SB792 Summary

• School district policies must recognize students' fundamental right to take reasonable self-defense actions against attacks from bullying or threatening students, with school districts required to investigate and not reprimand students found to have acted in self-protection.

• Policies must include statements confirming that physically attacked students may use reasonable force for self-protection, witnesses may use reasonable physical restraint to protect others, and schools cannot discipline students acting in legitimate self-defense.

• School districts must explicitly prohibit zero-tolerance disciplinary policies for bullying victims and must consider whether violent acts were committed in self-defense when determining discipline for perpetrators.

• The State Department of Education must monitor school district compliance, maintain a central bullying incident repository, and publish annual reports on documented and verified bullying incidents in public schools.

• The act becomes effective July 1, 2025, with an emergency clause allowing immediate effect upon passage and approval.