SB 1684

House Engrossed
  Senate Bill
school liability;
  bullying; serious injury
State of Arizona
Senate
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
SENATE BILL 1684
AN
ACT
Amending title 15, chapter 1, article 1, Arizona
Revised Statutes, by adding section 15-120.08; relating to public
schools.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 15, chapter 1, article 1,
Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 15-120.08, to read:
START_STATUTE15-120.08. School liability; bullying; serious physical injury; court
action; definitions
A. A student or a student's parent
may bring a cause of action against a public school for damages caused by the
school's failure to address a threat to the student's safety if all of the
following apply:
1. The student suffers serious
physical injury as a result of another student bullying
the injured student at school.
2. The school or an employee of the
school, including an individual who is indirectly employed through a third-party
contractor, receives at least one prior report that the other student committed
an act of bullying against the injured student at school.
3. The school negligently failed to
address the suspected act of bullying committed by the other student and
against the injured student after receiving a prior report.
B. An act of alleged bullying occurs
at school for the purposes of subsection A of this section if the act either:
1. Occurs while the injured student
and the student who commits the act of alleged bullying are on school grounds,
on school property, on a school bus, at a school bus stop, at a school-sponsored
event or at a school-sponsored activity.
2. Is committed through the use of
electronic technology or electronic communication on a school computer,
network, forum or mailing list.
C. The court may award reasonable
attorney fees, expenses and damages to any claimant who substantially prevails
in an action BROUGHT pursuant to this section.
D. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Bullying" means any of
the following that PLACES a student in actual and reasonable fear of harm to
the student's person or damage to the student's property:
(a) A pattern
of gestures or written, electronic or verbal communications.
(b) A physical
act.
(c) A
threatening communication.
2. "prior report" includes:
(a) A written
report that any individual makes to an employee of the school.
(b) A school
employee's personal observation of conduct that the employee reasonably
believes constitutes an act of bullying.
3. "Serious
physical injury" has the same meaning prescribed in section 13-105.
END_STATUTE