The North Carolina General Assembly joins a handful of other state legislatures considering adjustments to the driver’s education curriculum.

House Bill 21, introduced at the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, would require instructors to include lessons on “appropriate interactions with law enforcement officers” in the curriculum.

A similar bill was recently passed in Illinois, another is awaiting Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s signature, and legislators in Mississippi, New Jersey and Rhode Island are also looking at the issue, The Associated Press reports.

HB 21 passed its first reading Jan. 30, was passed along to the Transportation Committee, and then referred to the Education Committee on Feb. 27, according to the NCGA’s website.

Stacy Drakeford, director of Washington Police and Fire Services, said he would support legislation that opens the door for educating students about community-police relations.

“I believe that any education on the part of drivers and law enforcement officers that de-escalates the situation in a traffic stop is a good idea,” Drakeford said.

He said the Washington area hasn’t had many instances of unnecessarily escalated situations, but law enforcement wants to prevent it from happening.

“When we deployed our cameras about two years ago now, that was one of the underlying principles behind that,” he said, adding that body cameras show both sides of the story. “I think any education is paramount to that age group about how to conduct themselves.”

Joe Tkach, driver’s education supervisor at Beaufort County Schools, declined to comment on changes to the curriculum, but he did say the district already invites law enforcement officers to speak to some of the classes.

The bill has yet to make it to the Senate, but Sen. Bill Cook issued a short statement on HB 21, stating, “The bill in its current draft seems to be a reasonable and sensible request.”

Reps. Michael Speciale and Beverly Boswell were not immediately available for comment for this article.