PennSSI); Chief David L. Lash, President of the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association (PCPA) and Chief of Police for the Northern York Regional Police Department; and Scott L. Bohn, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association.
The committee also received written testimony from the Pennsylvania Association of School Resource Officers (PASRO), Raptor Technologies, and the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA).
If the bill is signed into law, Pennsylvania would join states such as Florida, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Texas, which have enacted similar measures.