Following the tragic school shooting at Apalachee High School last September, House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said the House planned to champion school safety during the current legislative session. Tuesday members of the House voted 159-13 for a comprehensive school safety bill. In a rare move, Burns even stepped down from the dais to make a strong push for House Bill 268, carried by Rep. Holt Persinger, R-Winder.
“Today’s passage of HB 268 reaffirms our commitment to protecting Georgia’s children, and to implementing proactive measures that ensure a tragedy like what happened at Apalachee High School never happens in our state again,” said Burns. “I’m grateful for each member who spent months working alongside our state’s educators, school administration, parents and law enforcement to craft these policies that will have a positive impact on Georgia’s students for generations to come.”
“I believe this legislation will usher a new culture in our school systems, where we run towards our children facing struggles with mental health,” Burns said.
The House vote came two days before Thursday’s Crossover Day and the bill now heads to the Senate.
Highlights of HB 268:
- Requires all relevant student records to be shared with the receiving school within a given time when a student transfers between school districts.
- Creates a Student and School Safety System (S3) which will be used to store information related to credible threats against Georgia’s schools and students.
- Requires schools to adopt Behavioral Threat Assessment Teams.
- Requires schools to utilize an anonymous reporting app that meets certain standards.
- Creates mental health coordinator positions for each school district to connect students facing a mental health challenge with available resources.
- Increases penalties for terroristic threats and requires schools to suspend and provide counseling to students who make credible threats.
In another unique move Tuesday, members of the House passed two bills addressing the same issue – school zone traffic cameras.
One bill, HB 225 by Rep. Dale Washburn, R-Macon, bans school zone traffic cameras altogether. Washburn said that in many areas of the state, local governments are using the cameras inappropriately and charging an exorbitant amount in fines from residents in places where students don’t walk to school in the first place. This bill passed by a 129-37 margin.
A second bill, HB 651, by Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, takes a different approach by applying “strict guardrails” on the use of school zone traffic devices. The bill restricts the use of these cameras and devices to four hours a day – two in the morning and two in the afternoon – and applies the “35 percent rule” which restricts cities or counties from raising more than 35 percent of their revenues from the devices. It passed by a larger margin – 164 to 8.
“So why are we passing two bills on the same issue?” asked Powell. “To allow for a choice. One bans these devices another places strict guardrails. We have attempted to fix this problem in the past and the Senate did nothing with the bills we sent over. So now we are giving them a choice.”
